Weirdness

Ashgabat Monuments

The city of Ashgabat - capital of Turkmenistan - is dominated by monuments to one man's megalomania - former President-for-Life Saparmurat Niyazov. Take, for example, the 75m tall Arch of Neutrality, which he subtly topped with a 12m gold-plated statue…

Posted by
Thursday, 27th August 2009

Chinese military weirdness

There aren't many sights that puzzle us here at Google Sightseeing, but this one has us stumped. In a remote desert area of Gansu province in northern China is this mysterious maze-like pattern. The "streets" are about 20 metres wide,…

Posted by
Tuesday, 18th August 2009

“The Buzzer” (UVB-76)

Around 25 times a minute, 24 hours a day, this Russian shortwave radio station emits a short, monotonous buzz tone1 on the AM frequency at 4625 kHz. The station's callsign is "UVB-76", but is known amongst enthusiasts as "The Buzzer",…

Posted by
Tuesday, 21st July 2009

Cloud-shapes in the Sand

Remember lying on the grass when you were younger, staring up at the sky, allowing your imagination to twist and shape the clouds into an elephant being chased by a mouse or a dragon being slain by a cat? Now…

Posted by
Wednesday, 8th July 2009

The Door to Hell

The Darvaza (Darweze) natural gas crater is an endlessly smoldering geological anomaly located in the isolated Karakum Desert of Turkmenistan.

Posted by
Friday, 3rd July 2009

North Sentinel Island

We've tagged this sight as "India", but in truth North Sentinel Island is hardly even a part of the world as we know it. Although it is barely 40km away from the well populated South Andaman Island, North Sentinel is…

Posted by
Thursday, 25th June 2009

Welcome to Google Sightseeing!

Google Sightseeing takes you on a tour of the world as seen from satellite or street views using Google Maps. Our team of authors present weird and wonderful sights as suggested by readers.

Like this site? We published a photo book of the best entries, you should buy a copy.