Top 5 Unluckiest Places in the World

The Mayans thought the world was going to end in 2012 but according to Viking legend the Apocalypse is actually due in February 2014. So, could 2014 really be our unlucky year? I doubt many of us will believe that. However if you’re superstitious or not, a trip to one of these unlucky destinations may make you start believing.

Source: Paranormal Events

Bhangarh, Rajasthan, India

Considered as a ghost town in India, it is believed in the early 17^th century, Madho Signh, a fierce ruler, sought to construct his capital at Bhangarh. During the time a saint named Baba Balanath warned the king not to raise his buildings to heights that would cast a shadow over his cherished salvation spot. Madho Singh obliged, but years later, Ajab Singh added onto the fort, unleashing a series of peculiar events that swiftly led to the city’s doom.

Source: Wikipedia

Rose Hall, Montego Bay, Jamaica

Legend states that Rose Hall was the abode of White Witch, Annie Palmer who was brought up by a Haitian nanny who practiced voodoo. When it comes to curses nothing seems quite as infamous as a voodoo spell, and it is commonly believed that Annie Palmer was responsible for the murder of three husbands and multiple lovers over the course of a decade. Today she is regularly seen wandering her house with her collection of murdered men stalking the terrified visitors.

Source: mstecker

Drake Passage, Patagonia, Chile & Argentina

Between the southern tip of South America and the icy fringes of Antarctica, lies a grey expanse of crashing waves famously known as the Drake Passage. With torrential winds that like to change direction, this turbulent route between seas is not for the faint hearted. Named after the famous British explorer Sir Francis Drake, this body of water has been the demise of countless vessels, including the San Telmo, the flagship of the Spanish Armada bound for Peru.

Source: built.org.uk

Tower of London, London, UK

The notorious Tower of London is famous for being the last destination for many poor criminals and unlucky nobles who met their death by the executioner’s blade. The grounds are said to be haunted by popular spirits such as Thomas Beckett and Henry VI who miserably walk the cold stone halls. The most famous spirit Countess of Salisbury, who in 1541 was hacked to death by her executioner after trying to escape from the gallows, is regularly seen. Some people have even claimed to have seen her grisly death acted out by other spirits.

Bermuda Triangle, Atlantic Ocean

Obviously no unlucky list would be complete without the famous triangle of terror that spans across the Atlantic Ocean from the shores of Florida, over to San Juan, Puerto Rico and up to its namesake island of Bermuda. The legend of the Bermuda Triangle first began during the 1950s when five fighter planes mysteriously disappeared during a training session. Since then, it has grown in notoriety after subsequent tragedies involving additional planes and boats. Whilst sceptics like to blame magnetic fields and hurricane-prone winds, there are still many true believers out there who insist supernatural forces are to blame.

5 Weird Foods From Around The World

Everyone has different tastes and as they say – one man’s meat is another man’s poison Here’s my top 5 weird foods from around the world. Like that old saying goes: every man to his taste. Warning: the content of this blog post is not for those of a weak constitution.

Source: Georama

Deep Fried Tarantula, Cambodia When most sane people are confronted with a large, hairy and venomous tarantula the one thing on their mind is to run away fast. However, in Cambodia many choose to eat it and the fried tarantula is a common and much appreciated delicacy (crazy huh?). The spiders – usually the size of a human hand – are tossed in garlic and salt before being deep fried until nice and crispy. Most people only eat the upper body flesh and legs (dipping them into sauce for extra flavour), but the very bravest choose to also eat the abdomen which contains a brown, runny paste, and sometimes even the eggs. Yummy!

Source: souschef

Century Eggs, China Speaking of eggs, no eggs in the world can top that of China’s infamous Century Eggs. Century Eggs have many names – millennium eggs, thousand-year-old eggs or pidan, but are essentially quail, duck or chicken eggs preserved in a mixture of ashes, clay and salt for several months. During this bizarre process, the egg’s white turns into a jelly-like brown mixture, while the yolk takes a mouldy greenish hue. Century eggs emit a powerful smell of sulphur and ammonia, and its taste is what the polite would say strong and interesting. Definitely not for those with a weak stomach.

Source: 0assf

Casu Marzu, Italy Oh cheese, glorious cheese! Who doesn’t enjoy a good slice of cheese? But if you actually took time to think about it, cheese is pretty weird – essentially just fermented milk, full of germs and all sorts of bacteria. But we can stomach this fact as cheese just tastes so good. However, the Casu Marzu goes way beyond simple fermentation to the point of actual decomposition. This Italian sheep milk cheese is crawling with live fly larvae (AKA maggots to the normal person), and not by accident but on purpose. At the end of the making process, the crust is cut open in order to let flies lay their eggs in the cheese. Once those eggs hatch, the little larvae make their home within the cheese. Some people love to eat their casu marzu with the larvae still alive and wriggling, not-so-brave others prefer to suffocate them with a paper bag prior to tucking in. Live Cobra Heart, Vietnam The act of eating live cobra hearts cannot be considered common place in Vietnam, but some people do eat them. As is the case for most things like this, eating a cobra heart is entirely down to superstition – many people believe that by eating a snake live, they will inherit a part of its power and enhance their strength. The ritual consists of the following: a lucky live cobra is picked out by the customer (the meaner, the better), its head is then unceremoniously cut-off and it’s still beating heart is ripped out and placed on a saucer, and finally garnished with a little blood. The heroic eater is then supposed to tilt their head back and swallow the heart whole. This type of dining is certainly not for the faint hearted.

