Just off the coast is a small island called Pulau Perhentian, it is not inhabited, but there are 3 small bungalows [okay, not really bungalows, no actual beds or anything. Sheds would be more accurate.] and a well on the one beach a boat can get into. You must arrange your own transport by fishing boat, be sure and arrange a pick up day as well. Bring all your food for the time you’ll be there, you’ll be dropped in the water, there is no pier.
The white beach is like flour, the coral reef is thick with wildlife, and when the nightfall comes, there is not a sound but the ocean, not a light but the stars.
If you follow the beach from where the bungalows are, to the west, past a couple of rocky outcrops and over a sand dune of broken bits of coral (walking on it sounds like the tinkling of china), you will discover a beach so virgin, and pristine, a dramatic sight as you come over the coral. Jungles, beach, sea, no sign of human habitation. It is absolutely magical.
Now I’ve travelled a fair bit, seen a lot of South Pacific beaches, but none compare to this one. Whew, took my breath away. This island has lots of wild life too including monitor lizards (very big) and flying foxes, all of it like a garden of eden.
And when you get back to the East coast of Malaysia don’t miss the beach of Passionate Love.
I didn’t have to think too hard about this, which means I’m probably forgetting some, but the two most beautiful places I’ve been:
Watkins Glen, NY. The gorge is so beatiful, in any season. Not that I’ve been there in winter - they tend to close the gorge trails at the slightest provocation. probably a good idea for me, I’m a bit of a klutz and would probably slip and fall to my death. On this one though I’m pretty biased. I grew up in the Finger Lakes region, where we have a plethora of beautiful things to look at every day.
(I alomost said Enfield Glen instead of Watkins Glen. It was a tough choice.)
Somewhere on a highway (the only highway, maybe?) between Hobart and Port Arthur, Tasmania, there is an overlook where you can see Pirate’s Cove. At this moment I’m not sure if Pirate’s Cove is even the correct name for the place. It was the most breathtaking view I’ve ever seen. We were there is the morning on a foggy day, and the view was incredible, with the cliffs and rock peeking out of the fog, and then we stopped again in the afternoon on the way back to Hobart, when the fog had lifted, and the sun was out. Absolutely beautiful. The photos I took of course could not do it justice.
The Grand Canyon left me cold, but I think it was because I really could not comprehend what I was seeing. It was mind-numbingly HUGE. I need a smaller scale to really appreciate things.
A place I’ve found beautiful in photos and want very much to visit is northern England (sorry - I can’t be more specific - near Scotland? Maybe Scotland too? ). It just looks so cold and damp and wonderful. I can’t explain.
I do think TopazAntares is right, though, that
“the more you travel, the more you will come to appreciate how beautiful your home turf really is.”
Just off the coast is a small island called Pulau Perhentian, it is not inhabited, but there are 3 small bungalows [okay, not really bungalows, no actual beds or anything. Sheds would be more accurate.] and a well on the one beach a boat can get into. You must arrange your own transport by fishing boat, be sure and arrange a pick up day as well. Bring all your food for the time you’ll be there, you’ll be dropped in the water, there is no pier.
The white beach is like flour, the coral reef is thick with wildlife, and when the nightfall comes, there is not a sound but the ocean, not a light but the stars.
If you follow the beach from where the bungalows are, to the west, past a couple of rocky outcrops and over a sand dune of broken bits of coral (walking on it sounds like the tinkling of china), you will discover a beach so virgin, and pristine, a dramatic sight as you come over the coral. Jungles, beach, sea, no sign of human habitation. It is absolutely magical.
Now I’ve travelled a fair bit, seen a lot of South Pacific beaches, but none compare to this one. Whew, took my breath away. This island has lots of wild life too including monitor lizards (very big) and flying foxes, all of it like a garden of eden.
And when you get back to the East coast of Malaysia don’t miss the beach of Passionate Love.
At sunrise. A heron in the water, frogs greeting the day…There is NO PLACE better. Thank God I live in Baltimore ( My choice for best city FWIW ) and can expierence this whenever I want. I am truely blessed to live in the place I like best.
I haven’t been many places, but the view from the bank of the Yaak River, in the Cabinet Mountains of Montana, on the old homestead where I was born, is perfectly stunning. The smell of the cottonwoods is like perfume, and the sound of the river is musical. Countless stars in the sky, the crisp chill in the air, even in the middle of the summer… My home.
-The Great Smokey Mountains of North Georgia and Western North Carolina. The combination of rugged terrain and lush plant growth is magical. It is easy to find large areas unspoiled by human hands, pristine rivers, and virtually unknown waterfalls. Tallulah Gorge will take your breath away. The views, the sounds, and the smells are the stuff dreams are made of.
-Any of a dozen or more places on the drive down Highway 1 from San Francisco to the Monterrey Penninsula. I must have stopped the car every 10-15 miles during the drive just to get out and be part of the environment. Mountains on your left, ocean crashing into the cliffs on your right. Utter contentment.
-The Great Smokey Mountains of North Georgia and Western North Carolina. The combination of rugged terrain and lush plant growth is magical. It is easy to find large areas unspoiled by human hands, pristine rivers, and virtually unknown waterfalls. Tallulah Gorge will take your breath away. The views, the sounds, and the smells are the stuff dreams are made of.
