Interesting places on the planet.

[Kryton]

The Giant Crystal Cave at Naica, Mexico.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZsIebVCr0zk

The Giant Crystal Cave at Naica, Mexico.
Isn't it super hot down there? I remember reading that people struggled to stay longer than ten minutes due to the humidity.

I love knowing there's probably millions of these caves below the surface, but completely undiscovered or without access. Untouched by our filthy hands.

[Kryton]

Whittier, Alaska



http://www.whittieralaska.gov/

A city/town(?) where almost everyone (about 300 people) live under one big roof in the The Begich Towers Condominium.

In addition to the residential areas the building contains the basic services of Whittier: a post office, general store, hospital, the Whittier Police Department, and the mayor's office. There is also a small Methodist Church, a grocery, laundry, a small hotel, conference room, and a play area with an indoor pool.

https://begichtowers.com/facilities.html




Surrounded by mountains, ocean (and harbour), glaciers and waterfalls and freezing 60mph winds 'described as typhoonal'. It's also the wettest city in Alaska with 198 inches of rain each year and lots of snowfall. The sun comes out roughly 133 days a year (some of those days have 22 hours of sunshine).

One of the major worries to residents is the large amount of bears that come down from the mountains to sniff at the dumpsters and bins.

History:

The city itself is a historical area, established by the U.S. Army during World War II. The Federal railroad to Portage was completed in 1943 and became the primary debarkation point for cargo, troops, and dependents of the Alaska Command.

In 1948 the military began construction of the first of two buildings for their military personnel as the Port of Whittier was then recognized as an ice-free, deepwater port strategically located to Anchorage and Interior Alaska. This remained active until 1960 at which time the total population was 1200.

The City of Whittier was incorporated in 1969. Today, less than 300 people reside in the town supporting the Alaska State Ferry, the Alaska Railroad, freight barge, commercial fishing, the Whittier Harbor, recreation and tourism with an annual visiting population of over 700,000.

Video of the interior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pxha9T-eScc

Seems nice to be honest.

[imitationleather]

Wow. That is totally fucking nuts.

[Kryton]

Wow. That is totally fucking nuts.

Complete contrast to Norilsk too despite both being built with similar intentions in mind (mining/military).

[Kryton]

It's had its fair share of excitement too. Bears, harsh winds, deep snows, shitty weather, an explosion at the docks (which sank a boat), an earthquake (the condominium survived due to being built earthquake proof). Tsunamis.

It's all bloody going on.

[Shoulders?-Stomach!]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salina_Turda

Salina Turda, near Cluj, Romania.



Salt mine that has been turned into an amusement park. Epic otherworldly scale mixed in with alarmingly calcified ferris wheel, mini golf course, saline boating lake and sweeping salt vistas.

[A Hat Like That]

Diomede Islands





Fairly unremarkable looking, but it's their relative location to each other



Which I think creates for one of the best sentences on wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diomede_Islands

I'm going to fucking to do it one day, nobody can stop me.

This chap:



walked across the Bering strait in 2006ish, close to those two islands, before stumbling on a Russian listening post and getting into ca. 10 years of visa related issues.

He's currently, well,

As of today, Karl Bushby is on the border of Turkmenistan and Iran, after walking through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. His problem in this part of the world is obtaining visas. His initial request for a visa for Iran has been turned down, and consequently this is going to lead to protracted negotiations to get even a tourist visa. Everything hinges on getting around the Caspian Sea. Going to the North would take him back into Russia, towards the Ukraine and the area where there is a virtual war going on at present. Would the Russians let him into this area? The Russian authorities and Karl have never been the best of friends ever since he arrived unannounced after crossing the Bering Straits. They let him carry on, but it was plain they were just about tolerating him and upsetting them again was not a good idea.

[Kryton]

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salina_Turda

Salina Turda, near Cluj, Romania.



Salt mine that has been turned into an amusement park. Epic otherworldly scale mixed in with alarmingly calcified ferris wheel, mini golf course, saline boating lake and sweeping salt vistas.

'Cor that's ace that is.

[Kryton]

https://www.eldoradoweather.com/climate/world-extremes/world-temp-rainfall-extremes.php

The fifteen hottest places on the planet right now are all in Australia. Extreme RISING temperatures. Probably at least another 2-3 months before things begin getting slightly cooler.





Also the fires that are raging across parts Australia equates to approximately 1.2 million hectares of burned land (The Amazon recently lost 906 thousand hectares to put things into perspective). Possibly the biggest fire on earth right now.



https://myfirewatch.landgate.wa.gov.au/
https://www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/fire-information/fires-near-me

[studpuppet]

One that's now gone was the Kowloon Walled City, an ungoverned area in Hong Kong that finally got cleared away and redeveloped in the 1990s. I think it had the highest living density of human beings at one point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj_8ucS3lMY

[Buelligan]

Went up into the White Mountains once to spend some time with the Bristlecone pines.  That was really extremely good as an experience.  Definitely would again.

