Magazine names 20 Asian wonders (AP)
04.10.2006 12:14 Thailand - Source: Yahoo travel
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--Best wild tiger safari, Ranthambore National Park in Rajasthan India.
--Lowest-lying country, the Maldives, where the average elevation is just three feet above sea level.
--Highest altitude hotel, Nepal's Hotel Everest View at 13,000 feet above sea level.
--Highest railway, the new train to Tibet in China, which reaches altitudes of 16,600 feet.
--The longest-necked people, found in Myanmar where the women of the Kareni and Padaung tribes wear layers of copper chokers and stretch their necks to nearly 16 inches in length.
--The most sparsely populated country, Mongolia, where 2.8 million people live in an area four times the size of California.
--The largest public square, Tiananmen in Beijing.
--The longst commercial flight, Singapore Airlines' flight 21, nonstop from Newark to Singapore, 18.5 hours.
--The longest-reigning monarch, the king of Thailand, Bhumibol Adulyadej, who has reigned since 1946.
--Oldest rain forest, Malaysia's Taman Negara, untouched for 130 million years.
--Biggest Buddhist monument, Central Java's Borobudur, a 10-story stupa built from 10 million stone blocks.
--Biggest bulwark, China's Great Wall, stretching 2,150 miles.
--Highest hotel, Grand Hyatt Shanghai in Pudong, which occupies the top 35 floors of the 88-story Jin Mao Tower.
--Most densely populated island, China's Ap Lei Chau, off Hong Kong, where 80,000 people share a half-square mile. (The figure commonly cited for Manhattan is about 50,000 people per square mile.)
--Fastest train, Shanghai's Pudong Airport Maglev, which gets to central Shanghai in eight minutes at speeds of up to 270 miles an hour, for a mere $6.
--Tallest building, Taiwan's 101-story Taipei 101.
--Oldest hotel, Japan's 75-room Houshi Ryokan in Awazu, which dates to 717 A.D.
--Rarest sea mammal, the dugong, a relative of the manatee, found in the waters of the Philippines, among other places.
--Biggest bamboo organ, in St. Joseph Church in the Philippines' Las Pinas City.
--Most expensive toilet, Japan's $5,000 Neorest, which offers a heated seat, air purifier and oscillating spray massage. Found at Tokyo's Mandarin Oriental, hotel among other places.
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