Wet New Year (Thailand) – The Thai New Year, celebrated on 13th April, has turned into great fun for locals and visitors. The Thai people pay reverence to Buddha, clean their houses and pour water over elders as a way to show respect. Over the past years, though, the tradition has become a bit wilder – whether you’re an elder or not, expect water gun shoot-outs in the streets, whole buckets of water to be amicably poured over you or water balloons to be thrown at you.

New Year’s, camping in the desert – Mark the beginning of the new year with Bedouin cuisine, music and dances around the campfire in the middle of the desert. Spend the night in a tent camp among sand dunes and get up at dawn to welcome the first sunrise of a great new year in your life. There are similar tours in Jordan, Dubai, Morocco, India – prices, duration and extras included may vary.

Join the ice-cold New Year’s Dive in the Netherlands  – 1st January in the Netherlands is no time for lying around and sobering up in front of the TV, but for the traditional New Year’s plunge into the icy waters of the sea, lakes and rivers. More than 25,000 Dutch people take part in this refreshing procedure every year. The largest dive is held at the beach of Scheveningen –  a seaside region in the Hague, where about 10,000 people plunge into the sea each year.

A couple more icy ideas: A traditional icy dive is held on Christmas day in Serpentine Lake (Hyde Park, London). In North America there are ‘polar bear’ clubs that organize charity ice dives. In Russia and other Orthodox countries, on the day of the revelation of God (Epiphany, 6th or 19th January) an iron cross is cast into the icy waters of a river. Young men race to retrieve it. It is believed that the first who reaches the cross will be healthy and happy all year long.

And don’t forget that celebrating New Year in your own home, apartment or family house in Sofia (or anywhere in Bulgaria or abroad), is cool and nice option, too 😉

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1. Africa is the only continent situated in all the four hemispheres – the western, the eastern, the northern and the southern.

2. Lesotho, The Vatican and San Marino are the only three countries in the world that are surrounded entirely by only one country. Lesotho borders South Africa, The Vatican and San Marino border Italy.

3. The Greek national anthem consists of 158 verses. It is not known if there is a Greek who can sing them all by heart.

4. There is not a single river in Saudi Arabia.

5. The shortest place name in the world is Å. Villages with this name can be found both in Norway and Sweden. In the Scandinavian languages “Å” means “River”.

6. The smallest country area is that of the Vatican (2 square miles/5 square kilometers), while the largest city area is that of Hulunbuir in China (101,912 square miles/263,953 square kilometers)

7. New York drifts away from London 1 inch/2,5 cm every year.

8. Dust from Africa can reach as far as Florida.

9. The Himalayas are getting higher 0,6 inch/1,5 cm every year.

10. There is a heart-shaped coral reef in Australia.

11. Cuba is the only Caribbean country that has a railway.

12. The biggest pyramid in the world is not in Egypt but in… Mexico. It is called Cholula and is currently covered in grass.

13. All the gondolas in Venice must be black unless they are the property of a high-ranked official.

14. The name of Canada comes from the St. Lawrence Iroquoian word kanata or canada, meaning village or settlement.

15. The Transsiberian Railway in Russia crosses 3901 bridges along its way.

16. The Philippines Archipelago consists of 7107 islands.

17. Around 90% of the world population lives in the northern hemisphere.

18. Until 2002 there was an agreement between Monaco and France that if the principality doesn’t have a male heir, Monaco would lose its independence.

19. It’s forbidden for airplanes to fly over the Taj Mahal.

20. Mexico City sinks 4-6 inches (10-15 cm) a year because it was built over a lake. The city has sunk around 32 feet/10 m in the last 60 years.

21. The first city to reach 1 million inhabitants was Rome in 133 BC. London reached the line in 1810, New York – in 1875. Nowadays more than 300 cities in the world have more than a million inhabitants.

22. Amman – the capital of Jordan, used to be called Philadelphia.

23. If a man gives a woman a compliment in Togo, he should marry her.

24. Until almost the end of the 80’s there was not a single phone in Bhutan.

25. On the 18th of February 1979 it was snowing in the Sahara.

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