Great Blue Hole - Belize

This post is a part of the A-Z April Challenge. 

Ill keep this one short. Staying in the Americas but going a bit down south. Belize. Some 70 kms from the city of Belize, lies this beautiful "Great Blue Hole".

The hole is exactly circular in shape, about 300 meters wide and 124 meters deep. It was formed over years of Quaternary Glaciation when sea levels were much lower. The Great Blue hole is a part of the Belize Barrier Reef system and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. It is also one of the world's best scuba diving sites.

Though this place is extraordinarily beautiful, I would't necessarily like going here. I should have learnt swimming when I was young.

To know how this was formed, read this. 

Fly Geyser - Nevada, USA

This post is a part of the April A-Z Challenge

There are a few places on Earth which quite literally look Out of the World. They will not feel out of place in a Martian landscape. This next place is one of those.

Fly Geyser, Nevada, USA. Next Stop in the A-Z world tour. This place looks otherworldly. There are 2 things that make it much more unique – It is semi man-made and it lies on private property.

Yes, all this beauty on a private land owned by Todd Jaksick. It is a small geothermal geyser located in Washoe County, Nevada. It is large enough to be seen from the road, but only a few select researchers and photographers have ever been to this place, with permission of course. Owing to its secretive location, it is not a well-known tourist attraction. Which is quite a shame.

Let’s go a bit into its history. There were initially 2 geysers on this property. The first one was created way back in 1916. The owners of the place drilled into the land, looking for water, hoping that it would make the desert area into a farmland. And they were lucky, they did hit water. However, due to some odd stroke of luck the drill hit a geothermal packet of water, resulting in a geyser.

However, this is not the geyser which is spewing away currently. In the 1960s, the hot water somehow got diverted to a place about 100 meters from the original geyser, giving birth to a natural geyser. The first one has gradually subsided, and the younger geyser is still active.

This geyser has now developed into a beautiful multi-coloured hillock surrounded by a slushy pond. The colours are due to minerals, a whole wide range of them, mixing with oxygen in the air. It is surrounded with thermophilic algae, which thrives in such hot environment adding a green and red tinge to the surroundings, accentuating the otherworldly look. The place has developed an ecosystem of its own. With its vivid canvas of colours, many an organism would be willing to hop in there.

Many organizations have attempted to buy this land and open it for the public, but the owners have not budged. The land is bordered by a fence and a locked gate, with spikes adorning it. So, don’t attempt trespassing. There is one alternative though. If you are ever driving your way to the nearby town of Gerlach, look for Bruno’s Restaurant. They can help you reach the owners of this land, who do day tours seasonally for 25-50$ a day.

Bucket-list updated.  

El Colacho - Spain

This post is a part of the A-Z April Challenge

Staying in Spain. Let’s go from Lloret de Mar to Castrillo de Murcia, a 7 hour journey if Google maps is to be trusted. Quite a small, sleepy village which won’t catch the attention of a weary traveler. It has all the traits of being an ignored, lost town in the near future if not for El Colacho.

The world has a fair share of weird and crazy festivals, but none can be jumping over babies dressed in bright clothes weird. El Colacho in Spanish means Baby jumping. And that’s exactly what happens during this festival. A man dressed in weird clothes, that make him look like a Telugu movie Elvis Presley, jumps over babies who were born over the last 12 months.

El Colacho is a traditional Spanish festival that dates well back to 1620. It is celebrated annually to celebrate the Catholic feast of Corpus Christi in the village of Castrillo de Murcia. The brotherhood of Santisimo Sacramento de Minerva (Don’t ask me what that is) organizes a week long celebrations for the people of the village.

The final day, usually a Sunday, is when the El Colacho comes to town. During this event, a person dressed as the devil(Or Colacho), in bright yellow clothes with a bit of red, jumps over babies, who are laid down in mattresses in the street. There is usually a route that traverses the village, and mattresses are laid along it. The act is known as El Saito del Colacho, or just El Colacho for laymen.

Say Hello to Colacho

How exactly did someone give birth to this idea of baby jumping is unknown, but the reasons for it are apparently well defined. It is said to cleanse the babies of the sins committed in their previous birth and also ensures their safe passage through life, guarding them against illness and evil spirits. Brilliant I must say.

