[UAH] 10 Most Unusual Parks in the World ~ Ugandans At Heart (UAH)

30 May 201310 Most Unusual Parks in the  World  
Nature - The best  artist, but sometimes it interferes with the idea man, and because such an  alliance appear surprising places. We offer you a selection of the most unusual  parks in the world.

Park Buddhas —  Laos
Photo — Link

The park was  started in 1958 by Luang Pu (Venerable Grandfather) Bunleua Sulilat. Luang Pu  Bunleua Sulilat was a priest-shaman who integrated Hinduism and Buddhism. His  unique perspective was influenced by a Hindu rishi under whom he studied in  Vietnam. After the revolution in 1975, anxious about the repercussions of the  rule of Pathet Lao, he fled from Laos to Thailand where he built another  sculpture park, Sala Keoku in Nong Khai. Both parks are located right next to  the Thai-Lao border (Mekong river), only a few kilometers apart from each other,  and the tallest structures of the Buddha Park can actually be seen from the Thai  side of Mekong.

The statues are  made of reinforced concrete and are ornate, and sometimes bizarre, in design.  The statues appear to be centuries old, though they are not. There are  sculptures of humans, gods, animals, and demons. There are numerous sculptures  of Buddha, characters of Buddhist beliefs like Avalokitesvara, and characters of  Hindu lore, including Shiva, Vishnu, and Arjuna. These sculptures were  presumably cast by unskilled workers under the supervision of Luang Pu Bunleua  Sulilat. One notable sculpture resembles a giant pumpkin. It has three stories  representing three levels - Hell, Earth and Heaven. Visitors can enter through  an opening which is a mouth of a 3-metre-tall demon head (9.8 ft) and climb  staircases from hell to heaven. Each story contains sculptures depicting the  level. At the top, there is a vantage point where the entire park is visible.  Another sculpture, an enormous 120-metre-long (390 ft) reclining Buddha, is also  a park attraction.  Text — Via... 09  more after the break...

Green Lake —  Austria
Photo — Link

Grüner See (Green Lake) is a lake in Styria,  Austria near the town of Tragöß. The lake is surrounded by the Hochschwab  mountains and forests. The name "Green Lake" originated because of its  emerald-green water. The clean and clear water comes from the snowmelt from the  karst mountains and has a temperature of 6–7 °C (43–45 °F). During the winter,  the lake is only 1–2 m deep and the surrounding area is used as a county park.  However, during the spring, when the temperature rises and the snow melts, the  basin of land below the mountains fills with water. The lake reaches its maximum  depth of around 12 m from mid-May to June and is claimed to look the most  beautiful at this time. In July, the water begins to recede.

The lake supports a variety of fauna such as  snails, water fleas (Daphnia pulex), small crabs, fly larvae, and different  species of trout (Salmo). The flora is not abundant because of the rocky bottom  of the lake. Furthermore, the lake's depth is variable since its inflow comes  from snowmelt. 

The lake is popular among divers who can  observe the green meadows in the edge zone of the lake particularly in June when  the water is at its highest. A bridge and a bench can also be found  underwater. Text — Via

Park Sinners —  Thailand
Photo — Link

90 minutes outside of Bangkok sits the Wang  Saen Suk Hell Park, one of several "hell gardens" that can be found throughout  Thailand. At this tourist destination, you can pack a picnic and ramble around  the charming sculpture garden, which depicts sinners being eviscerated wholesale  in the Buddhist underworld.

After all, nothing says "sunny weekend stroll"  quite like statues of demons disemboweling the damned, arsonists transforming  into snakes, and dogs eating a lost soul's giant testicles. Also, if you've ever  used birth control, there's apparently a giant bloody vise waiting in the  afterlife. (I'm not sure if dental dams qualify one for an eternity of  squeezing.) Notes Fortean Times of this charming point of interest:

Around the giant sinners stand a further 21  life-size sinners, whose heads have been turned into various animals according  to their misdeeds. Thieves are transformed into monkeys; the dishonest into  toads; the corrupt into pigs [...] Although often gruesome, Thailand's hell  gardens are popular weekend destinations for family days out. As well as an  entertaining way of teaching strict morality, they also encourage donations as a  form of merit-making to support the monks and the monasteries.

