What’s the most exotic place you’ve ever visited? I ask this because I’ve never been anywhere interesting. I’ve never even set foot outside of the U.S. I’d love to go visit Nunavut’s Ellesmere Island, check out the Australian outback, take a ride on the Trans Siberian Railroad, or maybe go to Greenland. Maybe someday when I have enough money, I can do these things.
Until then, I’d like to hear about all the cool places that my fellow dopers have visited. The less populated, the better!
Damn it. Let’s try that Ellesmere Island National Park link again.
The Tiki Room at Disneyland.
Good op, this could turn interesting…
For me I guess it’s a toss up between some remote place in Iceland that has a lake-sized hotspring with a huge ass glacier floating in it, and just about everywhere that I’ve gotten lost in China! Those hutong streets all look the same untill you’re suddenly far far away from anyone that speaks english 
— G. Raven
The most exotic place I’ve ever been is Fiji. The summer of 1995 I went on a volunteer summer trip overseas. We spent 2 months on the islands of Fiji. It was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. The people are so nice and friendly…and content! We visited these small villages where their homes are combo tin & grass, the clothes are crosses between homemade cloth & american t-shirts… The views are mind-blowing. We spent time in hills overlooking the Pacific Ocean and fields upon fields of tall sugar cane. We spent time on another smaller island that was all rainforest. We were on a cliff just above the beach of the Pacific. Time doesn’t exist there. You sleep when you’re tired, you eat when you’re hungry and you work somewhere in between. It was so incredible! I learned how to chop open coconuts with a machete, turn coconut husks into bowls, create a “sled” out of bamboo & banana leaves. I slept with a herd of cows slepeing outside my window. I woke up to the sun rising over the multi-colored waters of the pacific. I rode windowless busses into town and then hitched rides back with locals on their trucks. I participated in Kava ceremonies. It was incredible and I can’t wait to go back!
Area 51.
And I don’t mean that I visited the publically-accessible airbase, either – I drove for three hours north of Las Vegas, then took the unnamed and unmarked dirt road for another half-hour, until I got to that impenetrable barrier – the sign stating “Unauthorized Personnel Beyond This Point Will Be Shot”.
Then I went home. After snapping a few photographs, of course…
I was stationed in Okinawa, Japan for 2 years and lived in the Okinawan community in an apartment for 1-1/2 of those years. Very cool. Heavy, thick jungle, volcanic soil leading out to coral reefs with great snorkeling and diving, sparesly populated islands connected by small bridges, the air heavy with jasmine in the late summer, rows and rows of huge red hibiscus lining the roads, spiders of incredible size.
We’d take trips out to certain portions of the island: caves leading to deep pools with a large opening on the ocean, climb the cave walls and jump in. Small pond at the bottom of an obscure hill in the north, waterfall at the far end, large waterfall empties the pool, jump off cliff (20 ft) into the pool at the bottom, follow the river down and then try to find a path back up to the main pond. Jungle, heavy, and close on every side.
Snorkling. lion fish, stone fish, sea slugs, urchins, fish the color of the rainbow. Watch where you step!
Road trips along the small backcountry roads, coming around a field of sugar cane and discovering a small farming village of concrete houses next to a small stream. Driving along the cliffs, looking out on the ocean.
Oban Festival (Festival of the Dead). Floats, costumes, streamers and fairs. Gifts of food left at the cemeteries and tombs. The tombs looking like little concrete cites, the ground much too stoney to actually bury people. Hearing the drums from the festival at night, through my screened patio door.
Typhoon warnings. The waves, incredible in size, hitting the sea wall, rain falling sideways, the wind ripping open car doors that were left cracked, feeling the buildings shake from the force of the storm.
The heat, sticky, moist, omnipresent. Get out of the shower, towel off and you’re still wet.
The Galapagos islands were rather exotic. Pretty steady flow of tourists, tho. The desert east of Ourourazate (sp?) Morocco was nice and quiet. Not much population to speak of.
Dracula’s castle in Romania (actually Vlad the Impaler), it’s a ruin, something like 1500 stone steps up the side of a mountain, but very cool. Visited there summer of 1972. Also stopped in Prague the same trip, this was just after the Russian army had marched in. The graffiti that I saw loosely translated to “freedom” (Svoboda) Interesting trip.
I visited some old burial cairns somewhere in Europe. We had to crawl for about 1/2 mile through caves. Some of the openings barely had enough room to lay flat and try to slide yourself along. We eventualy made it into a larger cave that had the cairns all along the side. It was almost otherworldy. Cold, damp, the strange echos, the unimaginable blackness when we shut off our flashlights.
