What is the most amazing place you have ever been?

reply to post by fishneedh2o

I starred your post because I agree with you, I have looked at many pictures of it and have seen it on a travel channel show and it looks simply amazing. There are also some great turquoise, almost white water I saw in a picture too. I don't think I will ever go to Turkey, but it has some fascinating history.

I've been fortunate enough to have a few places that I'd put in this category. When I was in high school, I spent a summer touring Japan with a couple of friends, one was from Japan. We travelled all over the country but the two things that stood out were climbing Mt. Fuji (take note, it is not meant to be scaled in one day unless you have your own transportation off the mountain - we got lucky). The other was in Kyoto for a festival, floats were over 1000 years old apparently. Very cool.

The other is a country, not an exact location. Indonesia. This was pre-9/11, when a new york jew could go there without any of the fears instilled in us since that awful day.

Highlights:
Bali - the whold damned island.
Moyo Island - we stayed at the amanwana (amanresorts.com). the island was accessible by plane to sumbawa and then a boat ride to the island. Sumbawa had a grass landing strip with a siren to get the animals off the field. Moyo has two fishing villages on it and nothing else, other than the "hotel." The hotel consists of luxury tents. there's a 300 foot drop on one side of the dock, an insane diving location. The other side of the dock is a shallower reef that leads to a turtle breeding area. The island has a waterfall on it, monkeys everywhere and, at night, wild boar roam the campgrounds.
Java - we stayed in Jogyakarta. Our room looked out at buradudur (sp?). Our first morning there we drove out to the pyramid and climbed up to the top. Nobody else there as the hotel bought the rights from the gov't for this. You sit on the top and watch the sun rise between two active volcanoes. they open the site up to the public just as you are leaving and the ride back is not quite the same as the way in. you hop on elephants and you're guided back to the hotel thru the villages and along a small river.

reply to post by Crakeur


RE: Mt Fuji.

We ended up running down the side of the mountain back to the parking lot. It was not the same route that we took up. It took us about 7 hours to climb up and about 30min to get down. The terrain was all loose pumice or volcanic rock on the way down. It was actually pretty fun, unless your shoe comes off.....

reply to post by Karlhungis


I remember running down and getting to that base area and finding the parking lot empty, the lodge thing closed and locked. My two friends and I had taken a train from tokyo to a bus to the mountain and now we were stuck. We got lucky, realy lucky. A van pulled into the parking lot and two young guys got out and spoke to my friend. Seems they were late for an appointment there and they offered us a ride back to the train. We pile into the van and what do we fine? Wine. They were wine salesmen. They were plastered, which was why they were late. They handed us a bottle and we started drinking with them. Since the mountain was, basically, closed, we flew down the mountain. We kept seeing cops on the side of the road. Blurred figures holding hands up, trying to tell us to stop. My friend tells them we're going to fast and the cops are trying to stop us and the van pulls over. He slowly drives up to the next cop - a wooden cutout. They start cracking up and floor it.

We made it to the train station in one piece. Surprisingly.

I loved the country. When I was there, back in the 80's, it was rare to see an american and everywhere we went, people invited us over for dinner, kids wanted to be pen pals and the women all thought I looked like Paul McCartney (I don't). We were there for a month and a half and saw a handfull of americans and three black people. Magic Johnson and his wife were two of the three. They were there for the festival in Kyoto. When we were in Tokyo we ran into a photo shoot for a-Ha!. They were there touring with Prince and we hung around the shoot (tons of girls) and wound up getting friendly with the drummer who was from NYC. He invited us to the show that night. Good stuff, hell of a trip

I don't travel out of my immediate area very much, but that still allows me to frequent the largest cave system in the world.

Mammoth Caves.

Bryce Canyon in the four corners area of the US, near the Grand Canyon.





Arches National Park, Moab UT. Sadly I don't have a pic of my own on hand. However, here is an excellent one I found.



I remember hiking up the mile and a half to Delicate Arch, and coming to the red slick rock bowl. There it was, towering above me. The cliff to my left magnifying gravity. I felt as though I should speak in whispers, like one may feel in church.

Alaska: Everywhere is amazing there. I didn't see much while there, but you don't have to go far to be wowed.

reply to post by Karlhungis



Yeah. I think I have only been to the big Island as well, with all the tourist hotels. I would love to explore more of Hawaii when I go back, because I am definitely going back!

[edit on 17-11-2008 by Unlimitedpossibilities]

reply to post by Unlimitedpossibilities


I will be there in 2 days! I will be staying between the Volcano monument and Kona.

That's tough.. uhm there was this beach in Jamaica, on one of the small, unnamed islands in the middle of no where. We had taken a boat there, took a little over an hour; the ocean was awe inspiring. You could see 10m down, the surface was calm as glass and the colour was this incredible pastel blue, it was like a cartoon it was so blue. Warm too like no other part of the ocean I've been to and I've been all over the Caribbean, nothing like this, it was like the water was the same as the ambient temp. Tropical fish everywhere, sting rays, huge creatures... also sharks but we didn't run into any.

There was this waterfall we climbed on a separate island too, all in huge steps like it had been carved in perfect blocks.

The massive glaciers here in the rocky mountains of BC are cool too. Hiking through the Kootenay region is a must, really any of the glacier parks if you can. There's natural hot springs that dot the region with views that can't be described and some underground as well that you can go spelunking in.

I would have to say:

Sedona, AZ
Grand Canyon
Aran Islands, Ireland

Been all over the U.S and the mid-west is my favorite, so many cool places in the desert!

THE most amazing place/s i've seen would have to be India & Nepal

India really has to be seen to be beleived.... its horrible, dirty, sleezy, smelly and sad though also humbling, inspiring and yep.....amazing.

Nepal i hold close to my heart.....i volunteered in an orphange there, hiked to base camp of mount everest and sat under the bodhi tree (where buddha was enlightened)...... excedes amazing!!!

reply to post by Crakeur



Crakeur....I have to agree with you about Indonesia.....I loved Borobodur Buddhist Temple....also I think the Prambanan Hindu Temple was phenomenal....Central Java was great....and Nusa Lembogan Island....and Lombok Island....oh and of cause ,all of Bali.....have been meaning to go back to all these great places...but have not since Bali bombings happened
:shk:......also another scare ,seen J.I in Central Java....Yogyakarta!

Haven't been back sadly....

But one of my most favourite places I would say....was I went hang gliding....by cable ,on Hamilton Island,off Queensland....Barrier Reef Australia....floating above the trees was amazing....even though I did this by cable...I still got the experience...and maybe one day...I'll go hang gliding without a cable....not on my own though....too chicken!

[edit on 18-11-2008 by bekonabroom]