NEW YORK-
Wild tigers, the oldest rain forest, the fastest train and the tallest building are just some of the 20 Asian wonders described in Conde Nast Traveler. Here is the complete list from the magazine’s October issue, which is devoted to exploring Asia:
–Best wild tiger safari, Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan India.
–Lowest-lying country, the Maldives, where the average elevation is just three feet above sea level.
–Highest altitude hotel, Nepal’s Hotel Everest View at 13,000 feet above sea level.
–Highest railway, the new train to Tibet in China, which reaches altitudes of 16,600 feet.
–The longest-necked people, found in Myanmar where the women of the Kareni and Padaung tribes wear layers of copper chokers and stretch their necks to nearly 16 inches in length.
–The most sparsely populated country, Mongolia, where 2.8 million people live in an area four times the size of California.
–The largest public square, Tiananmen in Beijing.
–The longst commercial flight, Singapore Airlines’ flight 21, nonstop from Newark to Singapore, 18.5 hours.
–The longest-reigning monarch, the king of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has reigned since 1946.
–Oldest rain forest, Malaysia’s Taman Negara, untouched for 130 million years.
–Biggest Buddhist monument, Central Java’s Borobudur, a 10-story stupa built from 10 million stone blocks.
–Biggest bulwark, China’s Great Wall, stretching 2,150 miles.
–Highest hotel, Grand Hyatt Shanghai in Pudong, which occupies the top 35 floors of the 88-story Jin Mao Tower.
–Most densely populated island, China’s Ap Lei Chau, off Hong Kong, where 80,000 people share a half-square mile. (The figure commonly cited for Manhattan is about 50,000 people per square mile.)
–Fastest train, Shanghai’s Pudong Airport Maglev, which gets to central Shanghai in eight minutes at speeds of up to 270 miles an hour, for a mere $6.
–Tallest building, Taiwan’s 101-story Taipei 101.
–Oldest hotel, Japan’s 75-room Houshi Ryokan in Awazu, which dates to 717 A.D.
–Rarest sea mammal, the dugong, a relative of the manatee, found in the waters of the Philippines, among other places.
–Biggest bamboo organ, in St. Joseph Church in the Philippines’ Las Pinas City.
–Most expensive toilet, Japan’s $5,000 Neorest, which offers a heated seat, air purifier and oscillating spray massage. Found at Tokyo’s Mandarin Oriental, hotel among other places.
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