Superlative

The World’s Only Pub That’s Inside a Tree

The Big Baobab Bar has everything you'd find in a traditional British pub (except more ants).

Sometimes the name of a pub describes exactly what it is. So it is with the Big Baobab Bar in Limpopo Province, South Africa.

The “Baobab” in the moniker refers to a type of tree that’s native to Madagascar and found sprinkled throughout arid regions of southern Africa. The genus is colloquially referred to as “the upside down tree” — in the dry season, when baobabs sheds its leafs, the branches resemble underground roots.

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A Visit to the Chocolate Hills

Kids (and those possessing a sweet tooth) might be disappointed when they arrive at the Chocolate Hills and discover they are not literally so. For everyone else, though, these curious conical mounds in the middle of the Philippine island of Bohol are bound to delight.

Imagine being on a white sand beach on a tropical island and then heading inland through green jungle. The way is mostly flat and lush. And then, suddenly, you see a large earthen mound 30 meters (100 feet) high covered in grass but otherwise devoid of foliage. You wonder why anyone would bother building such an enormous, symmetrical mound of dirt and then overlay it with astroturf.

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Toilet Restaurants Aim for a Crappy Experience

Oh, if you are wondering, each Modern Toilet restaurant does have proper bathrooms. They are very well marked to prevent patrons from making the horrible mistake.

We can’t imagine the marketing meeting during which some one pitches the concept for a toilet-themed restaurant — and the others at the meeting approving of the idea. And yet presumably such a meeting has happened. More than once. There are at least three dozen (!) restaurants on planet Earth where toilets and urinals, poop and potty talk, are the central attraction. What’s more, those restaurants are so flush with success that a couple of new ones open every year.

Sounds delicious! Where can I find these toilet restaurants? we’re sure you are asking yourself right now (because we’re in tune with our readers like that). Here’s our review at some crappy dinning experiences in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Germany, Portugal and California:

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Travel to Game of Thrones Filming Locations

The HBO epic fantasy of Game of Thrones has taken the world by storm on television, intriguing many to venture to these exotic locations that provide the show with an authentic feel.

The sets, locations and environment are as much of a character in the show as are the Lannisters and Starks. These relatively remote locations are becoming tourist spots and vacation destinations that will have you immersed in the Game of Thrones world, but beware, winter is coming.

Here are the more prominent locations where the show has been filmed:

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Total Luxury Half Underneath the Indian Ocean

Longtime readers of Spot Cool Stuff might remember our review of Sweden’s Utter Inn. The “inn” is located in the middle of a lake and consists of a single suite with one room above water — and another room beneath it!

It’s amazing being a guest at the Utter Inn, laying snuggled under your sheets while looking out at the underwater scene beyond your bedroom’s windows. But how much more cool would it be if that scene was of crystal clear tropical waters instead of a murky Scandinavian lake?

To answer that question, one needs to travel to the The Manta Resort on Pemba Island, part of the Zanzibar archipelago off the coast of Tanzania. That’s where Genberg Underwater Hotels, the company that designed and constructed the Utter Inn, recently finished work on their second half-underwater suite.

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This Little Piggy Goes Swimming

Swimming with penguins is adorable. Swimming with whale sharks is magnificent. But swimming with pigs?

In the Caribbean, there’s a bay of pigs where you can experience for yourself what that’s like. No, not the Bay of Pigs, as in the site of the CIA’s failed invasion of Cuba1. This (literal) bay of pigs is located in the Bahamas, on the uninhabited island of Big Major Cay — one of the 365 Exuma islands that stretch out in an arc south of Nassau. That’s where you’ll find beach Babes swimming in the clear waters and frolicking on the golden sand.

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The World’s Deepest Hotel Room

While being lead to your room through dark rock passageways one feels like a dwarf on a quest in the Mines of Moria

Hitting rock bottom on vacation can be a very cool experience. At least it can in Scandinavia, in Sweden, in the county of Västmanland and in the town of Sala. For it is there that travelers can find the Sala Silvermine and can stay in the accommodations of its Mine Suite. At 155 meters (509 feet) below ground level, it is deepest hotel room in the world!

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The Elevator of One Hundred Dragons

It’s like living a scene out of Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator:

You start out you-know-not-how-deep underground and climb into a small room that’s glass on three sides. Then you accelerate up at high speed — three meters per second, to be exact. For what feels like a long time there’s no natural light, only the hue from fluorescent bulbs illuminating the solid rock zooming past outside the elevator. Until, suddenly — WOW! The outside world opens up and the impossibly steep and tree-studded sandstone peaks of the Wulingyuan UNESCO World Heritage area come into view.

That’s what it’s like to ride the Elevator of One Hundred Dragons — also known as the Bailong Elevator — located inside the Zhangjiajie National Forest Park in Hunan, China.

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