Deep in the the Atacama desert in Chile emerges a giant sculpture of a hand. A popular photo spot for tourist visiting the Atacama. The hand was constructed at an altitude of 1,100 meters above sea level. The work has a base of iron and cement, and stands 11 meters tall. The sculpture was inaugurated on March 28, 1992. The sculpture is located about 70 kilometers to the south of Antofagasta, Chile. The artist behind Mano de Desierto, The Hand of the Desert is the Chilean sculptor Mario Irarrázabal. 

The Door to Hell, is situated near the small town of Darvaz in Turkmenistan.  Thirty-five years ago, geologists were drilling for gas when then encountered a very large cavern underground filled with a poisonous gas.  They ignited the gas expecting it to burn off in a few hours.  Thirty-five years later, the gas is still burning.Its 60 meters in diameter and 20 meters depth have not been caused by volcanic activity or a meteorite impact.This crater was created sometime in the 50’s when the Soviets were prospecting for natural gas in this area and it’s been burning since then.

 

 

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Photographer John H. Bradley has more amazing photos of the Darvaz Burning Gas Crater: Link

Valencia, Spain
La Despertà the beginning of Fallas 2009 -The last Sunday in February boasts one amazingly loud display making this one of the most dramatic festivals in the world. Firecrackers in the hands of thousands of people 7:30 am on a Sunday morning. The aftermath is a cloud of smoke and ringing ears.

“The last Sunday in February is a huge, busy day in the city. Not all Sundays are like this. And in Valencia, the last Sunday in February manages to achieve the polar opposite. It’s 7:30 in the morning, and you’re on the streets, in the middle of World War III.

The Despertà is Valencia’s annual wake-up call for Fallas — the region’s most important festival and one of the biggest in the world. At 7am, thousands of people belonging to organized groups (Fallas Commissions) gather at Parterre Park (location) to collect their ammunition bags for an assault on the city’s sleeping populace. And at 7:30am sharp, all hell breaks loose.”

 

“These freaks just start throwing firecrackers everywhere.
And I’m not talking cute
cherry bombs. This is the real shit. 15 seconds into the “parade”, a piece of shrapnel caught me just under the eye. An ugly, fat kid laughed at me before throwing a mini-grenade under my feet. A zombie-eyed homeless guy snuck up behind me, then offered me a firecracker. I think I screamed, I’m not sure, my ears were reverberating, reality seemed skewed.”source link

Ivrea Carnival

The Battle of the Oranges, Ivrea, Italy
Italy stages its biggest food fight each  February in the Piedmont town of Ivrea, where thousands gather each year before Lent to re-enact a medieval battle by hurling oranges at each other. By the end of it the entire town is awash with Vitamin C.

Orange fetishists are well advised to visit the northern Italian town of Ivrea, 35 kilometers from Turin, on the Sunday before Lent when the townsfolk stage their annual Battle of the Oranges, the country’s largest fruit fight.

It involves around 3,000 revellers on foot and in carts drawn by decorated horses and lasts for three days, after which everyone is covered in pulp and orange juice, and the streets are slippery with squashed orange peel.
The ceremony, part of the town’s historic carnival, marks the rebellion of the people against tyrannical lords who ruled the town in the Middle Ages. Each year a carnival mascot is chosen from the town’s school children to play “Violetta”, a beautiful girl who in medieval times refused the advances of a lord and came to represent the victory of freedom over tyranny.

More at Spiegel-source.



 

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One of the world’s biggest holes is located in Russia.
The gaint hole is actually a diamond mine in Eastern Siberia near the town Mirna. It is 525 meters deep and 1.25 km in the diameter. According to bizarre reports air traffic has been suspended due to the “suction above the hole”. Which some have claimed have resulted in several helicopter crashes.

Kennecott Mine. is actually the world’s largest man-made excavation. “Kennecott mine looks more like a huge canyon than it does a hole, as compared to the nearly-symmetrical pit in Siberia….Started over a hundred years ago, it pioneered open-pit mining operations. It is located 28 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. It’s 2.5 miles across and 3 quarters of a mile deep. The mine is so big that it can be easily seen from space shuttles in outer space with the naked eye. By comparison, the Mirna diamond mine is only about one-third of a mile deep and less than a mile across.” source

Kennecott Copper Mine, the world’s largest man-made excavation and first open-pit, is located 28 miles southwest of Salt Lake City. 2 ½-miles across, and ¾-mile deep, the mine is so big, it can be seen from space shuttles in outer space.

Crocosaurus Cove ” Cage of Death” Not Really…

An Australian  theme park hopes to lure tourists into a “Cage of Death” for a close encounter with a 18ft crocodile.

Just 1.5″in of acrylic separates brave visitors from the jaws of “Choppa” - a feisty saltwater croc.

Top End tourists climb into a clear box before being lowered into “Choppa’s” lair.

They’ll then spend 15 minutes inside the 9 foot high cage and watch Choppa, who lost both front feet while fighting other crocodiles, trying to take a bite out of them.

One of the first people to climb into the Cage of Death, Jim Charles, told the Northern Territory News it was a scary experience.

“You just feel the power when it hit the cage,” Mr Charles said.

“You wouldn’t have a chance (without the cage).”

The owners of the $29 million Crocosaurus Cove theme park, which is scheduled to open in Darwin next week, have described the feature attraction as “a shark cage without the bars”.