[NoSleep]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristlecone_pine#Oldest_living_organisms

I like how they've entitled one of the images "The eponymous bristles".

Looks like an amazing place (and species).

[Inspector Norse]

As of today, Karl Bushby is on the border of Turkmenistan and Iran, after walking through Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan. His problem in this part of the world is obtaining visas. His initial request for a visa for Iran has been turned down, and consequently this is going to lead to protracted negotiations to get even a tourist visa. Everything hinges on getting around the Caspian Sea. Going to the North would take him back into Russia, towards the Ukraine and the area where there is a virtual war going on at present. Would the Russians let him into this area? The Russian authorities and Karl have never been the best of friends ever since he arrived unannounced after crossing the Bering Straits. They let him carry on, but it was plain they were just about tolerating him and upsetting them again was not a good idea.

I usually check that I have all the right papers and stuff before I go on holiday. This bloke seems to get it wrong every bloody time!

[Poisson Du Jour]

One that's now gone was the Kowloon Walled City, an ungoverned area in Hong Kong that finally got cleared away and redeveloped in the 1990s. I think it had the highest living density of human beings at one point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj_8ucS3lMY

This is great, fits the thread very well.

[honeychile]

Oh and it has the most northernmost mosque in the world.

Muslims there are well and truly fucked if Ramadan fulls during the winter.

A reasonably well-known one in Europe is Setenil de las Bodegas, where quite a few buildings were just lodged in under overhanging rocks.

[Kryton]

https://jakubmarian.com/wealth-per-capita-by-country-in-europe-map/

Credit Suisse recently published its annual wealth report comparing the wealth (net worth) of adults (as private individuals, i.e. not the wealth of the whole country divided by its population) in different countries.

Credit Suisse defines wealth = financial assets (e.g. bank deposits) + non-financial assets (e.g. real estate) – debt (if assets are less than debt, wealth can be negative). The map below shows estimates of the median wealth per adult by country, which is the middle value (50% own more, 50% own less):

[Sebastian Cobb]

Gary, Indiana

Another Russian curiosity is Magnitogorsk, which copied Gary, Indiana, then one of the most successful steel producing cities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnitogorsk

It too had a problem with no trees growing so they made metal ones.

[Kryton]

According to the local hospital, only 1% of all children living in the city are in good health. The Blacksmith Institute says that, according to a local newspaper report, "only 28% of infants born in 1992 were healthy, and only 27% had healthy mothers".

Christ.

[greenman]

Mir diamond mine in Siberia

[steve98]

Lovely. If I suffered from hay-fever I'd go there for some respite.

[imitationleather]

People living there are alleged to have a lower life expectancy by 10-15 years and twice as much chance of developing blood illnesses.

Not as bad as Glasgow, then.

[steve98]

At least there's some greenery in Glasgow (Quite a lot actually). At least you can order a salad without havin' to draw a diagram.

[Mr Farenheit]

One that's now gone was the Kowloon Walled City, an ungoverned area in Hong Kong that finally got cleared away and redeveloped in the 1990s. I think it had the highest living density of human beings at one point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj_8ucS3lMY

This place is also the subject of one of the best architectural drawings ever made. A Japanese team surveyed the whole deserted complex just before it was demolished in 1993. This huge cross-section with details of the the residents daily life inside was part of a book they published on the mini city.






Article with link to hi-res version of the drawing: https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2014/11/an-illustrated-cross-section-of-hong-kongs-infamous-kowloon-walled-city/

The book seems to be available on Japanese amazonhttps://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/switch-language/product/4000080709/ref=dp_change_lang?ie=UTF8&language=en_JP

[greenman]

Attabad Lake in Pakistan, created by a massive landslide a few years ago flooding the Karakorum Highway meaning all traffic has to be ferried across.

[steve98]

img]https://www.thisiscolossal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/map-small.jpg[/img]

If a plane smashed in to that place it would just bounce off.

[idunnosomename]

I was amazed when i found out about Kowloon Walled City earlier this year. it was only because I noticed a sludge metal band of the same name touring the UK. as it was i didn't see them, as I saw some death metal bands play in Shrewsbury instead.

Shrewsbury! does that count.

[Sebastian Cobb]

I've got that City of Darkness (the revisited one) book on it but haven't read it properly because I'm a knob.

There's a good telly documentary on it made by a German station as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-rj8m7Ssow

[Kryton]

I Love those cross section pictures, thanks so much for sharing.

[studpuppet]

I've got that City of Darkness (the revisited one) book on it but haven't read it properly because I'm a knob.

You are not alone in having this deficiency. In our defence it's an immense book though!

[Kryton]

In that cross section of Kowloon, why is some dickhead using a pick axe to smash into his neighbour's room?