Travel Quiz

Posted on 13. Dec, 2008 by Kerry Banks in International

Evidently a number of readers enjoyed my last travel quiz. Let’s see how this new collection goes over.

1. At which Mayan city do tourists gather during the spring and fall to watch a snake slide down a pyramid?
A. Palenque
B. Tikal
C. Uxmal
D. Chichen Itza

2. What is the only country whose national flag is not rectangular or square, but rather the shape of two stacked triangles?
A. Nepal
B. Cyprus
C. Saudi Arabia
D. Cambodia

3. What is the world’s safest airline based on the number of miles a carrier has flown without a fatal accident?
A. Alaska Airlines
B. Qantas Airways
C. Swissair
D. AeroMexico

4. In which U.S. state are you most likely to be struck by lightning?
A. Hawaii
B. Texas
C. Florida
D. Washington

5. What country are you in if you are travelling to see a famous natural landmark that the native inhabitants call Uluru?
A. Tibet
B. Tanzania
C. Ecuador
D. Australia

6. In which city will you find the great square of Djemaa el Fna, “the gathering place of the dead”?
A. Damascus
B. Zanzibar
C. Marrakesh
D. Timbuktu

7. The well known children’s song “Here Comes Santa Claus” was inspired by a 1946 parade down a street in what American city?
A. New York
B. Boston
C. Detroit
D. Los Angeles

8. The Bay of Fires has been named the world’s “hottest” travel destination for 2009 by the international guide book, Lonely Planet. Where is the Bay of Fires?
A. Chile
B. Tasmania
C. New Zealand
D. Madagascar

9. Which country consumes the largest amount of coffee per person per year?
A. Norway
B. Italy
C. Brazil
D. The United States

10. Which country produces 60 percent of the world’s emeralds?
A. Russia
B. South Africa
C. Colombia
D. Australia

11. Considered “the religious capital of India,” this city attracts more than one million Hindu pilgrims each year. What is its name?
A. Varanasi
B. Bangalore
C. Dharamshala
D. Calcutta

12. The European colonial powers fought to gain control of the Spice Islands. What is the name by which we know these islands today?
A. The Maldives
B. The West Indies
C. The Moluccas
D. The New Hebrides

13. The skyline of what country’s capital city is dominated by the empty and dilapidated 105-storey Ryugyong Hotel?
A. Burma
B. Laos
C. Uzbekistan
D. North Korea

14. If you are driving the world’s longest highway, which country are you in?
A. Canada
B. Russia
C. China
D. Australia

15. According to Forbes magazine which city currently boasts the largest number of billionaires?
A. New York
B. Los Angeles
C. Moscow
D. London

Answers

1. D. Chichen Itza
The phenomenon that El Castillo is famous for occurs twice each year, at the spring and fall equinoxes. As the equinox sun sets, a play of light and shadow creates the appearance of a snake that gradually undulates down the stairway of the pyramid. This diamond-backed snake is composed of seven or so triangular shadows, cast by the stepped terraces of the pyramid. The sinking sun seems to give life to the sinuous shadows, which crawl down the stairs, before ultimately uniting with one of two enormous snake-head sculptures carved into the base of the stairway. Thousands of people gather to see this phenomenon, which may have been viewed by the ancient Maya as the manifestation of the god Kukulcan, the feathered serpent.

2. A. Nepal
The unusual shape is apparently owed to the fact that the flag was derived from two pennants that were used by separate branches of the Rana family, members of which served as the nation’s prime minister from 1846 until 1951. The white moon in the upper, smaller triangle represents the royal house, and the white sun represents the Rana family. Adopted as the official flag of Nepal 1962, the double pennant actually dates back to the 19th century.

3. B. Qantas Airways
Remember this exchange from the movie Rain Man? Tom Cruise says to Dustin Hoffman: “All airlines have crashed at one time or another. That doesn’t mean they aren’t safe.” “Qantas,” Hoffman replies. “Qantas never crashed.” Well, that isn’t quite right: the Australian airline suffered several fatal crashes in its early days, most involving biplanes or flying boats. However, Qantas remains the safest airline if one measures safety by the number of miles a carrier has flown without fatal accident. That said, hundreds of airlines have suffered no fatal crashes.

4. C. Florida
Florida has more thunderstorms–and thus, more lightning strikes–than any other U.S. state. Known as the “Lightning Capital of the World,” Florida averages more than 10 deaths and 30 injuries from electrical bolts per year. Approximately 50 percent of the deaths and injuries occur to individuals involved in recreational activities, and nearly 40 percent of those are water-related: boating, swimming, surfing and others.

5. D. Australia
Uluru, better known to the outside world as Ayers Rock, is one of Australia’s most recognizable natural icons. The sandstone formation stands 348 metres high with most of its bulk below the ground, and measures 9.4 kilometres in circumference. It is notable for appearing to change colour as the different light strikes it at different times of the day and year, with sunset a particularly remarkable sight when it briefly glows bright red. On 19 July 1873, the surveyor William Gosse visited Uluru and named it Ayers Rock in honour of the then-Chief Secretary of South Australia, Sir Henry Ayers. Since then, both names have been used. In 1993, a dual naming policy was adopted In Australia that allowed official names to consist of both the traditional Aboriginal name and the English name. On 15 December 1993, the landmark was renamed “Ayers Rock/Uluru” and became the first officially dual-named feature in the Northern Territory. The order of the dual names was officially reversed to “Uluru/Ayers Rock” on 6 November 2002 following a request from the Regional Tourism Association in Alice Springs.

