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Mildly disturbing scenes discovered in Legoland Florida
Gallery: Thai elephants go from the streets to the polo pitch
Taking a ride with Sunita Choudhary, North India's first female auto rickshaw taxi driver
Korea's 'souvenir of the year' is actually super cute
All change! Tokyo Station is back better than ever
Xunpu oyster village: Fresh seafood, flamboyant women

Mildly disturbing scenes discovered in Legoland Florida

Posted: 17 Sep 2012 09:39 PM PDT

by CNNGo staff

Legoland -- a pleasant day out, fun for all the family, full of color and smiling staff and scenes of people getting mugged and choking on food.

Uh, wait up. What?

It turns out that one iteration of the child-friendly theme park in Florida has a rather alarming line in macabre and mildly disturbing "everyday" scenes.

Raymond Walsh, travel writer, blogger and one for the details, picked out a dozen such miniature vistas while on a trip there this year.

"I first noticed a Speedo-clad Lego man with a crab attacking his face and thought it was pretty funny," he says. "I figured if there was a scene like that one, there had to be others. I was on a mission after that."

Gallery: Thai elephants go from the streets to the polo pitch

Posted: 17 Sep 2012 08:04 PM PDT

Capping off a week of mad mallet skills, big money, hot ladyboys and boozy afternoons on the pitch, Thailand's annual King's Cup Elephant Polo tournament came to a close on Sunday.

This year's King's Cup had 12 teams, plus an exhibition match featuring players from the New Zealand All Black rugby squad and a few of the ladies from Pattaya's famed Tiffany's transvestite cabaret show. (See the gallery above for highlights.)

Organized by luxury hotel brand Anantara in the southern resort town of Hua Hin, this year's event raised over 3.3 million baht (US$107,000), which will go to various charities that support Thailand's elephants.

In the end, it was Thailand's very own King Power team that took the top trophy, beating out the Audemars Piguet squad.

'No microchip, no game'

Fun times aside, elephant polo isn't without controversy.

Taking a ride with Sunita Choudhary, North India's first female auto rickshaw taxi driver

Posted: 17 Sep 2012 05:33 PM PDT

by Divya Dugar

Sunita Choudhary kick-starts the engine, looks at herself for a moment in the sideview mirror and then drives her auto rickshaw at high speed through the heavy traffic.

"It feels good to be the first female auto driver in this male-dominated field," says Choudhary. Having taken up the trade in 2006, she claims to be the only female professional driver in North India of the three-wheeler vehicles hired as taxis on city streets.

The 35-year-old -- who ran away from her village in Uttar Pradesh as a teenager to escape an abusive arranged marriage -- has come a long way.

Not only has Choudhary forced her way into the boy's club of rickshaw taxis, but she also filed for nomination in India's 2012 vice-presidential elections, hoping to help the people at the bottom of Indian society via a seat in government.

Choudhary was unable to get enough votes to win. "But one day, I will be able to navigate my way to the top of Indian politics," she declares.

Korea's 'souvenir of the year' is actually super cute

Posted: 17 Sep 2012 03:35 PM PDT

It's a sad, sad tale. Many a tourist in Korea has bought souvenirs in Myeongdong, only to discover "Made in China" blatantly printed on the back when they get home.

In an effort to upgrade the quality and creativity of souvenirs, the Korea Tourism Organization (KTO) has sponsored an official souvenir contest for artists and craftsmen in Korea for the past 15 years.

Art and craft

This year, first place went to ceramic artist Chang Sung-joo, 36, from South Jeolla province, for his entry titled "The Sound of the Sea." The prizes were announced late last week.

"The Sound of the Sea" is a small ceramic "fish with personality," according to the KTO press release -- a jjangttungeo, or a bluespotted mudhopper, hailing from the mudflats of Suncheon, to be precise. Chang has been making ceramic art in Suncheon for 11 years.

The clincher seems to have been the fact it is also a pipe, and one can actually play music on it … or at least make some high-pitched noises, anyway.

All change! Tokyo Station is back better than ever

Posted: 17 Sep 2012 03:05 PM PDT

by Gail Nakada

Tokyo Station is big. Big like a mini nation in its own right, complete with an entire ecosystem of train lines stores and even a hotel.

With the Narita Express, Shinkansen, JR and private rail lines, plus the Tokyo Metro passing through, most visitors end up transiting at Tokyo at some point during their trip.

Recent visits to Tokyo Eki might not have been all that impressive, though, as it's being undergoing a major refit.

Now, however, the last of the scaffolding is slowly coming down in preparation for October's big reveal of a full exterior renovation to the building's pre-World War II classic elegance.

You can already see most of the rebuilt domes and much of the facade on the Marunouchi side.

Xunpu oyster village: Fresh seafood, flamboyant women

Posted: 17 Sep 2012 10:20 AM PDT

by Chung-wah Chow

Visitors flock to Xunpu Village (蟳埔村) for two things: oysters, and a photo of the colorfully dressed women who sell them.

The oyster women are usually well past middle age -- it's their flamboyant costumes, exotic hairdos and supposed Arabic heritage that piques tourists' interest.

And the oysters themselves? Well, they might just be the freshest and tastiest in all of China.

Xunpu oyster village -- inline 2 Xunpu's women spend hours every day shucking oysters.