Because who doesn't want to spend their vacation at a prison?
Bizarre Tourist Destinations: Dead Vlei, Namibia
In the middle of the Namib-Naukluft National Park in the central Namibian desert lies the dead marshes of Sossusvlei. Surrounded by 1000 feet high sand dunes and the skeleton of 9000-year-old trees, the Dead Vlei is a spectacular and eerie tourist attraction.
Thousands of years ago the area was overflowing with the waters of the Tsauchab River, ebbing and flowing, creating patterned clay pan crusts and shallow pools for the trees to flourish.
However, severe drought struck the region that dried up the riverbed and killed the trees, creating a blackened, withered graveyard where a wide-expanse of verdant land once stood.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBEsvHBNGi8
Bizarre Tourist Destinations: The Ice Aquarium, Japan
In northeastern Japan, the city of Kesennuma is home to the bizarrely beautiful Ice Aquarium. Here, eighty species of sea critters are immaculately preserved in blocks of ice. The aquarium uses flash-freeze technology to preserve the variety of creatures unloaded from the Kesennuma port. The interior of the aquarium is negative 20 degrees Celsius (5 degrees Fahrenheit) and tourists have to don parkas for their visit.
Bizarre Tourist Destinations: San Pedro Prison, Bolivia
The San Pedro Prison Tour in Bolivia is one of the most bizarre ways to spend your holiday. Hosted by inmates and corrupt guards, the tours are usually done by calling ahead at the prison and posing as an inmate’s family member. As one of the most dangerous and bizarre prisons in the world – where stabbings are pervasive, inmates rent accommodation, run their own businesses and can live with their families – the tour is filled with intriguing and disturbing discoveries.
Aside from visits to cells and the infamous swimming pool where many prisoners have been killed, the most bizarre part of the tour is the opportunity to take cocaine. The cocaine is produced onsite and sold at low prices, which explains the overnight tourist parties that sometimes occur.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpPhwmgWok8
Bizarre Tourist Destinations: Haw Par Villa, Singapore
The Haw Par Villa is a theme park in Singapore that houses over 1000 statues and 150 dioramas representing Chinese myths, folklore and legends. The park was built in 1937 by two brothers and was intended to teach illiterate villagers about traditional Chinese values. Most interestingly, some of the statues include gruesome depictions of hell and the consequences of immoral behavior.
This is the first in a two part post on bizarre tourist destinations. See the second part here, four of the weirdest tourist destinations.
