The world is a wondrous and incredibly diverse place filled with history, culture, the arts, and everything in between. When you visit a great city – or a small one for that matter – you may visit its more popular destinations such as history and art museums, famous sculptures and buildings, or even a restaurant that the city is famous for.
Travelling the world can sometimes be boring for some of us who don’t see beauty in monotony. The same thing in every city – old buildings ravaged by time, historical artefacts, or just paintings of the city by someone slightly famous – might not get everyone’s sense of wonder running. This list – mainly adopted from a Huffington Post article – is a glimpse of the bizarre, a look at the flip side of human nature. Be warned, though… Not all these places are for everyone.
We start off in – no surprise here – Japan:
Yunessun Spa Resort
A place for a truly surreal experience, the Kowakien Yunessun Hot Springs Amusement Park & Spa Resort allows you a great spa experience either in the traditional old boring way (a dip in a Jacuzzi) or in a way you won’t imagine anyone with a semblance of sanity would do it, by bathing in a spa filled with your choice of beverage from sake to green tea, coffee, or red wine. Whether you get any health benefit from any of these beverages is arguable, but it is an experience about which you can relate if you like to see raised eyebrows.
Then things get a bit creepy in Mexico:
Island of the Dolls
Isla de las Munecas (literally Island of the Dolls) in Mexico is the stuff of nightmares. Someone turned the dial on weird to maximum and broke off the knob. Named after its hundreds of baby dolls hanging from trees, and dedicated to the lost soul of a young girl who died a tragic death, the island’s most remarkable feature is all the work of one man who dedicated the last 50 years of his life to decorating the island with dolls, until his own tragic death in 2001. The dolls remain untouched on the island. If your skin doesn’t crawl at the sights, you may need to see a doctor.
A bit of ridiculous art in California, USA:
Bubble-gum Alley
Ah, bubble-gum. Chew it for a few minutes, blow some bubbles, and (if you are irresponsible, like most people tend to be) stick it somewhere that no one can see. Bubble-gum Alley in San Luis Obispo, California is perhaps the only wall in the world where visitors are encouraged to stick chewed bubble-gum. The alley started this practise in the 1970s, and it keeps on growing. If you are the least bit germophobic, this is not for you.
A bit of a hair-raiser in Turkey:
Avanos Hair Museum
Human hair is pleasant when on its owner’s head, but polarising when off it, with some people finding it utterly disgusting whereas others don’t mind it at all. In the town of Avanos, Turkey, under a nondescript pottery shop, is the Avanos Hair Museum, a dark cavern that is adorned with thousands of locks of human hair. It goes without saying that no fire is allowed anywhere near it.
Things take a turn to the morbid in Italy:
Capuchin Catacombs
For fans of the morbid, the Capuchin Catacombs are a goldmine. For the rest of humanity, it invokes the most basic fear of all – that of death. Located in Palermo, Italy, these catacombs contain as many as 8,000 well-preserved mummies dressed in the finest garb of the day. This is not for the faint-hearted, although visitor numbers are on the incline.
We move to India for a very ratty experience:
Karni Mata Temple
Karni Mata Temple in Deshnok, India, is perhaps the one place on earth where rats have had their mortal fear of humans bred out of them through centuries of being worshipped. The rats in the temple are considered sacred and clean, and nobody is allowed to harm one within its premises. The rats are well fed and supposedly friendly towards humans, but chances are that nobody with musophobia (the fear of rats) will be cured any time soon.
We end in Paris… well, technically under Paris:
Paris Sewer Museum
The sewers of Paris were home to the seedy underbelly of the city in centuries past. The poor and destitute, along with the criminals and the vagrants lived in these less-than-liveable tunnels. Today, Paris is home to an efficient sewer system inhabited by zero permanent residents, unless you count the museum dedicated to it. If you are a history buff, you will enjoy the lesson, and if you are there for a weird experience, you are also in for a treat. What of the smell? Well, you will get used to it sooner that you would like to admit.
So are you a fan of the weird and out-of-whack? Are you someone who wants to experience what a few among us do in their lifetimes? This is but a glimpse into the world of weird tourist attractions the world over. Who better to take you there than Travel Center UK? Call our experts now, and book your flight tickets to Japan, Mexico, California, Turkey, Italy, India, or the city of Paris in France. It’s just a phone call away!
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