-Any of a dozen or more places on the drive down Highway 1 from San Francisco to the Monterrey Penninsula. I must have stopped the car every 10-15 miles during the drive just to get out and be part of the environment. Mountains on your left, ocean crashing into the cliffs on your right. Utter contentment.
I agree with weirddave, Baltimore is beautiful. I love going to the Harbor on hot summer nights, all dressed up with my friends, eating outside and watching the bands play. The beautiful old boats in the water, all the people wandering arounf, the Gallery and WaterWorks, the stadium lights in the distance. There is nothing better than walking to the top of Federal Hill and looking out over the Harbor and downtown…incredible.
Vermont is stunning. No matter where in the state you are, it is stunning. But I grew up on a small town on an island in the middle of Lake Champlain, and I tend to think it is the most gorgeous spot in the state. Apparently, I’m not alone, as the county is “The Beauty Spot of Vermont.” Paul Newman used to vacation here. But I digress.
You have the Green Mountains on one side of the lake and the Adirondacks on the other. Lake Champlain is your typical glacial lake, deep and large. The islands are connected via bridges, and are large enough to just go for a drive. The towns are small and quaint, everyone knows everyone else. The landscape is a brilliant green with rolling hills. I’ve heard from more than one person that it looks like Switzerland. In the winter, before the lake freezes, the water is warmer than the air around it, and the lake “vents.” Mists rise from the water, and make everything look like a fairytale. Sunsets light the sky on fire.
To quote the Indigo Girls: “The beauty just keeps shaking me.”
Yosemite Valley - I grew up visiting Yosemite with my family. I especially love Cook’s meadow, with it’s beautiful view of Half Dome…Yosemite Falls (one of the highest waterfalls in the world!) It’s breathtaking.
I love to stay at Yosemite Lodge, which is very near the base of Yosemite Falls. You can hear the falls roaring, all night. And you wake up to see the sun coming up on Sentinel Dome and Half Dome.
I have to go to work now, but I’ll try to put up a few more picture URLS later. My words cannot do Yosemite justice.
Big Sur without a doubt. I have some infrared photos I took a couple of months ago to back this up. go to http://www.geocities.com/anartist at large/
click on big sur infra red and see for your self.
I meant to type another one but I got sidetracked.
In eight grade I went to Canada for a week and we stayed in Montreal and Quebec. In Quebec, we rode the “funiclaire” (I think that’s what it was called) to this old, beautiful hotel on the side of the cliff. The funiclaire was actually buitl into the cliff, it was incredible. Then when we got to the op and looked out over Quebec…it was so beautiful. I would move there if I spoke French and wanted to work for the Canadian government.
The Canadian Rockies are still number 1 (followed by western Ireland), but here are a few more of my favorite spots:
[ul]
[li]Glacier National Park - On the Montana/Alberta border. The second most spectacular segment of the Rockies I have seen, plus beautiful lakes and rivers.[/li][li]Botanical Beach. Vancouver Island, out beyond Port Renfrew. A great place to watch the sun go down as the Pacific pounds the rocky shoreline. Great tidal pools, as well, where you can spend hours wandering around looking at stranded little sea critters.[/li][li]The “Pillars of Hercules.” The ferry ride from Morrocco to Spain gives you a great view, from the sea, of the Rock of Gibraltar.[/li][li]Black Canyon of the Gunnison. Deep, fairly narrow canyon, in SW Colorado. So deep and narrow that I understand the floor of the Canyon only gets a couple of hours of direct sunlight every day. I want to hike that one sometime. It is quite spectacular from the rim.[/li][li]Lake Superior, as viewed from Cape Gargantua in Lake Superior Provincial Park. The drive up along the eastern shore of the lake is also spectacular. Deep blue water, primeval woods. Hard to beat. Another nice view of the lake can be found at Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore, in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.[/li][li]Countryside near Brasov, Romania. Beautiful farmlands, snow-capped mountains. The poverty there when I went in the early 90’s was heartbreaking, though. Brasov itself had a lot of ugly, Communist-era apartment buildings. (Ugh.) But trek over to Bran, and take a gander at “Dracula’s Castle” while you’re there. (That’s what they tell the tourists anyway…)[/li][li]Any of the big freshwater springs in northern Florida. (I’m not telling where my favorites are, lest they be “discovered.” Deep, crystal-clear water bubbling out of caves and into wildlife-filled forests. Dive in, and it’s like you’re swimming around in a freshwater aquarium. Watch for gators! (Kidding. They are timid critters, mostly.)[/ul][/li]Like an earlier poster, I was a bit disappointed by the Grand Canyon. I think it was just because you see it in movies and on television so often that by the time you get there, your reaction is pretty much “Well, that’s just how I expected it to look.” We’ve been numbed to its beauty, I suppose.
Gotta agree wholeheartedly. Even though I live in the Eastern U.S., I am continually drawn to the Canadian Rockies. So is my wife.
We like it so much, we got married on a small frozen lake in Jasper this past February.
The drive from Lake Louise to Jasper (the Columbia Icefields Parkway) is absolutely stunning.
I’ve been to a lot of mountainous areas around the world (love to ski), but the Canadian Rockies have an unusually good combination of scenery, wildlife and nice people.
