Five AMAZING places you are FORBIDDEN from visiting

No one can ever go to every single corner of the earth, and in fact, no one ever has (that we know of). Even Donald M Parrish Jr, who has been rated as the most traveled person in the world has only been to 96% of the planet’s territories. While most of us have come to terms that we will only dream of being to as many places as Mr. Parrish, we would like to believe that we could at least go to the places we really really REALLY want to visit if we set our minds to it right (really)?  Everything is possible if we try our best…or so we are told. Not so fast cowboy, as there are some places that are so limited, chances are, you will never be allowed to visit. Here are some of the most amazing, fantastic, and mind-blowing places that you will likely never visit. You might want to get a box of tissues for this list.

#5 Giant Crystal Cave, Mexico

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UNESCO Monday #8: The Very Hungry Komodo Dragon

Standing Komodo Dragon

On our very first UNESCO Monday guest post, we welcome a picture from my very own girlfriend, Sidney (EunKyoung ) Choi. This is a picture I practically begged for as she captured my favorite moment of Komodo National Park through her camera while I was busy filming. This is how she describes the fantastic experience.

It was my first trip ever to South East Asia, and even though I am also  from Asia, it was totally new to me. There was the super clean sea water that was so clear, I could even see the bottom of the ocean. The untouched nature, especially the wild animals in a national park (in the national park where I live, you’re lucky if you can see squirrels or frogs), was amazing, strange, and exciting. One of my days in Indonesia, I went to Rinca Island in Komodo National Park to see Komodo dragons. Since the guide said it is not that easy to run into a dragon on the trails, I didn’t expect that much, but I guess we were lucky. The one we saw was injured and barely moved, but it was enough to be amazed.

On our way out of the trekking,  we found this Komodo near the ‘kitchen.’ There were about 7~8 Komodo dragons trying to get some food from the ranger kitchen. I know it doesn’t sound like something one of the scariest predators in the world would be doing, but yeah, that was exactly what they were up to. It was actually the dry season on the island, so they needed to find some food out of the trails.I found this dragon to be the most desperate one as it was even standing up looking for the food. He kept standing for a while, and that was the moment I realized that Komodo dragons can actually stand up. It is pretty amazing, but kind of cute, isn’t it?

Sidney Choi is a relatively new blogger who accompanies me on as many trips abroad as possible. She recently started her own blog in her native language, Korean. Her fantastic pictures and story telling are reason enough to check it out, even if you don’t understand Korean script. Hey, it’s not like I am biased or anything.

[Want to participate and be featured on this blog? Have you visited a UNESCO World Heritage Site? Find out how to submit your pictures here.] 

Historic Villages of Korea: Yangdong and Hahoe

Yangdong and Hahoe Folk VillagesLocation: Near Andong and Gyeongju, South Korea

Visited: Sept, 2010, Oct, 2013

Site Type: Cultural

Inscribed: 2010

Opinion and Background:

Historic, average, gorgeous, bland, amazing, underwhelming, overwhelming! There are so many conflicting words that come to mind when I want to describe these two folk villages. How do you evaluate two places as a single entity when they give you completely different feelings? While Yangdong made me wonder why this was even considered “World Heritage Site” worthy, Hahoe is officially, my new favorite place in Korea. Read more

UNESCO Monday #7: Shooting Down the Lisbon Hotel in Macao

Macao historical center fortress

Nowadays, Macao is mostly known for being the gambling capital of the world in terms of money spent every year. What a lot of people, including myself, didn’t know, is that the city was (until 1999) owned by the Portuguese, and much like Hong Kong was controlled directly by a foreign power (non-Chinese) for hundreds of years. Macao was actually the first foothold a foreign power laid in China and I was interested on checking it out. Read more

Korea’s Best: The Awesome Andong Mask Festival

Korean festivals and I have a long history that I must admit, hasn’t always been a happy one. While I love the idea of festivals and am glad that Korea has SOOO many of them, I approach them with caution. From time to time, I find myself in a place that is too crowded (Fireworks Festival), too overrated (Boryeong Mud Festival), and end up too disappointed (Yeosu Expo). I was pleasantly surprised that the Andong International Mask Festival not only lived up to my expectations, but surpassed them in every way!

Mask - Andong Mask Festival

For starters, this festival Read more