One of io9's friends in Thailand further  elaborated on the park's family-friendly angle — "It's fun seeing little Thai  kids running around statues of people being eaten alive, having their guts torn  out, etc. My five-year-old cousin loves the amusement park, but is terrified of  Ronald McDonald." So yes, if Faces of Death ever went in cahoots with Six Flags,  the result might just look like this. Text —  Via

Park Space  Reflection — Scotland
Photo — Link

Space View Park is located less than 15 miles  directly across from the launch pads. The Park is the first and only walk in the  nation that honors America's astronauts as well as the men and women behind the  scenes who helped America lead the world in space exploration. Located 5 miles  North from HWY 50 off of US1 on Broad Street on HWY 406 (Garden Street) off of  Indian River Avenue. Text — Via

Creation Museum  — USA
Photo — Link

The Creation Museum is a tourist attraction  near Petersburg, Kentucky which presents a mythical account of the origins of  the universe, life, and humankind, portraying a 'creationist' narrative based  upon a literalist interpretation of the Book of Genesis, rather than scientific  knowledge. The Creation Museum opened its doors to the public on May 28,  2007.

The Creation Museum has been criticized as  promoting "fallacy over fact" and attempting to advance the tenets of a  particular religious view while rejecting, overlooking and misconstruing  authentic science. The museum has received criticism from the scientific  community, educators, Christian groups acquainted with the scientific method,  and in the press.

Its exhibits reject universal common descent  and biological evolution, and assert that the Earth and all of its life forms  were created 6,000 years ago over a six-day period. In contrast to the  scientific consensus, exhibits promote creationist claims including the  proposition that humans and dinosaurs once coexisted, and that dinosaurs were on  Noah's Ark. Scientific evidence supports the conclusions that the earth is  approximately 4.5 billion years old, and that the dinosaurs became extinct 65.5  million years before human beings arose. Text  — Via

Keukenhof  Gardens — Netherlands
Photo — Link

Keukenhof, also known as the Garden of Europe,  is the world's largest flower garden[citation needed]. It is situated near  Lisse, Netherlands. According to the official website for the Keukenhof Park,  approximately 7,000,000 (seven million) flower bulbs are planted annually in the  park, which covers an area of 32 hectares.
Keukenhof is located in South Holland in the  small town of Lisse, south of Haarlem and southwest of Amsterdam. It is  accessible by bus from the train stations of Haarlem, Leiden and Schiphol. It is  located in an area called the "Dune and Bulb Region" (Duin- en  Bollenstreek).Keukenhof is open annually from mid-March to mid-May. The best  time to view the tulips is around mid-April, depending on the weather. Text — Via

Francisco  Alvarado Park — Costa Rica
Photo — Link

The park sits in front of the church at the  town center. It is noted for its topiary garden produced and maintained by  Evangelisto Blanco since the 1960s. Shrubs in the park have been trimmed into  the shapes of various animals, including some that are quite abstract and  bizarre.

Iglesia de San Rafael: Zarcero's pink and blue  church was constructed in 1895. The interior features very nice paintings of the  stations of the cross. Materials for the construction of the church are not what  they seem. Columns are painted to look like marble, and the exterior is metal  siding, not brick as it appears. Text — Via

Jurong Bird Park  — Singapore
Photo — Link

Jurong Bird Park, is a tourist attraction in  Singapore managed by Wildlife Reserves Singapore. It is a landscaped park, built  on the western slope of Jurong Hill. It is located within the Boon Lay Planning  Area of the Jurong district and has an area of 202,000 square metres (50  acres). Text — Via

Kingdom of  dwarfs — China
Photo — Link

The Kingdom of the Little People is a theme  park located near Kunming, Yunnan that features comic performances by people  with dwarfism. Supporters of the park claim that it provides employment to  people who would otherwise be unable to find work, but it has been criticized  for treating dwarfism as a humorous condition. Text — Via

Chess Park —  Japan
Photo — Link

The garden was erected to celebrate the sister  city relationship between Sydney and Nagoya in Japan. Some of the interesting  features in the garden include a set of magnificent stone lanterns presented to  City of Sydney by Nagoya. It also incorporates various plants in the garden  which have cultural significance to Japanese people. For example, pine tree  symbolise long life, a plum tree represents gracefulness and bamboo is a sign of  vitality. Text — Via