Bluelist is a fairly newish title from Lonely Planet. It collects the hottest travel trends from around the world, based on suggestions from LP readers, and extrapolates them into top-ten lists and feature articles. I worked on the title firstly as a consultant, testing out prototype formats and templates, adding feedback and future directions, and writing mock copy in order to see what would fit and how. With the testing complete I then supplied around half the lists (17,000 words) and a couple of articles to the finished product. Following are some favourite lists of mine from the book.

While I didn’t always agree with the final selection of entries, I had a lot of fun writing them.

Selected material by Simon Sellars from Bluelist 1, Lonely Planet Publications, January 2006.

STRANGEST RESTAURANT OR BAR

Giger Bar (Chur & Château St Germain, Switzerland)
The Swiss graphic artist HR Giger is perhaps most famous for creating the eponymous creature in the sci fi/horror flick Alien, along with the film’s overall ambience of nightmare and dread. Giger invented the concept of ‘biomechanoids’, a hellish fusion of machine and utterly alien intelligence, and that precisely describes the decor of these bars. Interiors are dark and oppressive – it feels like you’re in the tomb where Alien’s doomed spacemen first encountered their demonic nemesis; the seats impart a horrible sensation like you’re sitting in the slimy monster’s lap.

Regatta Hotel (Brisbane, Australia)
The male toilets in this joint are billed as the ‘loo with a view’. The back wall of the urinal is a huge one-way mirror and many a chap (and his ‘old chap’) has been caught out entering here for the first time, drunk and unaware, getting down to business then looking up in horror to find a passer-by seemingly fixated on you know what. Relax: you can see them, but they can’t see you (they’re probably just adjusting their hair…you hope). How soon before a bar reverses the opticals?

Depeche Mode Baar (Tallinn, Estonia)
The most bizarre aspect of this tribute bar is its subject matter: 80s hair/synth band Depeche Mode. This dark corner of Estonia is filled with black-clad, rake-thin DM fans sipping on Master & Servant or Personal Jesus cocktails while listening to the band’s cod melancholia. Autographed photos, DM artwork and tour memorabilia line the walls, while video screens play continuous Mode videos. A vision of bleakest hell for some; sweet heaven for others.

Le Refuge des Fondues (Paris, France)
Don’t despair if you can’t get into that posh Parisian restaurant – this place takes anyone (space permitting). It’s tiny and the walls are covered with graffiti (add your own), only fondues are served, and there are only two tables, which are very long – diners sit cheek by jowl and those on the inner seats have to scramble over the table to leave. A bonus: you’ll meet lots of people, hard not to as you plant your boot in someone’s dinner in your rush to make the toilet after one baby bottle too many (that’s what their wine comes in).

Red Sea Star (Eilat, Israel)
The Red Sea Star is a bit like Stromberg’s underwater lair in the James Bond flick, The Spy Who Loved Me – unsurprising considering it’s 5 metres below the Red Sea. The interior of this bar/restaurant comes on like a mermaid’s lounge room, with fishy fantasy motifs – including jellyfish-shaped stools and starfish lights – and huge windows through which curious (or vengeful) fish and other marine creatures eyeball the customers eyeballing their seafood platter. If you crane your neck, you might see a ship overhead from time to time.

Albatross (Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan)
The tiny Albatross is in the bar-filled Shomben Yokocho (or ‘Piss Alley’; all the bars share the same toilets); you’d be hard pressed to cram more than 10 bodies in here. There are three levels, including an art gallery, and the place is so skinny there’s a hole in the upper floors through which the bar staff pass your drinks. If you don’t breathe out, don’t scratch your head and make sure you watch your step (people have been known to fall through the drinks hole) then you’ll have a fine old time.

NASA (Bangalore, India)
Bar staff resplendent in spacesuits; space-shuttle style décor; spacey tags: ‘Fuel Tank’ for the bar, ‘Humanoid Disposal’ for the toilets; laser-light shows; tables attached to rocket fins; images of the Earth seen from orbit through portholes on the walls… The only thing missing from this ode to the Infinite Vacuum is a dodgy heat-protection shield, although the cocktails can supply the blinding flash (and the stars before your eyes).

Hobbit House (Manila, Philippines)
This Tolkien-themed bar and restaurant bills itself as ‘the world’s only bar owned and staffed by hobbits’ – actually a team of dwarves and midgets. The décor is charming and rustic, all wood panelling and folksy flourishes, and tall people will need to bend over double to fit through the doorways. The Hobbit House is renowned for the quality of its live music.

Marton (Taipei, Taiwan)
Marton ain’t for the squeamish, given that it’s themed after commodes; potties; the john; the loo; the dunny; throne; porcelain bus; can; bog… Plates are toilet-bowl shaped (Asian squat or Western sit) and if you reckon you could eat a runny curry out of one, then go right ahead! Good luck with the chocolate ice cream, too. Can you drink lemon squash from a toilet bowl? A cheers of ‘bottoms up’ would be appropriate. Naturally, chairs are shaped like toilets, and there’s urinal art (although no Duchamp). The only thing missing is ‘toilet lollies’.

