Unconventional Living: From Floating Villages to Cliffside Monasteries

🏯 The suspended temple in Datong, China, is a popular tourist attraction and a unique place of worship.

🌊 Chong Khneas floating village in Cambodia is home to over 1.2 million people who rely on fishing and tourism for their livelihood.

🐟 The Tonlé Sap lake is abundant in fish species, making it a rich source of sustenance for the villagers.

🐟 Over half of Cambodia's fish supply comes from the lake, but the people are exploited by unethical tourism practices.

❄️ Yakutsk is officially the coldest city in the world, with temperatures dropping below -50 degrees Celsius.

🥶 Living in Yakutsk during winter is extremely challenging, with basic activities becoming difficult.

Coober Pedy is a mining town in the Australian outback where people live underground

The underground houses in Coober Pedy provide protection from extreme weather conditions

Freedom Cove in Tofino, British Columbia is a unique eco-friendly community

🏡 Wayne Adams and Catherine King have created a self-sustaining floating farm that includes essential elements such as an art gallery, a dance floor, a lighthouse, greenhouses, solar panels, and a generator.

⛩️ Larung Gar is the largest Tibetan Buddhist institution in the world, founded in 1980, and is a spiritual oasis and tourist destination in the Sichuan province of China.

🏔️ Larung Gar's landscape is remarkable, with thousands of small red houses spread across the hills around the main prayer halls.

🌍 People from around the world visit a secluded spiritual valley for photography and spiritual discovery.

🏰 In Bucharest, Romania, hundreds of people, including 1100 children, live in the underground sewage system due to lack of homes and support.

💔 These individuals living in the sewage system face desperate conditions with little help from the government.

People live in unusual and isolated houses, such as underground tunnels and an island in Iceland.

The island of Ellidaey in Iceland was once a popular spot for puffin hunters, and a house was built for bird enthusiasts.

The cliffside village has become a tourist attraction, but it was previously inhabited by extremely poor residents.

🏠 People live in houses accessible only by precarious ladders.

💰 Government invests money to replace old ladders with a safer steel ladder.

🏢 Residents are relocated to furnished buildings in the nearest city.

⛰️ Monasteries were built on top of giant rocks with breathtaking views.

🧗‍♂️ In the past, climbing was the only way to access the monasteries.

🌍 Climbing is now considered an alternative activity to appreciate the unique landscape.

🏰 The rock formations in Meteora, Greece have been shaped by erosion over time.

🏞️ There are six active monasteries and a small number of monks or nuns living in Meteora.

🌍 Meteora is a UNESCO World Heritage site and a popular tourist destination in Greece.