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  • So, here you have Asia, the biggest continent on this planet with a whole alphabet soup

  • of countries and cultures for you to experience.

  • If you have already or plan on making the trip, you might seriously feel like you've

  • stepped into a whole new world!

  • Well, if you saw that movie "Avatar," you'll be convinced you're on another planet!

  • But first, let's start with one for my fellow foodies.

  • 1. Out-of-this-world flavors

  • Can I interest you in a bag of cherry-blossom-flavored

  • Lays chips?

  • How about a wasabi KitKat bar,

  • green tea Oreos?

  • If you were ever curious about all the possible flavors your favorite snacks come in, then

  • the Far East is your destination!

  • Just be sure to wash all that down with some yogurt-flavored Pepsi if you're in Japan!

  • 2. Sleeping people anywhere

  • While you're munching on some strange snacks

  • over in Japan, don't be shocked to see people grabbing a power nap in random public places,

  • on a street bench, in the subway, even at work!

  • This sleeping-on-the-job isn't seen in a negative or weird light.

  • In fact, it even has a name, 'inemuri,' which translates tosleeping while present.”

  • And it's seen as a sign of dedication to one's work.

  • Hm, I wonder if I could get my boss on the 'inemuri' train too. Wait a minute, I am my

  • boss.

  • 3. One-of-a-kind animals

  • Asia has some of the most interesting animal

  • species that can only be found on this continent.

  • Take the Indian sloth bear, for instance.

  • Is it a sloth, is it a bear, who knows?

  • Actually, it is a bear, but don't worry if one crosses your path while you're exploring

  • the Indian subcontinent; these guys prefer a diet of fruit, ants, and termites to, like uhm

  • you!

  • There's also the Proboscis monkey, with a face only a mother could love, that lives

  • on the island of Borneo in Indonesia, which is in Southeast Asia.

  • 4. And some equally strange-looking plants

  • And some equally strange-looking plants.

  • Indonesia is also home to some bizarre flora.

  • Ever seen a corpse flower?

  • Ever smelled one?

  • Trust me, you don't want to.

  • All I'll say is that these giant plants' “aromais what earned them the morbid

  • nickname.

  • A real jaw-dropper is the 10-foot-tall, 15-foot-wide, and 100-pound Titan Arum.

  • Then there's the 3-foot-wide Rafflesia, which literally looks like something out of

  • the Mario world.

  • Number five: lowest and highest points on land.

  • If your bucket list includes standing on both the highest and lowest points on Earth, head to Asia and knock them both out in one go.

  • The great Mount Everest in the Himalayas, as you may know, is the highest peak on the planet, rising above sea level at a staggering 29,029 feet.

  • As for the lowest of the low, no, the Challenger Deep doesn't count!

  • I'm talking about the lowest place on land, and it's the Dead Sea, which is between the West Bank and Israel.

  • Hey, the Middle East is part of Western Asia, so I'll count it!

  • Anyway, it's over 1,400 feet below sea level!

  • Six: some bizarre inventions.

  • Asia has some weird inventions that you might be interested in owning.

  • Japan's Toyota-i-road is a combination of a car and a motorcycle.

  • This little futuristic transportation device can fit into any parking space without trouble, and I'm sure it'll be a head turner wherever you go.

  • It's also electric, so no need for gas money!

  • Some other kooky, yet seemingly practical, inventions from the Land of the Rising Sun are eyedrop funnels, which can only be described as a butter mincer, and a fold-out pillow dictionary!

  • Hey, to make one of those "inemuri" naps a little more comfortable wherever you decide to catch some Z's!

  • Number seven: hotels with a robot staff.

  • Gonna have to head to Japan for this bizarre sight as well.

  • The Henn-na Hotel in Tokyo will have you feeling like you're in the year 3000.

  • This is the only hotel in the world with a staff that's mostly made up of robots!

  • And don't worry about having to learn to speak "Robot", all the staff know pretty much all the major world languages.

  • They also have a robot dinosaur for the kiddies!

  • My only question is, can they do the robot?

  • Number eight: Pandora on Earth.

  • "Avatar", the sci-fi/fantasy film that had all of us with our eyes bulging out of our heads and saying, "Oh, the colors!" back in 2009.

  • Hey, if you ever wanted to step foot into Pandora, that's where the story took placeas a refresherjust head to China!

  • The Zhangjiajie National Forest Park has the Southern Sky Column, which was actually officially renamed Avatar Mountain after the movie's release!