6. C. Marrakesh
The name Djemaa el Fna in Arabic could either mean “assembly of the dead” or “place of the vanished mosque” but there is nothing ghostlike about the Djemaa. It is a massive square packed day and night by locals and tourists alike and a heritage site listed by UNESCO whose cultural space is a “masterpiece of the oral and intangible heritage of humanity.” The plaza is the centre of medina life both day and night as a gathering place and unofficial stage for street theatre. For over a millennium, the daily bill has featured acrobats, henna tattoo artists, storytellers, belly dancers, musicians, snake charmers and potion sellers.

7. D. Los Angeles
Gene Autry, “the singing cowboy,” was inspired to write the song after riding his horse down Hollywood Boulevard in the 1946 Christmas Parade and hearing numerous children call out, “Here Comes Santa Claus!” Soon after, Hollywood Boulevard became known as Santa Claus Lane during the holiday season.

8. B. Tasmania
“White beaches of hourglass-fine sand, Bombay Sapphire sea, an azure sky–and nobody,” wrote Lonely Planet. “This is the secret edge of Tasmania, laid out like a pirate’s treasure map of perfect beach after sheltered cove, all fringed with forest. It’s not long since the Bay of Fires came to international attention, and the crowds are bound to flock. Now is the time to visit.” The Bay of Fires finished higher on the hot list than such other contenders as the Basque country of France and Spain; Chiloe in Chile; Ko Tao in Thailand; Languedoc in France; and Nam Ha in Laos.

9. A. Norway
The serious caffeine fiends are all living in Northern Europe. Although more coffee is consumed in volume by drinkers in Brazil and America, Scandinavia tops the charts in terms of per capita consumption. Norway leads all nations with 10.7 kilograms consumed by person per year, followed closely by Finland, Denmark and Sweden.

10. C. Colombia
Some of the rarest and most expensive emeralds in the world come from three main mining areas in Colombia: Muzo, Coscuez, and Chivor. The green gems were mined there as far back as 1,000 A.D., long before the Spaniards arrived. Many of the gold and emerald encrusted items that the indigenous tribes created are displayed in the Museo del Oro in Bogotá.

11. A. Varanasi
Varanasi, or Benares, as it sometimes called, is one of the world’s most ancient cities. As Mark Twain wrote: “Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together.” Located in North India, in the eastern part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, along the left bank of the Ganges River, ”the holy city of India,” attracts more than one million pilgrims each year. For the devout Hindu, Varanasi has always been a special place, besides being a pilgrimage centre. It is considered especially auspicious to die here, ensuring an instant route to heaven.

12. C. The Moluccas
The Spice Islands are known today as the Moluccas or Maluku Islands. They lie on the equator between Sulawesi and New Guinea in Indonesia, and were at one time the world’s only source of mace and nutmeg. Because of the high value that the spices had in Europe and the large incomes that it produced, the Dutch and British were soon involved in conflicts to try to gain a monopoly over the region. The fighting for control over these small islands became very intense with the Dutch even giving the island of Manhattan to the British in exchange for a small island that gave the Dutch full control over the Banda archipelago. The Bandanese people suffered badly in the fighting with most of the inhabitants being either slaughtered or enslaved by the Dutch. More than 6,000 were killed during the Spice Wars.

13. D. North Korea
The Ryugyong Hotel in North Korea’s capital city of Pyongyang is a complete engineering failure. Standing 1,083 feet tall, with a total of 3.9 million square feet of floor space, it was planned to have 3,000 rooms and seven revolving restaurants. It would be the tallest hotel and seventh largest building in the world if it were finished. It would also have been the first building with over one hundred floors outside of New York or Chicago. The first event scheduled to be held here was June 1989’s World Festival of Youth and Students, but the hotel was nowhere near ready for that event. Its construction was plagued with problems, and after five years ground to a halt due to a shortage of funding. Work has never resumed; the project was abandoned, leaving a lonely construction crane perched on the hotel’s peak. The shell of the building is complete, but it has not been certified as safe for occupancy. There are no windows, fixtures, or fittings. The extremely poor quality concrete used in its construction has left the building sagging to such a great degree that the structure can never be finished without a massive overhaul. The hotel, which was once found on city maps before construction even began, has now been completely stricken from the official maps. Tour guides usually claim not to know where it is.

14. A. Canada
Officially completed on September 3, 1962, the Trans-Canada Highway is the longest highway in the world. Stretching across Canada from Victoria, British Columbia, to St. John’s, Newfoundland, it covers 7,821 kilometres.

15. C. Moscow
According to Forbes magazine, the Russian capital is home to 74 billionaires, with an average net worth of $5.9 billion. That’s quite a jump from just five billionaire residents in 2002. Russian aluminum tycoon Oleg Deripaska is the richest of Russia’s 500 billionaires with an estimated worth at about $40 billion. Moscow knocked off perennial No. 1 city New York, which ranks close behind with 71 billionaires and an average net worth of $3.3 billion. Coming in a distant third was London with 36 billionaires.

Photo Credits:

#1: mythencyclopedia.com

#2: sacred-destinations.com

#3: sweetwatervillas.com.au

#4: wikipedia.org/wiki/Varanasi

Tags: Quizzes, Travel Trivia