Koi's Urban Hack

 

The New World Mall in Bangkok, Thailand sounds pretty fantasy and it was for about 15 years until
the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration realized that the builders forgot to
gt permits for building the top 7 floors.  Those floors were demolished and the
remained of the building was damaged in a fire in 1996.   The project went bust, but all is not lost.
The remains of the building was without a roof and rainwater poured and pooled into the basement floor.  The basement became a cesspool and a breeding ground for billions of mosquitos.  Local vendors in the area were annoyed with the infestation of mosquitos and decided to take action.  They purchased a few fish to rid the pesky mosquitos and boy it is work.  The fish breed and multiplied rapidly and soon the building became an urban pond home to thousands of catfish and koi.  Locals continue to enjoy their masterpiece and feed the fish regularly.

Gotta Make Them Wider :)

 

Talk about a Strange Spot and a unique tourist activity,  the Cu Chi Tunnels outside of Ho Chi Minh City has certainly got these two covered.   The Cu Chi tunnels are 75 miles of underground tunnels build during the Vietnam war.  They are connected to a larger network of tunnels that underlie much of the country.  The tunnels had various purposes during wartime including hide outs, transportation of supplies, food, medical care and living quarters for North Vietnam fighters. Life in the tunnels was extremely difficult.  American dubbed the tunnels "Black Echo" to describe the conditions within.  The soldiers shared the underground earth with ants, spiders, poinsonous centipedes and scorpions.  Illness spread easily and conditions were more or less, horrible.  The U.S. officials attempted to destroy them as the tunnels provided an obvious benefit to the N. Vietnamese fighters.
Today, the tunnels have become an amazing and strange tourist experience.  Tour guides allow willing participants to climb into the tunnels.  Obviously the conditions are much better than during war times.  Low-powered lights have been installed, boobie traps are on display and the tunnels have even been widened for western visitors.  Above ground attractions are available including monkeys, souvenirs and even a shooting range in which you can shoot an assault riffle (M16 rifle, M60 or AK-47).    Seriously,  would you want to climb into those little holes??

Big Mac Bikes

 

Gotta ;) love the ingenuity of theses Vietnamese motorbike drivers!   About 95% of all registered vehicles in Vietnam are scooters and motorbikes. They are used to transport just about anything of just about any size.   Motorbikes and scooters are preferred over cars due to the cities very narrow streets, as well as affordability.

The Vietnamese people somehow manage to transport entire families on their bikes, livestock and just about anything that will find it's way to the local markets.  If you look carefully at the picture above, you will find that tropical fish can enjoy a good motorbike ride. Even police officers, AK-47s and their prisoners have been spotted sharing one bike.   Unfortunately, there is a dark side to this cultural mode of transportation.  Up to 15,000 traffic deaths occur annually , however these numbers are considered to be grossly underestimated by as much as 30%.  In 2007,  a helmet law was enacted and enforced.  This has helped,  however, most citizens purchase low quality, inexpensive helmets that are of very poor quality :(.   Even so,  I would love to visit this place and go for a ride :)!

Train St.

 

Living close to the train station is always a bonus for city slickers,  but this might be just a little too close for comfort.   Somewhere in the heart of Hanoi,Vietnam's old town district, you will find a massive train squeezing through a very narrow residential street.  The train chugs it's along the street's of a densely populated area,  passing private homes, open markets and children at play.
The streets are typically lively, bustling with people. The local enjoy living their daily lives until suddenly everyone and everything scurries, clears and stops.  All must make way for the local passenger train to barrel it's way down their street.  Children riding their bikes, vendors selling their goodies and elderly tending to their gardens are suddenly replaced by a rush of massive clattering steal.  The residents know the schedule and use caution, but I wonder the actual safety of the situation. Luckily, it only passes two times per day. 

Reuse, Reduce and Recycle!!!

 

Wunderland :).  Wundering what made investor believe a former nuclear power plant would make a great amusement park :).  This is Wunderlanad Kalkar amusment park located in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.   This 'almost' nuclear power plant is now an amazing place to enjoy a crazy cooling tower swing or maybe climb up the outside of the cooling tower on it's rock climbing wall. 
The power plant never officially opened due to construction problems and protests, so why put this amazing place to waste.  Reuse it! Recycle it! Expand it!  And rumor has it that the park was purchased by a Dutch entrepreneur, Hennie van der Most, for a whopping three US dollars..$3.00!  Today is has over 600,00 visitor a year and is safer than ever.  I am thinking the locals are very happy now :).

 

 

GREEN :)

 

 

Green with envy here!   There's only two green beaches in the world, and beautiful one found on the Big Island of Hawaii, USA.  This is Papakolea Beach :)!  The green sand is an olive shade caused by a volcano that was once in existence. The green sand is actually part of what's left of what was once a cinder cone volcano from years ago.  Only three sides of the volcano are left standing.   There are no tours to this amazing beach in Mahana Bay.  The beach is very isolated and takes about 2 1/2 hours from the resorts along the Kohola Coast.  Once the road ends, you can either have a rough 3 mile hike or be an experienced off road driver with a 4x4 :). 

 

BLACK!!

 

Have you gone swimming in a black sand beach yet?  It looks a bit spooky from the pictures below.  This is Karekare Beach located in the small coastal town of Karekare, New Zealand.  The area does have visitors in the summer,  however that number is reasonably low due to a narrow road leading to the area.  Therefor, it has maintained it's natural beauty and isolation.  The beach is fortunately patrolled by lifeguards as rip tides are unpredictable and change with little warning.  Unfortunately, lives are lost every year :(.  Most deaths occur when lifeguards are off duty or when fisherman are swept off the rocks out of the lifeguards site.  Regardless,  it's BEAUTIFUL.. What are your thoughts?

Anyone know anything about this horse parade?

WHITE!!!!!

 

WHITE... finally white!  My all time favorite color when it comes to beaches.   This is the amazing, wonderful, beautiful, absolutely amazing Hyams Beach in Jervis Bay, Australia.   Take a good look at that white..  this beach is the whitest sandy beach on Earth.  And you can't with argue the Guinness Book of Records!  Amazingly enough, the seaside village of Shoalhaven only has about 290 residents..  I'm think they need at least one more (me of course).   The sand is powdery soft and near blinding in the sun.  I'm guessing it's quite cool to the feet as should reflect off the white.  I've also read, if you lucky enough, a kangaroo might just hop along the beach to pay and join for a bit (no joke :) ).  Let's go!

Blue (sort of)?

 

Let's just say finding a 'blue beach' is not easy to find :).  This is the best I could do... so far.   These little mysterious blue creatures washed up along the Pacific Coast beaches including California, Oregon, Washing and Canada.  They are Velella (jelly fish types creatures) or known as 'by the wind sailors'.  The marine animals, which float on the surface of the Pacific Ocean, have a small sail and oval shaped bodies about the size of a palm of a hand leaving them at the mercy of the wind and ocean currents.  Once they reach the shore,  they die :(.  Apparently they don't have the sting of a true jelly fish and they feed on small prey such as fish eggs and plankton they catch.  Valella can be found annually washing up during the summer months, but this summer they have colored some beaches blue.