The Church considers this act abominable and has asked the Spanish priests to stay away from it. It believes Baptism by water and not jumping over babies by a random person dressed as the “Devil” is what cleanses the “Original Sin”. It has clearly fallen on deaf ears in Castrillo de Murcia.

The festival has been rated as among the most dangerous in the world, for obvious reasons. Personally, I find it more Stupid than dangerous. Spain, you just lost 1 point.  

Disaster Cafe - Spain

This post is a part of the A-Z April Challenge.

How many have experienced earthquakes? What would your first reaction be? Cover your heads and rush to the roads or some open ground. You don’t have that option if you are sitting in one particular hotel in Lloret de Mar, Spain.

Yes, if you find a normal dining experience with your loved ones too mainstream, head to Disaster Café. Where a 7.8 magnitude earthquake will not spoil your meal, but instead enhance the experience. And Of course, you got to pay for it.

From the outside, the Disaster Café looks like just another restaurant and seems like the last place where you would find simulated earthquakes. At the ground level, the Café is essentially an Alien themed restaurant, designed in the form of a spacecraft. On weekends, the kids are treated to Alien shows and loads of other fun activities. Seems pretty normal till now.

For grown ups, this is merely a starter. Customers who are thrill seekers are taken underground in an elevator, where they are welcomed to a cave-like restaurant. The first thing you would notice is the waiters and staff wearing construction hats and safety gear. Secondly, the dishes in which food is served is much heavier than normal. The food as such in the restaurant is allegedly quite good. So, you are happily gorging away and making small talk with your friends. What could possibly go wrong?

And then, disaster strikes. A 7.8 magnitude simulated earthquake shakes up the place pretty good. One can hear people screaming, chairs and tables moving all over the places, the lights flickering and pretty much everything in disarray. One can just wait for the “ordeal” to end. The heavy dishes almost always ensure the food stays put, but one can never be sure with earthquakes. Due to the controlled environment, there has never been any injury in the Disaster Café.

Do ensure that you are not at your best outfits in this restaurant. The café is not responsible for your favourite dress being spoiled by spilt drinks or food. So, that’s one more addition to my bucket-list. Boy, it keeps growing. Sponsors are most welcome. Anyone willing?

Chatillon Car Graveyard - Belgium

This post is a part of the A-Z April Challenge

World War II. The war was nearing its end and the US troops who were stationed in Chatillon, Belgium were given withdrawal orders. The officers were obviously elated to be able to get back home, but there was one dilemma that was kind of troubling them. What to do about their cars?

Lots of the American troops had managed to acquire cars for themselves (How is a different question). Now that they were being sent back, it was going to be tough and expensive for them to ship the cars. Though it was common to have all their goods boarded, there were some 500 cars to be shipped and the logistical costs were too high to be manageable. So, the Officers decided to leave the cars in Belgium. The cars were driven up a hill and parked along the forest, oblivious to the outside world. 

Once in US, the Officers who wanted to ship the cars back home had to do it on their own expenses. Most of them, in fact all of them weren’t willing to part with cash and not a single car was retrieved. Nearly 70 years down the line, the cars are still there. Welcome to the Chatillon Car Graveyard.

Zombie Apocalypse begins with the Cars

Currently, there is just one graveyard which is home to about 100-150 vehicles, some of which are among the oldest car models made while others were added by soldiers in the later years. There used to be 4 graveyards in and around Chatillon with nearly 500 cars, but over time the locals and car collectors have laid it bare.

The spot looks extremely creepy, but appealing at the same time. It is a hit among photographers and explorers. Though the decomposed cars lying together and intertwined with the forest is a grievous reminder of what happened across Belgium and Europe in course of the World War II, it exhibits a surreal beauty which is quite unparalleled. The forest has over the years devoured and gnawed on the cars, while they lie there almost embracing their slow death. Somber, yet an astonishing view.  

The spot would also make a perfect movie set, especially for the paranormal movies. Or it could also be a villain’s abode. Or just to be different, maybe shoot a zombie love duet.

There are a few other similar car cemeteries around the world, including an underwater car graveyard in Legrena, Greece. Must visit one of these sometime. An addition to my bucket-list.  

