Travel Picks: Top 10 weird attractions
SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) - For travelers seeking the outlandish, travel review website IgoUgo.com has come up with a list of its top 10 weird activities ranging from cream fights to cockroach races.
This list was compiled by editors at IgoUgo.com on recommendations from its readers and is not endorsed by Reuters:
1. The Great Whipped Cream Battle - Olomouc, Czech Republic
Fluff flies during this highlight of Olomouc's week-long city festival.
"Volunteers are divided into opposing teams and asked to arm themselves with trays of cream. There's a countdown and then the teams rush towards each other. When the teams meet each other in the centre, the cream starts to fly."
2. The Modern Toilet Restaurant - Taipei, Taiwan
Find good food for less than $10 at this Taipei eatery - provided you don't mind eating out of a (replica) toilet bowl.
"Eating here was a very unique dining experience to say the least. You are seated at a bathtub (your table) surrounded by toilets (your seats). Your food comes in your own sizzling toilet bowl."
3. Eeyore's Birthday - Austin, Texas
In Austin, adults and kids alike use Winnie the Pooh's fictional friend as an excuse to party.
"Eeyore's Birthday has been celebrated for more than 40 years here in Austin. Admission is free and money raised from the sale of food, drinks, face-painting, etc. is donated to local non-profits. The celebration is held in Pease Park, close to downtown and accessible from the Shoal Creek hike and bike trail."
4. Sourtoe Cocktail - Dawson City, Alaska
Anyone with a strong stomach can gain entry into the Downtown Hotel's Sourtoe Cocktail Club by sipping a drink containing one of the hotel's preserved human toes. Make it a big sip; rules say your lips must touch the salted toe.
"So now I am a member of an exclusive club,/Of those who drank a toe that was just a shriveled stub,/And then I promptly left the bar,/To get my toothbrush and mouthwash and proceed to scrub!"
5. Cabbages and Condoms Restaurant - Bangkok, Thailand
The restaurant's name raises eyebrows, but it's all for a good cause.
"Don't be misled by the restaurant's odd name or put off by the array of contraceptive devices for sale. This very popular place raises funds for the Population & Community Development Association, the country's family-planning program. The complex is a restaurant, bar, Internet cafe, massage shop, and gift shop all rolled into one. All diners get a condom with coffee, instead of an after-dinner mint."
6. Shrove Tuesday Pancake Races - London, England
Pancake races have characterized Shrove Tuesday in the UK for centuries; at this one, all you need is a team and a crazy costume, and you have a shot at stardom.
"As far as I know, the Shoreditch Shrove Tuesday pancake races are as close as London gets to the much-hyped extravaganzas of Rio or New Orleans. In addition, unlike their over-the-top cousins, you can enjoy a ringside view of the whole event and it is all over in less than half an hour. And you are unlikely to get sunstroke or a hangover."
7. Shot Cafe - Riga, Latvia
Drink a toast to modern Latvia at the lounge where a bathroom break brings joy to travelers.
"Shot Cafe has the best toilet EVER. It seems a big boast to make, but the loo here has to be seen to be believed. Mood lighting turned the bathroom from a deep blood-red to a vibrant green to a shadowy blue to a piercing white. The toilet seat was clear perspex inset with gilded barbed wire and razor blades. We fell in love with that toilet."
8. Hakone Kowakien Yunessun Wine Spa - Hakone, Japan
Nurse yourself - and your favorite beverage - in a red wine pool in the shadow of Mt. Fuji.
"I believe one would either love or hate the Yunessun Spa with intensity. Some may admire the ingenuity of the Japanese in developing such charismatic, uniquely themed spas in the arms of magnificent Hakone scenery. Others might find these creations tacky and contrived."
9. Cafe Gratitude - San Francisco, California
Order a plate of "we are bountiful" (aka crackers and spreads) at the San Francisco eatery that aims to fill your being as much as your stomach.
"This is a very, very weird place. I just can't get beyond the names of the food. They all have fake "affirmations" so when you get something like their large salad you have to say, "I'd like the I AM ABUNDANT." It might be slow because they have to ask you between courses things like, "And what are YOU grateful for today?" You HAVE to answer, depending on the rigidity of the server, before you can get your food."
10. Cockroach Races - Brisbane, Australia Each Australia Day, Brisbane's Story Bridge Hotel encourages visitors to "BYO Roach" for its creepy-crawly cockroach races.
"The bagpipers led the sponsor girls onto the racing surface (a bit like a boxing bout) along with the cockroaches, where the MC read the contestants' names to the crowd. The names were very creative and can't be repeated here."
(Editing by Belinda Goldsmith)
