Best Festivals, Sites, Places To Eat??

Broad questions obviously. In your experience or knowledge, I am interested in hearing what you feel are the best around the world in these three areas. They can be ones you've actually experienced or ones you just know of that are well known in the world.

- Best Festivals
- Best Sites
- Best Places For Amazing Food

Look forward to the responses!


Chris

P.S. If you know of any books or online sites/articles that have good info on this as well I'd love to read them.

While I haven't been to most of these places yet...I have been researching and reading as much as possible in the past 2 years in preparation for my own RTW trip.

Food - Georgetown, Malaysia
Sites - Butterfly Valley, Turkey
Sites - Golden Temple in Amritsar, India


just a few to get you started..

It's kind of hard for me to say without knowing what sort of interests you have. But if you like good scenery and food places like Argentina, Thailand, Italy, etc stand out.

My best recommendation for travel planning is wikitravel.org. Another site I really like if you're just looking for general ideas is http://www.travelindependent.info/ which also has great general suggestions in its "where to go" section.

@yanks26dmb: Cool! Yeah I start my RTW trip this coming January. Definitely appreciate the suggestions.

@Andromeda: Well that is good news seeing as how Aregentina, Thailand, and Italy are all in my itinerary ! My interests are so broad it's insane, but I can definitely say most of the countries I circled when doing my RTW trip list wound up being in Europe - likely in part due to the many castles and good food, etc. I guess I'm really shooting for awesome sites / hiking spots, great food, friendly peeps and some unforgettable experiences (oktoberfest would be a good example). Dunno if that all helps or not.

Thanks for the help guys - much appreciated.


Chris

Oh my, it is so hard to choose.

Sites-Patagonia (Torres del Paine, El Chalten), Himalayas in Nepal, Komodo National Park and Flores Island, Indonesia, Galapagos Islands

Festivals- Dashain in Kathmandu, random Indian wedding processions

Food- Malaysia, Thailand, India!!!, Argentina (if you are a carnivore), Morocco

Can't help you too much about things to see in Europe because we prefer less expensive destinations...

@RTW2010: Awesome - gave me all kinds of good ideas! Good to see I have a few of those down on my definite itinerary as well as a few of my possibles. Thank you

People are already mentioning Malaysia and Thailand for food and I have to agree, if you like that sort of thing there's nothing better than the original.

I also recall vividly sitting down on a plastic chair in a market in Kowloon (just off of Shanghai Street I think), ordering a Tsing Tao beer in a plastic cup from a brightly lit plastic menu with pictures like a cheap kebab house and having the best kung po prawns I have ever had. And I like Chinese food.

If you've got a lot a money to spend you could have some incredible food experiences in pretty much any major European capital - I've had amazing dinners in London, Madrid and Paris.

@Hangten: Definitely going to Thailand so that is good to know. Will try to hit up some food in at least one of those major capitals when in Europe.

Thanks

Sites:
The Himalayas. Can't be missed. Doesn't matter if in Tibet, Pakistan, India or Nepal

Food:
In Asia, I found India is probably the country where the food is consistently good and diverse even outside of the tourist centers.
I love my Thai food, but away from the beaten track it becomes very repetitive very quickly. And don't get me started on China and Laos. 3x Noodle soup per day for nearly five months is just too much. Even though the soups are excellent and I actually love them.
Otherwise, food in Europe is excellent, but will cost you accordingly. Fruit in South America are fantastic. (Actually found them more 'excotic' than in Asia).

Festivals:
Try to catch a Tomate in Tana Toraja, Sulawesi, Indonesia. That is...ahm...special. Note: if you can't handle the mass slaughtering of animals, throwing of raw meat, etc...don't bother.

Arrange to get to any of the big Melas in India and you'll have an experience of a life time. Generally, India seems one big festival to me. When we arrived the last time, there was fireworks and some sort of parade nearly every day. And then the wedding season started and it got even worse. http://www.youtube.com/elGrandeadi#p/u/3/vKvRGPtOhdc

We had wonderful three days of Lao Pi Mai (Lao New Year). Drinking, dancing with the locals and having day-long water fights is just awesome.http://www.youtube.com/elGrandeadi#p/u/8/Pke2fMBV7M0

Holi in India was a great experience. So was Dipawali (Festival of Lights) in Nepal.

One festival that I really want to attend one day, is the one with the horse fights in southeast Sulawesi. In Raha, I believe. The last time we missed out because I got Malaria. But I WILL see that one day.

Fastnacht is a cool time to be in Switzerland (especially Lucerne, Solothurn, Basel and smaller Bernoise towns). Get a mask, get drunk, have fun.
Not exactly a festival. But spending a football world cup in South America - even if it's not held there - is just awesome. Obviously, if you love football. Oh, the trash talk. And the Cuba Libre. Ay, carajo.