What's the most "exotic" place you've ever been?
Asked by
DominicX (
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September 26th, 2009
What made it so? (Interpret “exotic” as you wish, but I’m thinking more wild and uncommon, not a super touristy place). What place like that do you want to visit?
I know I’ve heard interesting tidbits here before about people who went to Nigeria and Antarctica and such. I’m curious to know.
Personally, the two most “exotic” places I’ve been to would have to be Kenya and Tunisia. I went to Kenya with my family in 9th grade and it was amazing. I got to meet people and kids who lived there; I even got to go on a traditional safari and I would love to go back.
Tunisia is probably the most obscure place I’ve been just because a lot of people don’t know too much about it. I went while I was visiting Europe (also with my family) because my dad wanted to see Tunis and the Carthaginian ruins. I really liked Tunisia. Also, it’s featured on Lost. :P
Where I want to go would have to be the “stan” countries like Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, etc. I know people who had never even heard of those countries. That’s why I want to go! Bring on the weird places. :)
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I haven’t been overseas since I was a baby, but I would be interested in visiting Siberia. Don’t know why, but I do. Mabey it has something to do with the culture? But not totally sure.
@shego
Well, I’ve been to Russia, but I haven’t been to Сиби́рь. All I know is that it’s very cold. :)
wild and uncommon, not a super touristy place:
The UP of Michigan.
I like to travel by car.
@DominicX I know. It sounds like a COOL idea ( stupid I know)
I went to Jamaica. But it was super touristy.
So.. Seattle? That wasn’t too touristy.
Tahiti, St Lucia, or maybe Bonaire. Humm, Little Cayman?
Edit: Oh Oh Oh!!!! Truck Lagoon in Micronesia, and I’m going to Guatemala next week up in the mountains .
@Judi
Awesome. I’d love to go to more tropical countries. So far the Bahamas, Tahiti, and Cancun are the only tropical places I’ve been.
I’ve spent a month in Thailand, 2 months in Costa Rica, a week in Puerto Rico, and a week on the island of Tavarua, Fiji. I have stories for each if you have a specific one you’d like to hear about. :-) All wonderful experiences!
@DominicX ; You’re young! I think the only place I had been at your age was Tijuana.
I( really liked Stewart Cove in the Bahamas. Great SCUBA diving.)
@chicadelplaya
Wow. I’d love to hear about Costa Rica if possible. :)
@Judi
Well, my parents are obsessed with traveling. And I’ve been to other places with other people too. A friend of mine recently went to the Maldives for surfing. I’d love to go there…
No. It’s erotic. That must be what you’re thinking.
Exotic? Bali.
the most.. different? (for lack of better word) Mongolia.
well. I’ve been to north Korea. But it was SUPER SUPER touristy.
Singapore I guess, which is not that exotic if you think about it. Just a lot of cheap electronics shops. I’m on my way to Riga, which is a bit out of the way. I discovered Prague when half the signs were still in Russian and it was still part of Czechoslovakia, and that was wonderful. And I guess the least touristic place I’ve been to must have been Sofia on a Sunday (again, just after the Wall fell). I’ve also been to a couple of these places (eg Belgrade) when it was still communism. The scariest was Sarajevo just after the war.
In terms of beauty, there is this wonderful beach on Kos (an island where I’ve spent many years of my life) that looks as if it came out of a postcard, and you get a great view of the sunset from there. I know several nice places there, including a hidden forest that you’d never expect to find on an arid Greek island.
The most exotic place I’ve been so far is Lesotho. It’s that country in the middle of South Africa. We rode up the drakensberg mountains on horseback to get to the remote village we were staying in. It was so amazing, the best experience of my life. We stayed in a lodge and went without power, walked a couple of kms every day to the primary school we were helping to fix up. It had been vandalised and we had a week to do the best we could with what supplies we could fit in the back of one ute before the kids went back to school. It was amazing learning about their culture and customs, like visiting/gifting the village chief and village elder. The kids were beautiful, they didn’t have much relative to what we have but they were the happiest kids I’ve ever met. I’m going to go back there, hopefully next year.
@shrubbery You’re more awesome than I thought you were. :)
For many years, I made an annual visit to the rivers inlet coastal area of British Columbia to fish for salmon. I went to several of the finer resorts and getting to and departing from them required a seaplane trip which is quite an adventure all to itself. The resorts were either on floating barges or constructed cabins in the cedar forest. There were no 7/11’s nor any other signs of civilization anywhere nearby, just a beautiful wilderness area with playful otters, soaring hawks, etc. But the resorts were amazing: cedar paneled rooms, spas, game rooms, bars and magnificent food. You are assigned a private fishing boat teamed with a buddy, or if you wanted to go it alone, a guide would be provided. I had quite a bit of success on every trip with salmon (several varieties), halibut, and snapper including several “trophy” sized landings. On my last trip, I was the odd man in a group of five friends, was assigned boat #13 and a guide, a young Canadian kid that went by the name of “Lucky”. I would be the only one at this particular resort (accommodations for 35 guests) during our stay, that would limit on salmon everyday. And, I, alone, brought home more ice chests full of fish than all four of my friends combined. I miss it and wish I was still able to do it, but noneheless, I am richer for the experience (and richer monetarily….those resorts are very expensive). See ya…Gary/wtf
I live in the Northern Territory in the midst of Aboriginal people of Australia. Folks come from all over the world to experience the 60,000 year old culture and rock art. To me it is everyday experience, to those who visit, it is exotic.
