Hawaii’s very own “Stairway to Heaven,” the Ha’iku Stairs

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Daredevils the world over have found numerous ways to conquer their fear of heights. There’s Sydney’s Harbor Bridge or the terrifying El Caminito del Rey in Spain. But for sheer vertical height or astounding views, there may be no more perilous set of steps than the Ha’iku Stairs on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu.

Currently off-limits to the public, the Ha’iku Stairs is a series of nearly 4,000 steps rising 2,800 feet to a peak in the Ha’iku Valley. Originally constructed in 1943 to help the Navy install and maintain a series of radio antennae, the climb has long been an underground hiker favorite for its ridiculous heights and amazing views. Take a look at these photos and you’ll understand why the stairs were nicknamed the “Stairway to Heaven.”

Don’t dust off your climbing shoes just yet. The area has been closed to visitors since 1987 and trespassers risk serious injury or death on the poorly maintained trail. Thankfully, groups like the Friends of Ha’iku Stairs have been lobbying for the site’s eventual reopening. You can sign a petition on the site to help voice your support and help renew public access to this unique place. Let’s hope this one-of-a-kind attraction will once again see the light of day.

Beware Australia’s “Ninja Kangaroo”

by Jeremy Kressmann on

Kangaroos just don’t look that threatening. Perhaps it’s because they carry their offspring in a pouch. Or the fact they move around by hopping up and down. But if you think kangaroos don’t have a mean streak in them, you’d be wrong. One night when you least expect it, clandestine marsupials will come smashing through your bedroom window, ready to terrorize you and everything you care about. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

It’s a lesson Australian couple Beat Ettlin and Verity Beaman recently learned the hard way. The couple, who live in the suburb of Canberra with their two children, were fast asleep recently when they were awakened by the sound of their dogs barking. Suddenly a dark silhouette burst through their bedroom window, shattering glass everywhere and landing on the bed.

By the time the startled Beat and Verity had realized the rogue intruder was a kangaroo, the frightened animal had crushed one side of their bed and smeared blood up and down the family’s hallway, terrifying the family’s two young children. In a fit of valor, Mr. Ettlin pounced on the six-foot tall kangaroo from behind, wrestling it to the floor and dragging it out the family’s front door.

The whole scene is best summed up in Mr. Ettlin’s own words: “I thought it was a lunatic ninja coming at us through the window.” Thankfully this particular ninja did not come equipped with deadly throwing stars or nunchucks. Just a furry pouch.

[Via Buzzfeed]

It’s Not Horrifying If You Can Eat It

by Abha Malpani on

Ever since I ate fried cockroaches in Thailand and rotten kangaroo tail in Australia, I love bringing up the ‘what’s the weirdest, most disgusting thing you’ve eaten’ topic; I normally beat everyone. It’s funny though how I can eat cockroaches, but I think caviar is disgusting.

The grossest thing I’ve eaten is eel. UGH. It was in a Korean restaurant in Wollongong (Australia) where we went with Korean classmates and (over) confidently asked them to order. UGGGHHH.

The most stomach-churning Spanish food which I haven’t had the courage to try yet is bull testicles.

Anyway, after looking at this recently published list of World’s Most Terrifying Food, bull testicles seem as good as eating grapes. Among the more, um, unusual foods are:

  • Escamoles (Mexico): Eggs of a giant ant that have the texture of cottage cheese.
  • Cazu Marzu (Sardinia, Italy): Sheep cheese infested with ‘cheese fly,’ in an advance stage of decomposition. It’s even illegal in Sardinia!
  • Lutefish (Norway): It’s a fish marinated in lye — a strong industrial chemical used to clean drains and kill plants; and apparently when the fish is drenched long enough in this lye thing, it can dissolve silver cutlery.
  • Baby mice wine (Korea): Beats the eel on a scale of grossness 100:1. This is a health tonic where baby mice are stuffed into a bottle of wine while alive! (I think I am going to throw up).
  • Pacha (Iraq): Boiled goat head. Well, in the Arab world fried goat brains and tongue is not uncommon, so this one didn’t gross me out.
  • Balut (Philippines): Duck eggs incubated until the fetus is almost a duck, but not quite; it’s then boiled alive and served out of buckets of warm sand.

Now let’s try and keep in focus that this is daily food of people around the world, and is not gross to them, let alone terrifying. I wonder if it’s unthinkable for people in Korea and China that in India some eat only vegetables grown above the ground — i.e. their food cannot have potato, onion or garlic. What must the rat-cat-eyeball eating people think of vegans?

The world is filled with unusual foods. What’s the strangest thing you have eaten on the road?

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