sayjann Posted April 29, 2012 Report Share Posted April 29, 2012 i wish i had explored SEA more then i have,i had plans to go to Auttaya but the troubles in 2010 put paid to that and i will regret not ever going there. but being from Europe i have travelled around and seen a few sights which have made me look in awe. but i remember a visit to the Paris Catacombs,i could have googled the site but i want to remember as i saw it. located some way below the street level and a lot of steps going down and then a long walk along dark tunnels. i seem to remember that plague victims were buried here and in later Years it was used as a prison. it was also the headquarters of the Frence resistance during WW2. as you walked along the tunnels all you can see is thousands of skulls and femurs decorating the walls,very eerie. many of the prisoners made sculptures and they are still maintained and remarkable after 200 odd Years. but at the end there is a long walk up a staircase to streetlevel which was hard for me. thought i had to smile at the top as every person was searched in case they had taken bones from their visit,very easy to do. but then i saw the Oxygen and Cardiac arrest equipment at the top of the stairs. not a comformting thought but i suppose every eventually has to be taken into account. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
torrenova Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 Interesting comes on so many levels but perhaps one criterion is how much the reality is different from the perception. Many places in Europe intrigued me and stimulated my mental nodes but Tokyo just blew me away the first time I saw it. There was an instant feeling of love, desire, anticipation and intrigue that has never ceased. Going out alone one night from the "safety" of the Marriott Riverside and experiencing Bangkok full on with no-one to hold my hand or guide me or save me from myself was just experience overload. Sucking in the hot air as you used to open the door at Don Muang was a better drug than any pill or powder. Swampy just isn't the same. Culture, history, war etc. all attract me but I know what I am going to get 99% of the time. Go again in 10 years and it will be much the same. Nothing compares to those first experiences of the megacities of Tokyo and Bangkok. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekong Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 For me it has to be Xi'an in China, the home of the Terracotta Army. No matter how many times one sees it on Nat Geo etc, nothing can explain just how vast the site is, absolutely amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Horneytorney Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 Terracotta army in Xi'an is impressive. in particular if you consider that they digged out only a small fraction so far... for me most impressive spots are - Forbidden City Beijing - limestone rocks landscape Phangnga, Krabi, Trang - mountain landscape Zermatt Switzerland Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Coss Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 Most interesting? I have to say Vientiane, Laos, where I am now, culturally deep, the people are gentle and the society mystical. Thailand has lost it for me, too much plastic commercialism. Most exciting? Sailing in a Laser in a storm with winds of 50 knots, being knocked down every 100 metres or so, fortunately the wind was on-shore, I was 17 and an idiot. After, I was blue with cold and had the afterglow from the best adrenaline rush I've ever had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 Terracotta army in Xi'an is impressive. in particular if you consider that they digged out only a small fraction so far... for me most impressive spots are - Forbidden City Beijing - limestone rocks landscape Phangnga, Krabi, Trang - mountain landscape Zermatt Switzerland agree on phanggna, krabi, trang (actually surat thani can be included in the list of that awesome landscape). i never ever tire of being around the karsts and i never will grand canyon jungle temple at angkor wat the cambridge 'backs', never tire of seeing that at day break north norfolk coastline machu pichu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flashermac Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 << Thailand has lost it for me, too much plastic commercialism. >> Try rural Thailand. It is still much the same. But the cities are almost unrecognisable from 20 or 30 years ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 agree on phanggna, krabi, trang (actually surat thani can be included in the list of that awesome landscape). i never ever tire of being around the karsts and i never will grand canyon jungle temple at angkor wat the cambridge 'backs', never tire of seeing that at day break north norfolk coastline machu pichu Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest lazyphil Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 wtf i just want to edit my post not just repost it. so much easier on np.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
panadolsandwich Posted April 30, 2012 Report Share Posted April 30, 2012 Well by most interesting - given the tone - I take to mean the most unsettling. Two places stand out. The 'House of Terror' in Budapest - the staid bureaucracy above belied the cellar below with the dozen or so 'hanging posts' - only about six foot tall. God knows how many people were strangulated there in the most horrible torturing way. Then there was the killing fields in Cambodia. It was the monsoon and trudging around this nightmare I could see where the topsoil had washed away and there was what was clearly the greater trochanter of a femur poking up through the soil. I looked around a bit more carefully and saw all these human molars on the earth, some of them childrens. I felt sick that anybody could be enticed to walk on a mass grave, let alone me. I felt bad about being there but I think these experiences transform you. It reminds me that I will fucking fight to the fucking end of my last breath to stop this shit happening again. Except it's so depressing because this shit is happening right now - in Sudan for example or a dozen other God - forsaken places. All you can hope is that more people will eventually feel as outraged as you - and that's not fucking very likely. So Yeah thanks they were interesting places and we do live in interesting times... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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