This my is my second list of 5 awesome bucket list worthy destinations I would love to visit which you probably didn’t consider. If you missed the first list, click here. There are so many places in the world, so I thought, why not make another list. I have spent a lot of my free time over the last few years researching new places, and reading about awesome places to visit. While the usual suspects, such as the Terracotta Army, Grand Canyon, and Venice often come up, other more obscure places catch my eye from time to time. Here are five more places which are amazing, but you probably didn’t consider:
#5 Sichuan, China
This comes it at number five because, well, I’ve already visited Sichuan. However, when I visited, I was on my way to see the Mauseoleum of the First Qin Emperor (the Terracotta Army) in Xi’an, so I missed two of the three most interesting things in this Chinese province: The Leshan Giant Buddha, and the Giant Panda Sanctuaries. In case you didn’t figure it out yet, the third greatest wonder in Sichuan, is Sichuan food!
The Leshan Giant Buddha is a carving of the Buddha on the side of a mountain, or maybe more accurately said, on the entire side of a mountain! At 71 meters (about 220 feet Americans) tall, it is the largest pre-modern statue in existence. It took over 90 years to carve from 713 CE – 803 CE (not continuously of course, even then, funds were low an progress was slow).
The Giant Panda Sanctuaries are a set of structures that hold at least 30% of all giant pandas left in the world. They also hold some rarer panda species. When I visited, Sichuan had recently been struck with one of the most devastating earthquakes in its history, so the pandas were being moved for their safety and I didn’t get a chance to see them.
These two sites (and the food) definitely make Sichuan, bucket list worthy!
#4 Mongolia
When people think about Mongolia, almost immediately, images of Genghis Khan, the leader who established the Mongolian Empire, one of the largest empires in history, come to mind. What some people don’t realize however, is how scarcely populated Mongolia was then, and still is now. Mongolia and its people have a long history of nomadic lifestyles. Some Mongolians still live the traditional way, with about a third being nomadic or semi-nomadic, which is why it makes my bucket list. In addition, they have a cool festival called Naadam, where Mongolians compete in horse racing, archery, and wrestling. The wrestling is particularly of interest to me because it is said that they compete in an enormous 1024 person bracket, with no weight classes. Can you imagine a tiny guy wrestling an enormous giant? I don’t want to imagine, I want to see it!