If you’re after something a bit different on your next trip away, then take a look at these 5 weird and wacky travel experiences and inject a little of the quirky in your next itinerary.
Run a marathon in North Korea.
Yep, this is actually a thing. Visit this communist country and take part in the Pyongyang Marathon. The event welcomes more than 600 runners from around the world each year with approximately 800 North Koreans also participating.
Once in North Korea, why not visit the eye-opening demilitarised zone at the border of North and South Korea.
If you need to run, you’ll be well and truly warmed up.
Jump onboard the Trans Mongolian Railway.
Follow in the footsteps of ancient explorers and traders onboard the Trans Mongolian Railway – a journey across Russia, Mongolia, China, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and India. It’s truly an experience of a lifetime, taking you through untouched landscapes and into contact with locals where you can take part unique cultural traditions.
Make sure you set aside some time to take in Kazakstan’s bold futuristic artwork and beautiful nature, and definitely explore the hidden gem that is Uzbekistan – a country known for its mosques, mausoleums, the fast disappearing Aral Sea and Nuratua Mountains.
Party with the dead in Mexico.
Offer sweets and candies to the deceased with some locals during the two-day Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festival and celebrate “death” amongst skulls, corpse brides, skeletons and candy coffins.
The most colourful celebrations are usually held in southern Mexico in Oaxaca, Chiapas and Michoacan and, of course, in Mexico City and the Yucatan Peninsula.
Eat your way across Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankans love their food, and for such a small country, they definitely aren’t strapped for variety.
You’ll find delicious Sri Lankan fare pretty much wherever you are in this island nation, favourites being samosas, roti, fresh seafood, hoppers – and, of course – curries, lots and lots of delicious curries.
You’ll also be able to sip on some of the finest tea in the world here.
Oil wrestling in Turkey.
If you’ve ever wanted to watch two full-grown hairy men wearing cowhide slacks battle it out in a wrestling ring – in the ultimate display of machismo – then the Kirkpinar Oil Wrestling Championship in Turkey is just the event for you. Yep, this actually exists.
It’s a tradition that’s been pulling in the crowds for over 650 years, and is held every year in July in the Turkish town of Edirne. The wrestlers (called Pehlivans) compete for the title of the Chief Pehlivan and the Kirkpinar Golden Belt.
Of course, you can’t leave Turkey without first going on a hot-air balloon ride over Cappadocia – a weird and wonderful landscape that looks like something out of science-fiction movie set.