  • An astounding 3,500 feet tall, this sandstone pillar covered in greenery was one of the inspirations for the movie.

  • So, art imitating life then imitating art.

  • Oh, fascinating!

  • Number nine: not your run-of-the-mill adventure activities.

  • Hey, instead of admiring Avatar Mountain from afar, why not give her a climb?

  • That same national park has an exhilarating Glass Skywalk on its Tianmen Mountain.

  • Now, just imagine, you're 4,700 feet up in the air walking around on a 3-foot-wide bridge on the side of a mountain with only 2-inch-thick glass panels stopping you from a long fall!

  • And, you know, the thing about glass is that it's clear, so you can see everything below you!

  • No, not interested?

  • Then you probably don't wanna hear about SkyCycle in the Philippines.

  • Not unless you'd like to ride a bicycle on a tight wire 60 feet above the ground!

  • Nope, I"ll be skipping both of those, thanks.

  • 10. Perfect marriage of nature and technology.

  • These two concepts are almost always understood

  • as stark opposites.

  • But if you step into Asia, you'll be questioning everything you knew about technology and nature.

  • In China, there's a perfectly trimmed juniper tree garden that, when looked at from above,

  • turns out to be a QR code!

  • And get this, it actually works when you scan it!

  • Well, if you take an aerial shot of the garden, turn up the brightness on the picture, and

  • then scan the photo, it'll take you to the official site of China's most popular messaging

  • app!

  • 11. Only one time zone

  • OK, at first glance, this might not sound

  • so bizarre.

  • I mean, time zones, really?

  • But think about it. China is one of the largest countries in the world, and you'd expect

  • it to have at least 5 time zones, right?

  • But it only has one, and that's Beijing Time!

  • So, every city in this country is on the exact same schedule.

  • It sounds really convenient, especially if you wanna make a long-distance call to a friend

  • on the other side of the country.

  • But imagine, in some areas, people get up and go to work only to see the sunrise at

  • lunchtime!

  • That's weird.

  • 12. Teeth-blackening

  • Whereas most countries in the West spend a

  • lot of time and money trying to make their teeth look whiter, some Asian cultures do

  • the opposite!

  • Teeth-blackening is mostly practiced in small communities in Southeast Asia and Oceania,

  • and it used to be pretty popular in Japan and some parts of China.

  • But they don't do this to rebel against that bandwagon pursuit of the Hollywood smile.

  • No, the practice actually serves a useful purpose!

  • It's an effective way to protect teeth from decay and preserves them for longer.

  • Plus, it has deep cultural meaning.

  • It might look odd to outsiders, but they see it as a sign of health and beauty!

  • Hey, I can respect that!

  • 13. Longest bridge in the world

  • Heading back to China, let's look at the

  • world's longest bridge.

  • That would be the DanyangKunshan Grand Bridge.

  • Simply looking at this thing twists your brain, so just imagine riding along its mind-blowing

  • stretch of over 100 miles!

  • It's part of the Beijing-Shanghai High-Speed Railway, so if you wanna see this bad boy

  • for yourself, you'll need to take a train trip going to or from Shanghai and Nanjing.

  • Oh yeah, and you'll be about 100 feet up in the air, so don't look down!

  • 14. The fountain of youth

  • And finally, probably the most undeniable

  • fact that Asia is some sort of different universe must be the strange way aging works there.

  • That is, it seems to go a lot slower than in other parts of the world, mine included!

  • I mean, have you seen Taiwanese interior designer Lure Hsu?

  • What about Singaporean professional photographer Chuando Tan?

  • They're both undeniably gorgeous people, but get this: she's going on 44 and he's

  • 53!

  • Well, “middle-agedis a whole different concept over there since a lot of Asian countries

  • have extremely long lifespans.

  • Japan itself has the most centenarians, that's people who've celebrated their 100th birthday,

  • per capita.

  • It probably comes down to their healthy diet and active lifestyle, but if there is a fountain

  • of youth, I'm willing to bet it's somewhere over in Asia.

  • So you, yeah you there, which of the places I mentioned would you like to see first, and

  • can you add any more examples to the list?

  • Let me know down in the comments.

  • If you learned something new today, then give this video a like and share it with a friend.

  • But hey, don't go backpacking in the Himalayas just yet!

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  • Stay on the Bright Side of life!

So, here you have Asia, the biggest continent on this planet with a whole alphabet soup

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