Jump to content

Most obscure place visited in the WORLD.


Angry Haggis

Recommended Posts

Sitting working at home currently and I have a map for the world up on my office world. Looking at it I realised that there is so much of the planet I have not visited. I mean - loads. 

 

That got me thinking.... where of the places I have been too I could count as 'Obscure' e.g. far off, non-tourist type locations. And I honestly cant think of any that I would class as obscure. 


Maybe I have not travelled that much?

 

Over to you Kickback travellers - where is the most obscure location in the World you have visited?? 

 

*actually the only thing I can come up with is I once visited Piz Gloria in Switzerland aka Blofeld's lair in 007 On Her Majesty's Secret Service... 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 122
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

  • Maroon Sailor

    8

  • highlandjambo3

    6

  • Sharpie

    5

  • NANOJAMBO

    5

Can't say I've been anywhere obscure either. Holland, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, Florida all pretty popular places. Would love to visit Nan Madal and Puma Punku, that would be obscure?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

highlandjambo3

Been all over the globe....mostly with the army but quite a bit after I left.  
 

Near the end of my army career, I spent a year in Sierra Leone as a training advisor.  Our team of 6 decided to climb mount bintamani, just under twice the size of Ben Nevis.  The nearest road/track/village to the mountain was a two day hike away so, we parked up and paid some locals to guard our vehicles and off we went, a two day hike to the bottom of the mountain, a days climb up and down then a two day hike back to our vehicles......it was real Indiana Jones stuff, crossing dodgy rattan bridges, and waist deep crock infested rivers, we had shotguns and AK47’s and all manner of boys toys 😉.....was quite tough but, great memories.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On patrol in the Egyptian desert, nothing but sand, then suddenly in the far distance a patrol of Arab Legion on Camels . Gave a certain feeling of acceptance that we were not the only people left on earth.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Not all that obscure but :

Pinnacles in Western Australia, about a 250km drive north from Perth, to look at a bunch of slightly phallic rocks in the desert. Stopped in the nearby town of Cervantes for dinner afterwards and it was like something out of a horror movie, all eyes on us in the local pub just waiting to be lynched as we left town. 

Zamami, a wee island a couple of hours by ferry from Okinawa in Japan. Pretty big destination for scuba divers in the summer months but last January we were more or less the only tourists on the island, pretty surreal walking around the deserted streets, being the only folk on the beaches etc. 

Mulhouse in France, I think is pretty obscure, certainly didn't see any other tourists there! Fairly non-descript little town that is handy for Basel Airport and jumping on the train to explore the more exciting parts of Alsace/NW Switzerland/SW Germany

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I thought I was doing well, visited 31 nations. Til I got one of those scratch off foil maps. World is huge! (Obviously)

 

Some of my more obscure destinations.

 

Albania

 

Abu Simbel (little propeller plane to middle of desert in Egypt)

 

Uluru (similiarly in the centre of Australia with nothing but outback)

 

Malaysia (out to the fishing villages on stilts)

 

Hungary and Slovakia (not that obscure but this was as part of a student exchange, so as such I got to see lots of local towns and villages might otherwise not have visited)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, highlandjambo3 said:

Been all over the globe....mostly with the army but quite a bit after I left.  
 

Near the end of my army career, I spent a year in Sierra Leone as a training advisor.  Our team of 6 decided to climb mount bintamani, just under twice the size of Ben Nevis.  The nearest road/track/village to the mountain was a two day hike away so, we parked up and paid some locals to guard our vehicles and off we went, a two day hike to the bottom of the mountain, a days climb up and down then a two day hike back to our vehicles......it was real Indiana Jones stuff, crossing dodgy rattan bridges, and waist deep crock infested rivers, we had shotguns and AK47’s and all manner of boys toys 😉.....was quite tough but, great memories.

That sounds incredible. I'd love an adventure like that

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Riddley Walker

Lived in Taiwan for a couple of years and travelled to a lot of Asian countries. 

 

Lived in the South of Taiwan where there are pretty much no tourists. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

highlandjambo3
3 minutes ago, Alan_R said:

That sounds incredible. I'd love an adventure like that

Forgot to add........I was getting paid £200 quid a day tax free......😆

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, Riddley Walker said:

Lived in Taiwan for a couple of years and travelled to a lot of Asian countries. 

 

Lived in the South of Taiwan where there are pretty much no tourists. 

This is a good thread. Lots of interesting stuff popping up

 

What were you doing over there Ridley?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Riddley Walker
1 minute ago, Alan_R said:

This is a good thread. Lots of interesting stuff popping up

 

What were you doing over there Ridley?