Check this out for a whole range of creepy pictures of the graveyard. 

Boryeong Mud Festival - South Korea

This is a part of the A-Z April Challenge.

Holi. The festival of colours. A festival that many people dread, especially in South of India. As an ad on TV says “South Indian, No Holi”. I mean who would want to get themselves drenched in multicoloured water and look like an inspiration for psychedelic artists.

There are a bunch of people though who take it a notch higher. Most of them come together in Boryeong, South Korea in July every year. So, what do they play with? Tomatoes? Na, that’s so Spain. Eggs? Nopes, We do that in India. It must be Chocolate then is it? Nopes, too expensive. Alright, blurt it out already.

Welcome to the Boryeong Mud festival. Where you can do anything that’s mud. But, how did one even think of doing something like this? Mud is well, mud. How did a person conceive the idea of having a mud festival where people fling mud at each other and actually have fun doing it?

No, This isn't Takeshi's Castle

Boryeong is a small town in Korea, around 200 Kms from the capital city of Seoul. It’s most prized resource is mud. A good part of 9.9 million square meters of the area here is covered with mud, also known as the Boryeong Mud Flats. But, this is not your average dirty, yucky mud. The mud found here is said to be rich in minerals like Germanium and bentonites, which are supposed to be valuable ingredients for cosmetics and also prevent wrinkles.

Cashing in on this, a South Korean cosmetics company started a range of cosmetics using the mud from the mud flats in 1996. The company was quite small and couldn't afford to spend on advertising and commercials. Hence, the Boryeong Mud Festival was born. The company thought it was a great way to promote their products as their potential customers could experience the benefits of mud firsthand.

The festival started in 1998 and has been an annual attraction since then. The mud is taken from the mud flats to the Daecheon Beach each year in July for the visitors to get dirty in. It is quite famous among tourists, expats and native Koreans alike. It had a footfall of 2.2 million in 2011 and is expected to cross 3 million this year.

For the entirety of the festival, many attractions are erected along the beach area. These include mud pools, mud slides, mud prisons and Mud skiing (Yes, you heard it right). If mud is not your thing, there is live music and lots of competitions running for you. Or you could get acupuncture or treatments done for your skin using that very mud. For people who love to get messy even after the festival, there runs a small market selling the products made out of Boryeong mud. There is also a festival culminating fireworks display which one would not want to miss.

The Boryeong Mud festival this year will run from July 19^th to July 28^th. Book your tickets and indulge yourself. Or does Holi seem so much better all of a sudden?  

Air Guitar World Championships - Finland

This post is a part of the A-Z April Challenge 2013

There are lots of people who would give an arm to be the best Guitarist in the world. But ever considered being the best Air Guitarist in the world?

Justin “Nordic Thunder” Howard of USA considered it. And his dream came true. He won the gold medal in the 2012 edition of the Annual Air Guitar World Championships. Yes, you heard it right. There is a world championship for Air Guitarists.

Every year, Oulu, Finland plays host to hoards of hopefuls who fight it out in front of a sellout crowd to be crowned as the ultimate Air Guitarist. This championship was initiated in 1996 as a part of the Oulu Music Video Festival. Since then participants have thronged Oulu from all over the world, to compete among their compatriots in skills of playing Air Guitar. The rationale behind the event as mentioned in their site is to promote World peace. The ideology is that “wars would end and all the bad things would go away if everyone just played air guitar”.  

There are similar regional competitions held in Austria, USA and UK, the winners for which qualify for the world championships. In January, 2013, India and Kazakhstan joined the Air Guitar World Championships (AGWC) network. Prospective air guitarists from these countries will be looking forward to strut their stuff in Finland.

So, how does this Air Guitar Championships work? Well, it’s quite simple. A song, usually with some heavy guitar work in it plays in the background and the participant has to do the best possible impersonation of the actual guitar using his hands.

There AGWC network has now been active for about 15 years and the Championship is in its 18^th year. The network has 20 countries and expanding. This year’s championship is scheduled for 21^st August. Anyone game for it?

An “Oh It can’t be true” Fact regarding Air Guitar: Our very own Sanjay Dutt is an avid Air Guitarist and won gold medal in a similar competition held in New York some 25 years back.