The World’s Most Mysterious Buildings And Sites

Remember as a kid you fantasised about exploring secret castles, temples or caves as the next Indiana Jones? Or perhaps about solving a Da Vinci Code? You might be surprised then to hear these puzzles do in fact exist, with many hiding in plain sight. And you can visit these strange buildings and sites on your next holiday.

Here are just a few.

The Shine Dome of the Australian Academy of Science – Canberra, AustraliaImage: Trent Huber / with permission

If you’ve ever done one of Tim the Yowie Man’s Canberra tours, you’ll know he has an obsessive fascination with the bizarre and mysterious. The journalist, author and tour guide regularly entertains visitors on ghostly and paranormal treks around our capital and he lists the so-called ‘Martian Embassy’ as one of his favourite weird buildings.

Bangkok's Siam@Siam Design Hotel reinvented with no boundaries [updated]

There’s something about hotels and I’m always particularly excited to see a major refurbishment or even an old decrepit building transformed into a swank new establishment.

Finniss River Lodge: Animal Magnetism

The remote floodplains of the Northern Territory’s Top End are full of surprises

Six litres of Chevrolet V8 muscle roars into life, propelling us along the narrow waterway, between protruding limbs of paperbark and Melaleuca trees. We skim across patches of reeds and shallow puddles as if riding a 600-horsepower magic carpet. My fellow passengers could be yelping in delight and excitement for all I know, but the industrial earmuffs muffle everything to a monotone crescendo. 

Northern Exposure: road trips north from Adelaide

A couple of days, a couple of ways. On two wheels or four, South Australia's mid-north leads you to some stunning gourmet and historic locations.

Words and photos Roderick Eime

I hope you are not bored with my fixation with South Australian riding, but you’re getting the idea that the land of the Croweaters presents a great variety of rewarding riding environments. From lush forests with twisty, turny byways to wide-open Arizona-like desert landscapes. All within an hour or two of the CBD.

Patpong Museum: Who was Coppola's real-life Colonel Kurtz?

If you've ever seen the 1979 film Apocalypse Now you'll truly remember Colonel Kurtz, the enigmatic character played by Marlon Brando. It's said that Francis Ford Coppola was inspired by Anthony Poshepny, more simply known as Tony Poe.

Tony Poe fought for the US Marines on Iwo Jima in World War II before receiving two Purple Hearts and being discharged as a sergeant. Not one for shying from a life of action and intrigue, Poe joins the CIA and becomes active in the Korean War. Here he participates in the CIA's Paramilitary Operation Branch, training refugees for sabotage missions behind enemy lines. 

My Vietnam Visa #Fail. Don’t fall into this trap.

Do not upload your matching passport photo if it is older than six months.

Many of us would have had experiences with the vagaries of the visa system in many countries and here’s one I didn’t see coming.

Is that a missile in your pocket? Visit a former Soviet nuclear missile site in Lithuania

Is this a good time to go to a Soviet nuclear weapon base? Well, that’s what I did in Lithuania! 🇱🇹

1968 Prague Uprising (source: CEELI Institute)

In 1968, during the Prague uprising, a missile was set up and ready to be launched from its underground shaft, the white dome lid was open, but luckily the final command to “press the button” was not made. Close call, comrades. 

Fiona McIntosh finds new inspiration in Wiltshire

As most of you know I did a whirlwind trip to Wiltshire in England to find a new story during April.  International travel felt strange but also I could almost imagine ribbons being cut away that had harnessed me to not only Australia but for a lot of the last couple of years, cornered in South Australia. It didn't hurt me, of course, it forced me to turn around and consider a story from my home state and The Orphans was the result so I have no business complaining but it was certainly wonderful to get that sense of freedom again. As usual, I had no idea what I was looking for and so I just remained hopeful that whatever the story was, it knew it was looking for me!