Either:
Caracas, Venezuela
Pisa, Italy, or
Warsaw, Poland
Bunch of them, but three that come readily to mind are Eurpik Island, an outer island of the Federated State of Yap in Micronesia. It’s about three quarters of a mile wide by a mile long, maybe a little less. The men still wear loin cloths and the women still wear grass skirts and no tops. When I visited there, there were about 65 people or so. Hard to get to though, but well worth it.
Good skin diving, lovely people, nice coconut sap wine (called tuba) and not a “modern” convenience in sight.
The second spot is Namche Bazaar in Nepal as the crow flies (with oxygen, of course) not that far from Everest. The people are delightful, the food is great, and the scenery is like nothing imaginable. Once again it is a bit hard to get to but well worth it. Don’t expect indoor plumbing or cold beer, but there are still a number of hashish shops there (officially the government closed them down, but they still are there).
The third is Mandalay, Burma. Yes I know it’s not called Burma any more, but it is hard for me to say Mandalay without saying Burma. The two just go together (I’m still wrestling with Ceylon being Sri Lanka). The town gives the impression of a place out of time. The people can’t do enough for you, and some of the scenery and sites date back to the great Kahn. Still others are as modern as the colonial times of the British Empire. Accomodations can be rather primitive to a person of the 21st century, but there is some electricity and some running water and some indoor plumbing. You said you wanted exotic.
By the way, you don’t need to be rich to go to exotic places. I did it on an itenerant journalist’s pay.
Bangkok - especially riding the klongs (canals) in a long boat, getting off the beaten track, seeing people’s homes and their Buddhist shrines, and of course going to all the temples (well, not all but many of them). The food is amazing, too.
Morocco was quite exotic. The cultural and architectural diversity is stunning.
Tahiti, 15 years ago. We stayed at a hotel about an hour from Papeete, and we were the only guests there for 5 days.
Then on the weekend, the “city people” came out to the resort, and the beach was filled with beautiful men and topless sunbathing women.
I’ve been to Thailand, very beatiful, and very exotic in places. Its very tropical if you go to the islands in the south. My fiance is from thailand (why I went there). I’ve also studied in several different religous monistaries through out california. Some of those were exotic (espeacially the ukranian catholic monastary, very nice people though). Apart from all those places, the most exotic place I’ve been had to be somewhere in southeastern Kentucky. We stayed on a small mountain farm with a guy called Uncle Joe (60 yrs old), and his wife Peggy (15yrs old). He had a Mary Jane plant that was at least 10 foot in height. Truly exotic.
The Ituri forest in the Congo Basin of (then) Zaire. I went out net-hunting with 20 Pygmies. 
Madagascar, with its bizarre blend of Africa and Asia, would be a close second. Truly a World Out of Time.
After that, either Ayers Rock in central Australia or the utter nothingness of Patagonia.
Two places come to mind, both remote. One is Chinatown in Singapore during the last Chinese New Year where I had my senses blasted with a myriad of smells and sounds. And it was so f-ing crowded. A real culture shock for me, which I didn’t think was possible because I AM from Singapore.
The other would be this quiet little town called Hay-On-Wye on the border of Wales and England, about two hours away from the nearest train station. Almost everyone who lives there is a bookseller. The signs are in Welsh and English and on a clear spring day all you see are the rolling hills and gamboling sheep. For a city girl like me, I couldn’t be farther away from home.
The men’s bathroom at the Indy 500 in the middle of the race. If you don’t think that’s exotic, you’ve never been to Indy. Remember also, I’m female.
When I was younger, I visited a small resort town in Cyprus called Ayanapa. It was gorgeous - topless beauties everywhere and everyone got around on little scooters. We also took a vacation last year in Sharm-El-Sheikh, which is a beautiful coastal community on the Sinai peninsula in Egypt. They have some of the best coral reefs and snorkeling in the Red Sea is downright awe-inspiring. My two favorite exotic places.
Djoudj, The National Bird Park of Senegal (not my photos, but they look very much like these.)
Djoudj is located just south of the Mauretanian border, along the Senegal River. Bird life is incredible. The White Pelicans are HUGE and sound like a herd of elephants when they take off from the river. I swam in the hotel pool with a couple of them.
Next stop will be Zambia.
Well, I was going to say I’d never been anywhere very exotic, but somebody else mentioned Hay-on-Wye, and I have been there. So I guess it depends how you define “exotic.”
I suppose mine would be La Albufeira, Spain. Absolutely gorgeous little town surrounded by rice fields, not all that far from Valencia but like stepping into another world. The primary language is Valenciano, not Spanish, and at siesta time the place is absolutely silent. They’ve also got the best paella on earth.
Melpomene, I’ve got a 2 1/2 day layover in Fiji this summer. Got any suggestions for not-to-be-missed places and things to do?