 

Was teaching English. It was absolutely amazing all round. The only foreigners in the city we were in were other English teachers, some students and the odd engineer or something. City of over a million folk. Got stared at and pointed at constantly, but mostly in a friendly way. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Shanks said no

Although I have been to a lot of countries they tend to be the more touristy ones. I'll pick off the more obscure ones when I retire. 

 

The most obscure place is probably the island of Telendos in Greece with a population of around 50 and no motor cars/bikes. My parents were there in the 90's and I regret not listening to their rave revues. Also staying on La Graciosa in the Canaries, far busier with 700 residents, was interesting once the day trippers left each day.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Craig Herbertson

Nowhere obscure unless wee villages in Eastern Germany count . I did pass Colditz with the band and dropped in. Only us there with the caretaker of the castle. He offered us a tin of corn beef from ww11.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Gurkha training camp in Nepal.

The British training ground at Suffield in Canada almost  on the Alberta /US border. In the middle of nowhere (even by Canadian standards).  It's that big (and remote) they stage tank battles and you wouldn't know anything about it , even when on camp. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Cox's Bazar/Moheshkhali Island in Bangladesh.

Spent nine months there mostly travelling through the jungle in tuk-tuks (which are an absolute ***ing riot btw)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, Maroon Sailor said:

Tristan da Cunha

curios, Why army/navy/raf or something else, like town name Edinburgh of the seven seas

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maroon Sailor
1 minute ago, kevinref said:

curios, Why army/navy/raf or something else, like town name Edinburgh of the seven seas

 

 

Stopped off on the way to the Falklands from St Helena.

 

Pretty dodgy getting ashore as there is a hell of a swell - jumped on to a bath tub basically (and I mean jumped). You had to time it right ! 😂

 

A few bottled it

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, Jeff said:

Love watching YouTubers who go to mad places.

 

I can't be the only subscriber to bald & bankrupt here?


Not subscribed but came up in my recommendations yesterday, worth a watch?

Indigo Traveller is really good for travel series in some pretty extreme places, his trips to Afghanistan and Somalia were fascinating. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been in the jungle in Gabon (oilfield) through work. Flew up in a tiny plane then 4x4 along dirt tracks to the site and came back to town on a 5 hour boat journey passing by several wee villages where westerners rarely, if ever, visit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 minutes ago, Jamboross said:


Not subscribed but came up in my recommendations yesterday, worth a watch?

Indigo Traveller is really good for travel series in some pretty extreme places, his trips to Afghanistan and Somalia were fascinating. 

 

Aye it's good. He travels around the old Soviet Union and is fluent in Russian so it's pretty interesting

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, Maroon Sailor said:

 

Stopped off on the way to the Falklands from St Helena.

 

Pretty dodgy getting ashore as there is a hell of a swell - jumped on to a bath tub basically (and I mean jumped). You had to time it right ! 😂

 

A few bottled it

A guy I used to work with was from St Helena. He left to come to the UK to go to university about 40 years ago and has never been back apart from for his parents funerals. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It's not really that obscure, but Gamvik in northern Norway. I had been hitching up the coast of Norway, heading generally for Nordkapp (the northernmost point on the European mainland), perhaps the Russian border if I could make it that far, and I was picked up by an older German couple in a camper van. We did quite a lot of chatting as we motored north through amazing landscape (reindeer, cute wee churches, Sami settlements, the greenest grass I've ever seen due to the midnight sun, etc. etc) and realised that we all wanted to head up to the Barents Sea but that there were loads of people heading to Nordkapp and it was probably going to be quite touristy there.

 

So we decided to go to Gamvik, further along the coast, instead. Not quite as far north as Nordkapp but much more off the beaten path. When we got there, we headed on to Slettnes Lighthouse on the edge of the Barents Sea. There was no-one else there. I went paddling in the sea. Unsurprisingly, it was freezing! Nothing could be seen further north (although Svalbard lies there between the Norwegian mainland and the Arctic Ocean), and I just felt like I was standing at the end of the earth. :) It was a lovely moment, and a lovely memory.

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Heulva Spain. The reason its obscure is added to as I chose to go there instead of Seville. Which no one should ever do. 

 

Santa Rosalia, Baja California isn't totally obscure. You can get a ferry to the mainland. But I doubt many people have been there. It's a very long bus journey from San Diego. Most choose Tiquana. 

 

Trying to think of a third. Maybe unfair to pick anything in Scotland. Some other places not quite obscure enough. 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maroon Sailor
1 minute ago, Tazio said:

A guy I used to work with was from St Helena. He left to come to the UK to go to university about 40 years ago and has never been back apart from for his parents funerals. 