Source: streetgormetla

Escamoles, Mexico

A word of warning – please be careful next time you’re in Mexico and are ordering food. Next time you tuck into Mexico’s famous bean selection, those charming little white ones might just as well be escamoles. Escamoles, also known as giant black Lipometum ants’ eggs, are considered an ‘insect caviar’ and apparently have a nice buttery taste. A good way of detecting these ‘bad eggs’ is to keep in mind that they have a consistency very similar to cottage cheese. No need to thank me!

5 of the World’s Wackiest Restaurants

Source: DailyNews

Magic Restroom Café, Los Angeles

The idea of sitting on a toilet in public is a horrifying concept for some, but not for those dining at the Magic Restroom, where loos are the focus of the new restaurant in LA. Inspired by God knows what, Magic Restroom owner YoYo Li has introduced toilets as seats and a mix of yummy Asian and western food – like zha jiang mian, named ‘constipation’ on the menu and braised port over rice, (‘smells-like-poop’). If you really feel like treating yourself why not try one of the sundaes, choose from chocolate ‘black poop’ or the vanilla-strawberry sundae ‘bloody number two’, all served in miniature toilet bowls (of course!). Revolting and hysterical in equal measure.

Source: The Guardian

Twin Stars Diner, Moscow

Just as the name suggests, at the Twin Stars diner all the staff – from waiters to bartenders and even the chefs – are identically-dressed twins. The almost fetish concept was brought to life by Alexei Khodorkovsky who says it’s been hard to find suitably qualified twins but the concept is paying off and is a hit with the locals. Plus if you’re a twin living in Moscow you know where to go for a part-time job.

Source: DailyNews

Barbie restaurant, Taipei, Tawain

The Far East’s love of all things cute and fluffy is a well-known fact, so Taipei’s popular Barbie restaurant comes as no surprise. It is staffed by waitresses in sickly bright pink tops, tutus and tiaras, and there’s enough pink food to make you think someone has slipped something funny in your drink.

Source: The Age

Draculas and Witches in Britches, Melbourne, Australia

Due to the Twilight phenomenon and the current obsession with vampires, horror-themed theatre restaurants have become popular haunts of the city. Dracluas offers a camp cabaret during a three-course dinner that begins with drinks in the Graveyard cocktail lounge and a ghost-train ride.

Alternatively, if 40-year-old witches float your boat head to Witches in Britches for a kitschy interactive pop show and a five-course meal that starts with pumpkin soup ladled from a cauldron.

Source: The Telegraph

The Heart Attack Grill, Las Vegas

It’s a common cliché that Americans love big portions, and to embrace this head to the Heart Attack Grill in Vegas (obviously!) for a serving of obscenely huge burgers with sides of fries deep-fried in lard. For purely comical purposes, diners are given hospital style gowns before tucking into a towering heart attack on a plate made with four beef burgers and 20 slices of bacon. However, there is no need to worry that your health is in danger, waitresses dressed as nurses are on stand-by to help you out of the restaurant in a wheelchair if necessary.

The apocalypse is coming: how people are coping around the world

21 December 2012. The end day of the ancient Maya calendar, and the day, many believe, the world will end. As 21st December approaches, people around the world are preparing themselves for the apocalypse. Though the Maya didn’t say much about what would happen next, many members of the public have rushed to fill the void. They are foreseeing all manner of monumental change – from natural disasters, to doomsday, to a new age of enlightenment. So while us Brits are preoccupied with Christmas shopping and other jovial festivities, many people all over the world are taking this Armageddon talk extremely seriously…

China

A very dedicated farmer prepares for the apocalypse in China by inventing a survival pod he hopes will be of use during the arrival-of-the-end, by providing protection against natural disasters. The airtight sphere has space for around fourteen people, contains oxygen masks and seat-belts, and is designed to remain upright in water. Liu Quiyan from the village of Qiantun, Herbei province, says he was inspired by the 2004 Asian tsunami and by the ‘brilliant’ apocalyptic Hollywood movie ‘2012’ to develop the pod. The pod, nicknamed ‘Noah’s Ark’ may be able to float on water, but will it be able to survive the end of the world? If the world is to end in a couple of weeks, I’m not sure I would be happy being one of the (un)lucky fourteen who will spend their last moments on earth in a fibre-glass shell.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/8217001/French-village-which-will-survive-2012-Armageddon-plagued-by-visitors.html

Russia

In the meantime, Russians are preparing for the world’s end by shopping for candles and vodka. To prepare for the Mayan doomsday Russian shoppers are clearing out the shop shelves in the country’s far north and east, where it is believed the apocalypse will supposedly hit first. And what do Russians need for the end of the world? Vodka of course. And imaginatively, lots of candles and matches, which have been going for three to four times the normal rate.

