Edit: lol yeah, I deserve this, I teed it up rather magnificently.
Angkor Wat is very cool, remarkably well preserved, beautiful and a huge area of ornately carved buildings and a palace to walk around in.
I’ve wanted to go there ever since I played Illusion of Gaia.
you will not be disappointed, all the images are clear enough that you can still read the polytheistic graphic history that they carved into the Palace walls.
and there’s one main Palace, but like the Palace area extends away further and there’s almost zero people who go to the ancillary buildings which also have really cool carvings and are basically pristine.
Back in the late 90s, in the CA East Bay, one of my family’s neighbors was a big shot (director or something, can’t recall) at LLNL’s National Ignition Facility (at the time, it was still called the NOVA laser, I think). My dad got this guy to give us a behind the scenes tour (including clean suit sections) of the complex, including the target chamber where they did inertial confinement fusion experiments (read: shot really fucking powerful lasers with support machinery the size of several contiguous Costcos smashed together at a tiny little gold cylinder with tritium suspended in it), and I got to stick my head in the inspection port.
It was super awesome, and one of the things I credit for making me go down the STEM track in the first place. Also, this was pre-9/11, and in the “peace dividend” era, and I’m fairly certain there’s precisely zero chance a random neighbor kid would be allowed backstage like that in such a sensitive (technically, as well as national security) area these days.
Also, I got to wave at the normie tour group from the other side of the tour glass while in part of the laser hall with our clean suits lol
That’s like beyond super duper cool!
I mean just to put on a clean suit would be rad, but to then go behind the scenes to places no one else goes!? FUCK YEAH!
Then holy crab on a crutch you saw normies behind glass? Just where those poor, unconnected plebes belong! 😬
I’d have been shocked if you mentioned, “…and then I worked at McDonald’s for three decades,” instead of the tour inspiring you to go STEM!
How Could It Not!?
Thanks for sharing. ❤️
The Scott Monument, it’s a gothic religious looking building in Edinburgh, but it’s dedicated to the writer Sir Walter Scott.
I’ve climbed up too. I’m a…chunky…lad, so those last few steps got my heart rate up a bit. Had visions of getting stuck, and a guide having to send a few kids down to clear the blockage.
Hell of a view from the top though.
A neutron reactor (Institut Laue-Langevin). The mix between 80’s concrete bunker like structure or yellow steel bars and uber high tech mirrors that reflect neutrons is amazing, as is the crudeness of the experiments that achieve the best matter probing on earth. It’s straight out of retro-futuristic sci-fi, and at the same time higher tech than many modern sci-fi will imagine in some technical areas.
A chip fab. Highest level clean room at the time. Amazing experience.
I’ve been inside a giant red wood. With a car.
I’ve been through one in a car, I’ve climbed inside a rotted out one that was still standing as well. They’re scary how fucking big they are.
I swam to the bottom of the first chute st Jacobs Well. The cenotes in Tulum Mexico were also pretty cool.
The cenotes are an excellent addition to the list. We did ix-kill(sp?) on the way to chichen itza on a gringo tour and it was amazing.
The steam tunnel system under that big midwestern university. Once in, it led underneath most every building on the campus. There are many other mysteries hidden in the underground -everywhere-.
Was it full of steam at the time?
I was in the tunnel, not the steam pipes running through the tunnel.
The universe, man.
Sagrada Família is up there - at least for artificial structures. Amazing architecture.
I loved seeing the chain method of architectural engineering!
An ancient Buddhist temple in Kyoto. I don’t recall its name without looking it up… But it was much less crowded than most of the other temples and shrines in the area.
Kyoto’s dope. Tons of history, and great food!
Absolutely one of the most beautiful cities in the world, which unfortunately has led to a lot of over tourism. I hope they can get it handled better so that the city isn’t completely overrun by them/us.
I think just letting the Chinese tourists know that there are places in Japan that also have gorgeous, ancient shrines and temples and buildings might help to spread the tourism out. I don’t mean that as a dig against the Chinese; Kyoto is a very accessible and beautiful place to visit flying out of Beijing or Shanghai, so naturally Chinese tourists congregate there more than people from other places do. Go to one of the bigger shrines or temples in the area, and almost everybody around you will be Chinese. Got to send some to Nara! So close to Kyoto and so rich in history.
A nuclear reactor would be at the top of the list, but it wasn’t as fascinating as Dutch windmill when I was 6 years old.
Based on size? Spaceship Earth in EPCOT Center.
On a more personal scale, a lighthouse.
gives OP a hug It’s okay, they mean well.
Submarines are pretty cool. I toured a WWII-era submarine and there are still lots of manual valves and controls. It’s impressive that they worked so well.
Those are crazy small. I can’t imagine being stuck on one for any amount of time.
I also toured a heavy cruiser and battleship: at least you could stay sane on one of those
SS Thistlegorm was really neat. It is a British ship that was sunk by the Germans in WW2. It lays off the coast of Egypt, and is now a place where you can go scuba dive inside of. It still has all kinds of cars, trucks, and motorcycles inside of.