 

St Helena is a nice island

 

I knew an ex crabfat who married a St Helenian. Met him years later in the pig pen at Ascension Island when I flew back from the Falklands to Brize. He had got the RMS ship up from St Helena with his wife after visiting her folks.

 

Mental seeing him again like that

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, Mikey1874 said:

Heulva Spain. The reason its obscure is added to as I chose to go there instead of Seville. Which no one should ever do. 

 

Santa Rosalia, Baja California isn't totally obscure. You can get a ferry to the mainland. But I doubt many people have been there. It's a very long bus journey from San Diego. Most choose Tiquana. 

 

Trying to think of a third. Maybe unfair to pick anything in Scotland. Some other places not quite obscure enough. 

 

 

I lived in Huelva for a time. :D It's not too bad a place and has nice festivals. The Muelle de las Carabelas is worth visiting too, with the life-size replicas of Columbus' three ships. However, as you say, if it's a choice between Huelva and Sevilla, the latter wins out every day of the year.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Halifax Nova Scotia when I had a Canadian girlfriend. Went one winter a good while ago now and they had 4 feet of snowfall in one night They had to dig themselves out of their houses every day for a week  and they all had converted portable snow blowers. 
 

I ended up with 2 Canadian girlfriends and had to leave before the snow hit the fan

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Medicine Hat in Canada. Not that obscure but it is a daft name.

Spent months in Nanyuki in Kenya lived in a few different parts but mostly in a poor by our standards Hotel called the Sportsman's Arms. It was the local night club, lucky I'm a heavy sleeper.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Fxxx the SPFL

a big house (Bay Rock) on the side of lake Kahshe 150 mile north of Toronto friend of ours jambo of course moved there in the 1960's from Edinburgh his wife is Canadian pretty wild spot in winter the lake freezes over from November to late May early June pretty isolated spot.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, JimmyCant said:

Halifax Nova Scotia when I had a Canadian girlfriend. Went one winter a good while ago now and they had 4 feet of snowfall in one night They had to dig themselves out of their houses every day for a week  and they all had converted portable snow blowers. 
 

I ended up with 2 Canadian girlfriends and had to leave before the snow hit the fan

 

Good choice.

 

Not so many people talk about its Titanic links. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Maroon Sailor

 

44 minutes ago, JimmyCant said:

Halifax Nova Scotia when I had a Canadian girlfriend. Went one winter a good while ago now and they had 4 feet of snowfall in one night They had to dig themselves out of their houses every day for a week  and they all had converted portable snow blowers. 

 

Was there a couple of years ago.

 

List of places not to go to ? The Toothy Moose

 

Where did we all end up ? The Toothy Moose

 

Got tickets for the ice hockey - good night out 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seymour M Hersh

I have never been too far off the beaten track (as they say) tourism wise. However, a couple of places that perhaps no other kickbackers have visited are The Blowing Rock just outside the small town of Blowing Rock, North Carolina.  

 

usa-north-carolina-the-blowing-rock.jpg

 

And the Tequila Museum, Rosarito Beach, Mexico. Really just a very small bar but dedicated to Tequila that the owner called a museum. 

Edited by Seymour M Hersh
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, NANOJAMBO said:

The Gurkha training camp in Nepal.

The British training ground at Suffield in Canada almost  on the Alberta /US border. In the middle of nowhere (even by Canadian standards).  It's that big (and remote) they stage tank battles and you wouldn't know anything about it , even when on camp. 

Medicine hat was a good night out.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, NANOJAMBO said:

The Gurkha training camp in Nepal.

The British training ground at Suffield in Canada almost  on the Alberta /US border. In the middle of nowhere (even by Canadian standards).  It's that big (and remote) they stage tank battles and you wouldn't know anything about it , even when on camp. 

 

When I was living in Osoyoos and golfing everyday I saw two guys wearing clothes with the total demeanour of soldiers. I was aware of Sutcliffe and knew through a Scots Guards forum that they used Sutcliffe at times. I went over and gave them a Hi Guys how are you doing and they responded a wee bit surprised but friendly. I asked are you on holiday, and they said no, so I mr smart guy said you look like you could be from Sutcliffe, well I thought I was going to be struck dead right there, they got really mad and I stammered about thinking they were soldiers and just as we did in this small town wanted to make them feel welcome, they calmed down but quit conversation pretty quick, I often wondered if I had met two of that very special service, and just didn't like being approached, my silly old fart desire to be once again with a couple of serving soldiers and shoot the bull was dashed   scarily.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.




×
×
  • Create New...