Most under/over whelming touristy thing you have seen ?

[slowmotion]

I thought Chiang Mai was a major disappointment thirty five years ago. Has it improved?

 

[GM]

I think a lot of the problem is people rushing these things on fixed travel agent timetables. We drove ourselves round the USA with no fixed itinerary so could stop and stay where we liked.
We stayed in a cabin on the edge of the grand canyon for a night and hiked right down into it. It was an amazing place, but i agree that Bryce canyon is smaller but better. We stayed in a hotel just outside and went hiking for hours, and saw no one else for ages.

Another great place was our cabin in Yosemite.. We stayed two nights because the place was amazing.[/QUOTE


That's what we did in a Winnebago.

Just remembered another stunning place, Crater Lake, absolutely beautiful.

 

[slowmotion]

Oh yes! Crater Lake is simply wonderful. I think that they flew in the boat using a massive military freight helicopter.

 

[Nigeyy]

Which side though? The US side is awful, the Canadian side much better. Speaking of which I think the falls are spectacular. Nice at night too.

Niagra falls is both. The falls itself is fabulous. The town is meh.....not. Very tacky, too, many people, very disappointing.

 

[welsh dragon]

Which side though? The US side is awful, the Canadian side much better. Speaking of which I think the falls are spectacular. Nice at night too.

I agree. The Canadian side is much better. I was on the American side visiting relatives.

 

[User482]

I would love to see Ankor Wat, but it may be too late.

Yes I am aware of the basic flaw in saying I want to be a tourist, but I won't go because of the tourists

I went round the temples by bike, which made it easy to avoid the coach party crowds.

 

[Dave7]

I was in East Berlin for 8 days, just after the wall "came down". Difficult to sum up my feelings but it was quite moving.

Oh......and I visited the moon once. I was there the week before Uri Geller went. TBH it was a lot darker than I expected.

 

[steveindenmark]

Bergen Belsen concentration camp 30 years ago. The only building on the site was a small wooden but with a few photos The sadness of the place was overwhelming. I went back a couple of years ago and they now have a very excellent museum, with cinema and research facility. It is very good. But I will never forget my first visit.

On a brighter note. The seafront at Zadar in Croatia. They have steps that make the sound of whales caused by the movement of the sea and a huge solar powered dance floor affair. You walk on it and it changes colours. A little known attraction but impressive.

 

[SheilaH]

The Needles Landmark Attraction I.O.W.

The Needles themselves are great, as are the National Trust sites at the Batteries. But..there is this revolting scar on the way up called 'The Needles Landmark Attraction'. God knows who runs this hole but avoid at all costs. It's like the worst sort of end of pier rubbish but shoved in a natural beauty spot. Ruins the landmark. A few cruddy children's rides, a pointless sweetshop full of obese people waddling in, then waddling out a few minutes later all happy because they have got bags and bags of sugar in various forms. The 'restaurant', dear God, what a disaster. Not only was it a horrible place to be, but the food was beyond ridicule. Plastic pots with dried up lasagne and broccoli bake for £9. Staff who looked like they would have been pleased for somebody to shoot them and put them out of their misery and 'capuchinno' coffee that should have stayed in the 1980's. The ONLY thing I can say in favour of this place was that the chair lift down to the beach was surprisingly not a rip-off. Anyway, unless you have a deeply ironic sense of humour avoid this place at all costs.

 

[hopless500]

I thought Chiang Mai was a major disappointment thirty five years ago. Has it improved?

No!

 

[hopless500]

I went round the temples by bike, which made it easy to avoid the coach party crowds.

So did we. It was great and I'd love to go back.

 

[Donger]

I have always quite enjoyed discovering crap things. One that made an indelible impression on my mind was a dodgem ride I once found in the "resort" of Severn Beach. I really wish I had taken a photo. In what was clearly a former petrol station forecourt on the edge of a housing estate, a single dodgem car was available (for a price I do not recall). Apparently fun was to be derived from driving around and around a solitary, poorly disguised, obsolete petrol pump in a small oval area of painted concrete surrounded by a single course of bricks. Quite what you were supposed to "dodge", I could not fathom. Nearby were piles of dirty, once white, plastic chairs and a few drooping parasols, suggesting that people once used to sit here watching the action. Anyone who knows Severn Beach today probably pines for the day.

 

[petek]

You should have ventured off the royal mile.

New Year's Eve in Edinburgh is a blast.

 

[swee'pea99]

I have always quite enjoyed discovering crap things. One that made an indelible impression on my mind was a dodgem ride I once found in the "resort" of Severn Beach. I really wish I had taken a photo. In what was clearly a former petrol station forecourt on the edge of a housing estate, a single dodgem car was available (for a price I do not recall). Apparently fun was to be derived from driving around and around a solitary, poorly disguised, obsolete petrol pump in a small oval area of painted concrete surrounded by a single course of bricks. Quite what you were supposed to "dodge", I could not fathom. Nearby were piles of dirty, once white, plastic chairs and a few drooping parasols, suggesting that people once used to sit here watching the action. Anyone who knows Severn Beach today probably pines for the day.

Simultaneously tragic and hilarious!

 

[Beebo]

Oh......and I visited the moon once. I was there the week before Uri Geller went. TBH it was a lot darker than I expected.

Lovely view but lacks atmosphere.