Meanwhile, authorities are trying to bring a little sense back to the public. As the Daily Beast has announced; Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev rejected the Mayan cosmology. “I do not believe in the end of the world,” he explained. “At least, not this year”. You would think this announcement would have been enough to calm the public paranoia, but then again, when has the words of a prime minister ever been taken seriously by everybody? Unsurprisingly, the promises of officials are not comforting everybody, and many still believe the two-week-long time of “complete darkness and silence” is still very much going to happen. At least that explains the candles. And vodka? Well at least people can drink themselves to oblivion when the time comes.

Even Russian news websites are publishing survival recommendations – among them, “move to a country house, and make sure you have a stove, plenty of water, and firewood.” Most people in Russia have country homes, called dachas, so surely there should be no need to panic. If anything, their chance of survival is higher than the rest of ours. However, many Russians are still unprepared to take chances. One Russian businessman Valentin Sveridov, 45, decided to not waste any time and evacuated his wife and seven-year-old son from Moscow. He describes his terror when he read on the internet how the capital will be like hell-on-earth. There will be – in his own words; “Rivers of blood, hundreds of rotting dead bodies, and deadly epidemics.”

However, the Russian businessman remains optimistic. “Russians are made to survive,” Sveridov says, “we are used to living on the edge of apocalypse – they turn the electricity off almost everyday in my home village in the far east.”

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/11/russians-prepare-for-world-s-end-buy-candles-and-vodka.html

Netherlands

It seems that this fear of an apocalyptic end is wildly sweeping the rest of Europe. In the Netherlands, thousands of Dutch citizens are preparing for 2012 by stocking up on emergency survival supplies, with the most dedicated even purchasing life rafts. However, it seems some are quite optimistic about the possibility of the world ending, and are even welcoming the prospect. Petra Faile, a person recently interviewed by Press TV, has recently stated; “you know, maybe it’s really not that bad that the Netherlands will be destroyed”. He adds that he doesn’t like living in the country anymore because of immigration and how the government continues to allow people in the country. He sounds like a very friendly man.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/netherlands/2187871/Dutch-prepare-for-Maya-apocalypse.html

France 

In the meantime, the small, sleep village of Bugarach, population 189, is being inundated by large groups of fanatic outsiders who believe the peak of the village’s mountain is an “alien garage”. According to them, extraterrestrials are quietly waiting inside the Pic de Bugarach for the Armageddon to start, at which point they will leave, taking a few lucky humans with them. Outsiders see Bugarach as their ticket to a better place, and the village mayor, Jean-Pierre Delord, is worried about the effect these visitors are having on the sleepy village. “This is no laughing matter,” Delord recently told The Daily Telegraph.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/ufo/8217001/French-village-which-will-survive-2012-Armageddon-plagued-by-visitors.html

Mexico

However, the apocalypse isn’t only inspiring dread: some are eagerly putting on their yoga-pants and grasping their meditation beads, and joining a global counter-movement promoting the date as the start of a new era of hope. Thousands of New Age fanatics are expected to fill ancient sites across Mexico in the days leading up to it. One of the biggest movements is Birth 2012, which is using the Mayan date to suggest a global spiritual reset.  Hotels near the Mayan ruins at Chichen Itza have been sold out, with many rooms booked in advance. “We’ve activated this campaign for three days of love,” said movement co-founder Stephen Dinan. “Let’s have generosity and kindness be the operative fare, rather than people hunkering down in fear.”

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/lifestyle/2012/12/11/mayan-apocalypse-world-awaits-big-day/

To be honest, Stephen may have a point. If the world really is going to end, why not ‘spread the love’ instead of cowering in your basement with a candle and a tin of soup. But it seems that while the rest of the world is ‘preparing’ for the End, us Brits are simply going about our daily business of work, sleep and Christmas shopping. To us, 25th December, Christmas day, seems like a far more exciting date than the supposed Day of Reckoning. Some may call us naive, maybe even stupid, but if the world is truly going to end in two weeks won’t we be having the last laugh? Surely when faced with something inevitable, it is better to carry on living and making the most of your time, instead of fearfully  stocking up your food cupboard or searching for E.T.

And if the end doesn’t come? Well we aren’t going to look like the silly ones now are we.