The islands of the South Pacific, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Fiji are considered exotic, actually though, I think Australia has some of the best and most exotic beaches in the world. It is hard to beat Fraser Island beaches, inland lakes and rain forests.
Singapore, Bali are touristy but have their secret exotic spots. I love Little India in Singapore.
A friend just came back from Cambodia and her pics are unbelievable, that will probably be my next destination.
Australian outback in Queensland.
I actually didn’t go too far in it and I was only there for a day. The nearby opal mining town was pretty exotic to me, too, being a NYC girl.
@Jack79 Next time you’re in Singapore, drop me a PM. I’ll tell what you can do to make your stay more memorable. There’s so much more than simply cheap electronic shops.
For me, I’d say Phuket, Thailand. Although there’re so many more places I wanna go to (like Koh Surin). I did get to snorkel in Tioman though, and it was so breathtaking.. Okay, technically that was a tiny island off Tioman (which is the main island), but what the heck. I love nature.
Another nice place I went to is an island off Hong Kong. The scenery was breathtaking. Two pics from a holiday there. One and two.
My husband travels for work and would never want to leave home when he took vacation. As a result, I have never really been on vacation. In the last 29 years, I have been to Florida four times, Canada three times for family events (not vacation), New Orleans once, Chicago once, and New York City once. London once.
I am depressed.
Guilin, China on the Li river. Surrounded by the incredible limestone hills, and a light mist.
You could believe you were on a different planet.
@whatthefluther That sounds like my dream trip. It must be beautiful up there!
I don’t know if it qualifies as exotic, but I thought Tokyo was fabulous! It’s like a super duper NYC. Museums were fantastic, good shopping, train ride to Kyoto and you can see the Emporers Palace and more. Another place I recommend is Italy. I’ve been to Florence, Venice, and Rome, and of all the countries I have been to in Europe it is one of my favorites. The food is amazing! Lastly, outside of Bogata Columbia I went to the Catedral de Sal (salt Cathedral). It is basically a church inside of a salt mountain/mine. It is dimly lit…you walk in and they have hand carved the 12 stations of the cross, further into the “tunnels” you see the area for mass and also the baptismal font. Around the font on the ground are stone tiles, and one of them you are able to lift, and there is water running below the ground there that they use for the baptisms. I loved the feeling of it being close to nature, in contrast to the all of the old leaf and money obviously spent in some of the great Catholic churches.
Colombia, sorry for the typo. Ugh, I wish they give us a little more time to correct ourselves!
I spent six weeks working in Lac Xoa, Laos. It was a six hour bus ride from the nearest doctor or hospital (in Vientienne), in the mountainous northern part of the country.
Dubai, UAE and Oman. I’d never seen the desert, let alone spent a night in one before that trip. I’d never seen camels wandering and roaming freely. The culture is very different. During the middle of the day, some of the outside markets and shops close because of the heat and then reopen later in the evening. The people are different – and very, very, very nice. The food was cooked with spices I’d never had. On that trip I had something called kibbeh (I think that’s how you spell it) and basically what it is is raw lamb grated and pulled very fine and then mixed with spices and seasonings. When it was brought to the table I thought it was refried beans.
There is ton I’m leaving out, but that was one of the most amazing trips I’ve ever taken.
Singapore for me. Spore is pretty westernized but, still has a lot of culture (and delicious food everywhere for cheaps), it’s furthest I’ve been from home on my own and was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had.
I went to Miami for a day last year…
The most exotic places that I have been are Rwanda, Uganda, and Japan.
I went to Rwanda and Uganda with a group on a humanitarian trip, and we worked at medical clinics and the like. I went to Japan with my high school japanese class. We mostly stayed away from the super touristy places, and we had a homestay with japanese students, so we really got to experience the culture.
Arkansas. I thought I was on another planet, where the flea market is the dominant life form and dragging dead animals behind a pickup truck the sport of choice.
Siwa Oasis in Egypt deep in the desert.
Israel this past August. And it was AMAZING. definitely has some bad rep, but it is honestly a beautiful country and i definitely want to go back. I fell in love with Israel… definitely have much respect.
@ngelugh – That little number in the parentheses next to your name? That’s how much lurve you’ve got from the other Jellies here. Check the FAQ. :D
@aprilsimnel aww.. i only have 15 lol thanks for the clarification
@ngelugh….Welcome to fluther. You had 20 moments ago. I just bumped it up to 25. There is a lot of lurve all through this place. Enjoy yourself.
See ya…..Gary/wtf
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