Posts from ‘July, 2008’

When you think of spending your night in a drain pipe you think of raw sewerage, rats and other nasties, but not at the dasparkhotel. They have very fancy drain pipes turned into cabins complete with all the comforts like double bed, lighting, woolly blankets and power, but best of all the rates are “pay as you wish” you just pay what you can to support the project. The concrete pipes are quiet spacious and there are toilets, showers and minibar close by so you have everything you need. The hotel Ottensheim on the beautiful Danube is open May to October over the warmer months, bookings are pretty much done on line and you receive a pin number to enter into the drain pipe to enter your ‘room’- sounds like fun. Read the rest of this entry »

Have you ever left the local pub late at night and needed a bit of a wee and had no where to go, well the English city of Laberth, in outer London has the answer with these great pop up toilets. Instead of having unsightly toilets all over town they are installing clever pop up toilets which disappear underground when not in use. They not only go out of sight they get cleaned underground making them sparkling clean for the next visitor. The council is expecting the urinals to be such a hit, they have budgeted for about 6 over the next year which will help keep the night life areas of the city free from nasty smells and much more pleasant for visitors- and they have done it with much more taste than the Chinese did it in our story a few days back!

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There are museums for just about everything and here’s another unusual one- the Lunchbox Museum in Columbus USA. Allen Woodall who started the museum started collecting lunchboxes late 1980’s and today has over a thousand of all shapes and sizes. There’s some fascinating boxes on display including hundreds of rare metal cases dating back to the 50’s and beyond. Many of them feature American pop culture of the time with musicians of the day like Elvis, the Osmonds or TV stars like Flipper and Bonanza. Now lunchboxes are made of plastic or cardboard and don’t have the same nostalgia as the old metal cases but there are some great ones on display including a huge Star Wars collection. The collection is so unique it is even recognised by the Smithsonian.
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Now this is just wrong, what are they thinking in Chong Qing, China, they have opened what is believed to be the world’s largest toilet complex with over 1000 themed toilets. They have made the whole complex out of recycled materials and some of the themes are well bad taste to say the least. The Virgin Mary urinal must upset every Christian who sees it, it’s not really the place you would like the Pope to drop in on. But other than the Virgin Mary ones there are Egyptian ones a crocodile’s mouth you wee into and even washing basins which resemble, wait for it, women’s buttocks. The City is working on a submission to the Guinness Book of Records for the world’s biggest toilet complex, maybe they should work on preparing apologies for all the religious and women’s group who might be offended by their weird dunnys. Read the rest of this entry »

Wisconsin State Fair Park in Milwaukee USA is home to the International Clown Hall of Fame. Here the art of clowning is celebrated in a fantastic and fun display showing plenty of clown memorabilia and is a extensive research facility for clown history. The hall of fame started in 1987 with the first induction in 1989, and since then over 60 clowns have been added to the award, with clowns from all around the world. In addition to the hall of fame the there is also an annual “Lifetime of Laughter Achievement Award handed out to clowns. The hall of fame is a living museum of clowning. There are clown performances, special events, seminars, community oriented programs, classes and this museum maintains a vast archive of clown artefacts and library and fun for all ages, a must for anyone after a bit of a laugh when in Milwaukee.

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We have featured some weird museums on Tripandom, like the parasite museum, the ramen noodle museum and the Bangkok forensic museum and we have found another, the French Fries Museum or Friet Museum as the Belgium’s like to call it. Located in Brugge in Belgium only 200 metres from the Grand Palace of Bruges the Friet Museum offers hours of entertainment for the visitor. You can learn about the history of fries, visit a mock fries shop, On the ground floor you can learn about the fascinating history of the potato which originated in Peru more than 10,000 years ago. On the first floor, the visitor can discover the history of the fries and how they came to Belgium and in the basement of the building, in the medieval cellars, it is even possible to sample some. The museum claims to be the only museum dedicated to potato fries in the world, it’s just hard to imagine no one else has thought of this great idea. The questions most frequently asked by visitors are: Where does the potato come from? Was the fry invented in Belgium? and What is the secret of making good fries? -well you will have to visit the museum to find out the answers! and I wonder what they goodies they sell in the gift shop? Read the rest of this entry »

Well it’s the 4th of July so we are off to the United States of America today and we play tribute to the grand old lady of New York – the Statue of Liberty. Just about everyone is familiar with the statue so we thought we would feature some interesting trivia about America’s much loved monument. Did you know that she is probably America’s biggest lady with a waistline of 35 feet, she has a face 8 feet tall and from the tip of her torch to the ground is 305 feet. The seven huge rays on her crown measure in at 9 feet long and weigh up to 150 pounds each. The torch has been replaced several times and each time it has been in a different style, the current one was installed in 1986 and is covered in sheets of 24 k gold. You might think being such a huge statue the copper outer is thick, no it is actually only about 3/32 of an inch think which is less than the thickness of two pennies. After being closed for several years after the 2001 terrorist attacks the Statue of Liberty is now open for visitors, where people can once again walk onto the observation deck for spectacular views of New York City and the harbor. Read the rest of this entry »

A lot of the world’s transport systems could learn a lot from the Japanese rail travel experience as it is amazing. Not only is it efficient, plentiful and on time they have what would have to be the world’s best ticketing system. They have several sensor card systems including the Suica and Pasmo systems and a multitude of special multi trip passes and not forgetting the JR pass which many tourists use, but the smartest system would have to be the fare adjustment system. A lot of people expecially the non Japanese speaking people have trouble working out how much the proper fare should be, well the stations have the answer, all you need to do is purchase the cheapest fare you can find, jump on the train and when you are done, as you exit the station go to the fare adjustment machine, it will tell you how short your ticket is, you just pay the extra few yen if required, it issues a new ticket and you take it to the exit turnstiles, it really takes the confusion out of rail travel.

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Well we got the taste for Japanese stories with yesterday’s post so we thought we would do another. Today we feature the Shinkansen or Japan’s bullet train. This state of the art service is the safest, most punctual and one of the fastest rail services in the world. The service has been running for nearly 40 years and have carried over 6 billion passengers which is Earth’s entire population. The train system has never had a serious accident and travels at speeds in excess of 300 km per hour and there is testing of trains which will do 500 km per hour- it is quiet amazing. Catching the train is the easiest thing, no waiting and long queues like at the airport, just purchase a ticket from the vending machine or office counter, go to your station, wait at the allocated laneway, wait no more than a couple of minutes step inside the carriage walk a few paces to your allocated seat, sit down and away you go. It is that easy. A trip from Tokyo to Osaka takes a little more than 2 hours, and you usually have less than 10 minutes waiting time to board the train. During the day a train leaves Tokyo for Osaka every five minutes and each train holds about 1600 people. Food carts with lovely bento boxes and other treats are brought around the cabin, you can even purchase liquor. It’s one of the most comfortable and hassle free forms of travel.

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