Another seven crocodile enclosures will feature underwater viewing windows, and one will have a swimming area next to the viewing window so visitors get a sense of swimming with the crocs.

The most famous crocodile to be housed at the park is Burt, who starred as the beast that nearly ate Linda Koslowski’s character in Crocodile Dundee.

The owners say there will be more than 100 crocodiles, 200 fish, 40 turtles and 76 snakes and lizards on display.

 

Also check out Cango Wildlife Ranch in Oudtshoorn South Africa.
http://www.oudtshoorninfo.com/attractions.php?id=8&category=101

Located in north-western India, the small city of Deshnoke,has a place of worship unlike any other, Rajastan’s famous Karni Mata Temple. The temple is home to over 20,000 worshipped rats, referred to as Kabbas. Many people travel great distances to pay their respects. 

 

For many Westerners this would seem bizarre and strange to have a place of worship over run by an animal that is commonly associated with pestilence and disease. Since the temple was constructed there has never been an outbreak of disease associated with the vermin.

‘This ornate, isolated Hindu temple was constructed by Maharaja Ganga Singh in the early 1900s as a tribute to the rat goddess, Karni Mata. Intricate marble panels line the entrance and the floors, and silver and gold decorations are found throughout.

“The legend goes that Karni Mata, a mystic matriarch from the 14th century, was an incarnation of Durga, the goddess of power and victory. At some point during her life, the child of one of her clansmen died. She attempted to bring the child back to life, only to be told by Yama, the god of death, that he had already been reincarnated.

Karni Mata cut a deal with Yama: From that point forward, all of her tribespeople would be reborn as rats until they could be born back into the clan.

 

In Hinduism, death marks the end of one chapter and the beginning of a new one on the path to a soul’s eventual oneness with the universe. This cycle of transmigration is known as samsara and is precisely why Karni Mata’s rats are treated like royalty.”

“Unlike the rest of the world, where rats are commonly killed for inhabiting the same space as humans, in this temple the rat residents are treated with sincere devotion. The veneration is so complete that if someone accidentally steps on a rat and kills it, they are expected to buy a gold or silver rat and place it in the temple as atonement.”

Source

 

 

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The San Alfonso del Mar resort at Algarrobo, on Chile ’s southern coast has a pool so large that resort guests use can use kayaks and small boats to get around. At over 1,000 yards long, covering more 20 acres, with an astounding  115-foot deep end, and holding 66 million gallons of water.  This pool is now also the deepest in the world trumping the Nemo 33 pool at 108 feet.

According to a 2008 article on News.com.au

At one-kilometre in length, the resort’s tropical blue lagoon has received the nod from the Guinness World Records as the world’s largest swimming pool.

The lagoon, cost an estimated $US1.5 billion ($1.74 billion) to build, covers an area of eight hectares and the 2.5 million litres of water needed to fill it is drawn from the Pacific Ocean.

The Guinness Book of Records has named the vast pool beside the sea in Chile as the biggest in the world. This manmade marvel took 5 years to complete.Chile’s monster pool uses a computer-controlled suction and filtration system to keep fresh seawater in permanent circulation, drawing it in from the ocean at one end and pumping it out at the other.

 

Source

thanks to http://www.BlahaLife.com

 

Source

Located in Brussels, Belgium, NEMO33 is officially the Deepest Pool in the World with a depth of 108 feet. The complex was designed by Belgian diving expert John Beernaerts as a multi-purpose diving instruction, recreational, and film production facility, and opened in 2004. 

The pool is filled with 660,430 gallons of non-chlorinated, highly filtered spring water.

 “The water that fills the pool comes from a spa and it’s heated by solar panels to keep it nice and warm.”

 Imagine jumping in to a pool minus the chlorine smell. The temperature is  maintained at 86°F and contains several simulated underwater caves at the 32 foot depth level. At this level there underwater windows that allow outside visitors to peer into the pools at various depths. The pool is a big hit with recreational scuba divers who are able to enjoy the constant controlled atmosphere and water temperature for varying levels of instruction. The pool has two large basin areas at depth levels of 16 ft and 32 ft, and a large circular shaft descending to a depth of 33m (108 ft). There are three permanent bells of air under pressure where air is renewed constantly, this aids instructors to spend more time with students at depth.

 

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Located in Downtown Pyongyang Near the Kim Il Sung Stadium and in the west side of Moran Hill is the abandoned  Kaeson Youth Park.

“It turns out there are three funfairs in Pyongyang in various states of disrepair, the largest being the Kaeson Youth Park.Opened in 1984, it was built to project an image of progress and the ingenuity of its citizens. Backed by Russia and China when they were heavily funding the DPRK’s growth, the Kaeson Youth Park is the largest of three funfairs still in operation in the greater Pyongyang area.”  Source

Meisho Amusement Machines Built the “roller coaster of death” for this fun fair that was originally named ” Kwansong Tancha”. According to the Roller coasters database this rusty steel coaster first opened in 1984 with opening of the park.

Here are some images of what the park looked like when it was open.

Image source: Lucaskt 

 

Image source: NKeconWatch

 

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Image source: NKeconWatch

The Roller Coaster of Death, Kaeson Youth Park.

Also Check out  Pyonyang’a infamous Ryugyong Hotel

source via:By:Dahlia Rideout @ divinecaroline 

 

Check it out on Google Earth