101 Places Not to See Before You Die - Catherine Price [32]
So far the world record is 180.5 dB, achieved in 2007 in a concrete-filled Volvo. To give you a sense of how loud that is, a 747 jet emits about 140 dB at takeoff, and every 10 dB increase represents a doubling of noise. But who really cares about the specific number of decibels produced? Were you to be stupid enough to shove aside the amps and subwoofers and sit inside a car during competition, that eardrum-bursting burp would probably be the last sound you’d ever hear.
Chapter 46
Shangri-La
Tucked into a hidden valley in the Himalayas and watched over by a Tibetan lamasery, Shangri-La is supposed to be paradise: a place where everyone is permanently happy and no one ever grows old.
Only problem is it’s imaginary. Our Western notions of Shangri-La come from the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by James Hilton, in which a British diplomat named Hugh Conway happens upon it when he survives a plane crash in the Tibetan mountains. After discovering that this remote lamasery comes complete with hot water, central heating, and a fetching young Manchu woman named Lo-Tsen, he decides to stay awhile.
Hilton’s novel didn’t get much attention until he published his best-known work, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, but it then became a bestseller. The mythical land so captured the American imagination that for a brief period of time, Franklin Delano Roosevelt renamed the presidential retreat Shangri-La in its honor. In 1956 it even inspired an unsuccessful Broadway musical.
Entrepreneurs have been trying to co-opt Shangri-La ever since the success of Conway’s novel. In 2001, the Chinese county of Zhongdian officially renamed itself Shangri-La in an attempt to lure tourists; there’s a Shangri-La resort in Northern Pakistan’s Skardu Valley, and a worldwide Shangri-La hotel chain. But no one’s really sure where the actual inspiration for Shangri-La is located. Maybe it’s in Sichuan Province. Or the Yarlung Tsangpo Canyon. Or, for that matter, Bhutan.
Regardless of what place Hilton was thinking of, the myth on which Shangri-La is based far predates Lost Horizon. It’s thought to be related to the legend of Shambala, a hidden kingdom in the mountains of Tibet where all the residents were peaceful and happy, living in what some say was a state of enlightenment. This myth may have been based on the ancient city of Tsaparang or a civilization called Shang Shung—it depends on which trekker you speak to. Regardless, would-be visitors beware: traveling to either spot requires a long journey at high altitudes and a large budget for pack mules.
An easier option is the Shangri-La in Orange, Texas. The creation of a philanthropist named H. J. Lutcher Stark, it’s an enormous nature preserve highlighting Stark’s favorite flower, the azalea. Opened to the public in 1946, it was a favorite vacation destination for over a decade until a major snowstorm hit East Texas in 1958 and destroyed much of the park. Recently reopened, the Texan Shangri-La might not be able to promise eternal life or happiness, but at least it has a really nice garden.
Chapter 47
Body Farms
If you like fields full of rotting corpses, visit a body farm. Technically called “forensic anthropology facilities,” they’re outdoor sites devoted to the study of how human bodies decompose. Strewn with partially rotted bodies, they could also be mistaken as sets for horror movies.
Why would anyone want to watch a body being eaten by maggots? To help solve crimes, of course. By studying how bodies decompose in a variety of circumstances (buried, unburied, underwater, in the trunk of a car), forensic anthropologists are better able to reconstruct the causes of death.
Luckily for the squeamish, there are only three body farms in the United States. The oldest, in Tennessee, was founded in 1971 by a scientist named Dr. William Bass. Police kept asking for his help analyzing bodies in criminal cases, and he figured that in order to answer their questions, he needed a better understanding of how corpses disintegrate. That meant getting a body, putting