Source:http://www.scottsculptures.co.uk

1. Izu Islands:

Off the coast of Japan lies a series of volcanic islands. Due to the air being full of sulphur, they were evacuated as recently as 2000. However, citizens moved back, despite having to wear gas masks for most of their day. This is mainly due to a pension provided by scientists studying the debilitating effects of the environment. When the alien zombie virus hits Earth, these will probably be the only people left alive.

2. Neft Daslari:

Neft Daslari is a functional city built 34 miles from the nearest shore. Located in Azerbaijan, the town began as an oil platform before growing into the sprawling megaplex it is today. It kind of resembles one of those apocalyptic Kevin Costner films, except it’s not called “Oil World” and it doesn’t go on forever.

3. Sedlec Ossuary:

One of the creepiest places on Earth, Sedlec Ossuary is a Roman Catholic chapel in the Czech Republic. A popular burial site for nearly 1,000 years, the church eventually found itself with a bone storage problem. In 1870, a man was hired to arrange the bones, and he made the whole thing look like the love child of LEGOs and death metal.

4. Coober Pedy:

Temperatures in this Australian mining town reach well into broiling, so the opal miners who live there have built most of their town underground. Attractions include subterranean chapels, a metal tree and a golf course open only at night. This town is our first warning system against an invasion of Mole People.

5. Centralia, Pennsylvania:

In 1962, a huge underground coal deposit ignited beneath the town of Centralia, Pa. It has been burning steadily ever since. Still, the hearty town residents stuck around until 1981, when sinkholes forced a near-total evacuation (probably because drunk people kept trying to pee on the fire).

6. Gate Tower Building:

It’s funny how something as boring as zoning regulations could lead to one of the most exciting office buildings on the planet. A conflict between highway builders and skyscraper builders led to a unique compromise and an eye-popping piece of architecture. The highway is completely separated from the tower; otherwise the entire building would be constantly vibrating. Building employees are encouraged not to spit out the window.

7. Linfen:

Originally nicknamed “the modern fruit and flower town,” this Chinese city was home to the worst pollution of any metropolis on Earth. Before reform, belching coal plants continuously choked out the sun and citizens often had difficulty seeing their own hands. A crackdown on pollution and a switch to natural gas has resulted in dramatic improvements to air quality, which means citizens no longer have to wear black every day.

8. Karni Mata, Temple of the Rats:

This Indian temple is home to the belief that reincarnation occurs as a rat. As such, thousands of rats roam freely among worshippers. Being barefoot is a must, probably because shoes are the rat’s natural arch-nemesis.

 9. Kowloon Walled City:

Due to an invasion by squatters, lawmakers turned a blind eye to this section of China from 1947 until 1973. Notorious for being completely run by gangs, the lack of building codes created haphazard structures never seen before. The sun never touched many of the narrow streets until the city was demolished in 1994. This was as close to lawlessness as non-celebrities could ever get.

10. Manshiyat Naser:

On the edge of Cairo lies a community whose entire economic system centers around collecting and sorting garbage. The bustling area has shops, houses and even the largest church in the Middle East. We’re also guessing it probably has some of the largest homemade forts in the Middle East, too.

Source: http://blastr.com/2011/01/12-bizarre-real-life-plac.php

Australia is an amazing place which is a country and a continent also. Before Second World War it was hard for world to reach this continent across the ocean. But now this continent is amongst the world’s most developed places. Central Australia is having extreme weather conditions. The dry desert and hot temperature makes it hardiest place to live. But there is something unique about this desert which attracts the tourists. The stark beauty, strange geological formations, unfamiliar type of animals and shrubbery are main source of attraction for tourists in Coober pedy.

Known by most as the opal capital of the world, the small town of Coober Pedy has quickly become one of Australia’s most popular tourist destinations. Coober Pedy was originally known as the Stuart Range Opal Field, named after John McDouall Stuart, who in 1858 was the first European explorer in the area. In January 1915, the New Colorado Prospecting Syndicate, consisting of Jim Hutchison and his 14 year old son William, PJ Winch and M McKenzie had unsuccessfully been searching for gold south of Coober Pedy. The men had set up camp and were searching for water when young Willie found pieces of rose-colored sandstone (opal) in 1915 on the surface of the ground. This was on the 1st February 1915 and 8 days later the first opal claim was pegged.

 In 1920 Stuart Range Opal Field was re-named as Coober Pedy, an anglicized version of Aboriginal words “kupa piti”, commonly assumed to mean “white man in a hole”. During the Great Depression of the late 1930′s and 1940′s, opal prices plummeted and production almost came to a standstill. Typical of Coober Pedy’s history of boom and bust, an Aboriginal woman named Tottie Bryant made a sensational opal find at the Eight Mile field in 1946, starting a new rush to the fields. During the 1960′s, the mining industry expanded rapidly due to the many European migrants who came to seek their fortunes. The 60′s and 70′s saw opal mining develop into a multimillion dollar industry with Coober Pedy developing into a modern mining town.

In 1917 the Trans Continental Railway was completed. A number of construction workers followed by soldiers returning from World War 1 came to the opal fields, introducing the unique method of living underground in “dugouts”. Conditions were harsh and the environment did not lend itself to easy living. Water and provisions had to be carted great distances and under very trying conditions. Even with the introduction of very large underground water tanks things improved only marginally, the entitlement of water being only 24 gallons (60 litres) per week.

Coober Pedy is a town with population of 3500 people and is located 846 Km north of Adelaide and 645 Km south of Alice Springs.80% of population of Coober Paddy lives under ground. Coober Pedy is described as looking much like the surface of the moon – dotted with mine shafts and mullock heaps from 8 decades of mining. The relaxed and friendly lifestyle of the town has made it a breeding ground for cultural tolerance, diversity and acceptance.

Coober Pedy became a tourist location in 1981 when a local named Umberto Coro realized the huge potential of this unique settlement and decided to invest in building a hotel. News about the underground town spread fast and people from all over Australia began to show up, and today Coober Pedy is an international traveling destination. People can choose to stay in the Desert Cave Hotel as well as in other small local inns in Coober pedy and private underground houses. World’s only underground bar and gaming room is also here. There is also an art gallery, showcasing some of the best work of the artists from Central Australia. There are two underground mine museums: the Old Times Mine & Museum and Umoona Opal Mine & Museum. Underground churches and graveyard are the most interesting attractions. The local golf is free of grass that is why players take a small piece of tee-off turf with them.

Underground homes are not the holes one can imagine. People don’t dig down, they dig into the hillsides. The entrance is at street level with a ventilation shaft in the foreground. Town water supply comes from an underground source 24 kilometres north of the town, and then pumped through an underground pipeline to the water works where it is treated by reverse osmosis and pumped through a reticulated town water supply system. Underground homes carved into shops, churches, hotels, and even a swimming pool. A cave home usually has three bedrooms, kitchen, bathroom and lounge that are excavated out of the rock in the hillsides. Such homes don’t require air-conditioning, because they remain at a constant temperature. The underground houses are beautifully finished and the furniture is chosen so that it reflects the reddish color of the rock. Coober Pedy is featured in many movies, including Opal Dream, Mad Max, Beyond Thunder dome, Red Planet and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert. NASA is planning to train astronauts for a planned mission to Mars here in 2012.

If you’re looking for an offbeat travel experience, you simply must consider Coober Pedy, after all, an underground town is not something you see every day. The Opal Festival is the biggest local event of the year, and is going to held on Saturday 7th April 2012. The Coober Pedy Opal Festival celebrates the end of a long hot summer and the commencement of what many hope is a very prosperous opal mining season.

Source:https://cooberpedy.sa.gov.au