Red Room (San Francisco, USA)
It’s all red, every bit of it: floors, walls, ceiling, drinks bottles and glasses, chairs, couches, curtains…your face after a few drinks. After a few more drinks, you might think you’re trapped in a David Lynch nightmare dream sequence, where everyone talks backwards, your arms are on back to front, and funny little men do strange contortionist dances that defy time, space and gravity.

BIGGEST ADRENALIN RUSH

Big Shot Ride (Las Vegas, USA)
This ride – atop the 921-foot, 110-storey Stratosphere observation tower – has incredible views but you’ll be too busy vomiting up your intestines to notice. The Big Shot runs on compressed air, which, with incredible force, rockets you in your harness from the ride’s base to the top of the Big Shot’s 160-foot tower in just over 2 seconds. As you shake about in your seat like a rag doll, at a combined total of over 1,000 feet above ground, you’ll be thanking your lucky stars you didn’t wear white underwear.

Sydney Harbour Bridge Climb (Sydney, Australia)
Follow in Aussie comedian Paul Hogan’s footsteps: pre-fame, he worked as a rigger on the ‘Coathanger’ (the world’s largest steel-arch bridge; its summit is 134m above sea level). The climb takes over three hours and it’s a hairy thrill to be sure, with cars and people below like ants and the lovely Sydney Harbour before you, but old grannies do it, as do young kids (accompanied by adults). Apparently, even Kylie Minogue has done it, and for some folk, following in the Singing Budgie’s footsteps is all the adrenalin shot they need.

Motorcycle-Taxi Ride (Bangkok, Thailand)
This is one of the most dangerous rides of them all: three people die every hour in Bangkok traffic. Motorcycle-taxi riders bob in and out of endless lines of cars at alarming speeds, often mounting pavements, and wipe-outs occur with shocking regularity; often the injured rider or passenger is carted off to hospital in a passing tuk-tuk, not the most comforting way to get treatment. Just hang on tight, squeeze your legs in even tighter to avoid getting kneecapped by a passing car, say your Hail Marys and hope for the best.

Acapulco Parasailing (Acapulco, Mexico)
Parasailing was invented in Acapulco and that’s no surprise: it’s an absolutely prime location for floating upon the air, with a spectacular, panoramic view of the city, the hills and the islands beyond Acapulco Bay. You take off from the beach and you land on the beach, and while it feels dangerous and edgy, it really is as safe as houses, except for the yapping jaws of the dogs that chase you on your descent.

Zambezi River Rafting (Zambia and Zimbabwe)
The British Canoe Union classes this white water run as an extreme Grade 5: violent rapids, steep gradients, massive drops. One of the rapids is called ‘Oblivion’ and is said to flip more canoes than any other on the planet; you might be able to flip it the bird once you’ve conquered it, but then you must contend with the ‘Devil’s Toilet Bowl’, the ‘Gnashing Jaws of Death’ and ‘Commercial Suicide’. It takes a special breed of cat to lick the Zambezi, as you’ll discover as you’re speared, sucked and jettisoned in and out of these rapids like a pinball.

Yosemite Rock Climbing (Yosemite Valley, USA)
They say Yosemite is Climbing Mecca, with climbs coveted by ‘Rock Heads’ far and wide and a degree of difficulty that has necessitated many technical innovations. Even today, as the most demanding ascents have crumbled, aficionados still point to El Capitan, Yosemite’s 3,000-foot granite wall, as the planet’s greatest rock climb. Just because it’s been mastered doesn’t mean it’s now a pushover – recently, several experienced climbers died when the weather turned unexpectedly foul – so if you make it, you deserve to puff up your chest, because you’re simply the best! Better than all the rest!

Running With the Bulls (Pamplona, Spain)
Is there any more potent sign of madness than the sight of thousands of lunatics charging ahead of a pack of snorting, rampaging bulls through the narrow streets of Pamplona? Actually, there is: the sight of a man impaled on the end of a bullhorn. Ever since Ernest Hemingway popularised it, running with the bulls has come to symbolise some kind of macho pinnacle. You can tell the ones who come back year after year: they walk wobbly due to their plastic hip, or they can’t piss straight because they got gored and lost their manhood.

Swimming with Dolphins (New Zealand)
These graceful and playful creatures are guaranteed to quicken the pulse of anyone lucky enough to get near them, with their undeniable intelligence and transcendent personalities. They get frisky and all acrobatic only if they feel like it (which is fair enough), so a new trend has taken root: swimmers sing not only to attract dolphins, but also to get them in the mood. Apparently, Elvis tunes do the trick nicely.

Swimming with Sharks (Dyer Island, South Africa)
So, tough guy – dolphins not edgy enough for you? Try swimming with a great white. All you have to do is jump in a cage, which is then lowered into a school of hungry sharks, and away you go. As they peer in helplessly at you with those dead black eyes, you might think ‘this is soft!” Think again. Smaller sharks have been known to butt their way through the bars – there’s your adrenalin rush, right there. Some operators bait sharks before sending tourists down, so a debate rages about subsequent harmful effects. Make an informed decision before descending.

‘Edge of Space’ Flights (Russia)
This must be the Ultimate High for mainline adrenalin junkies: strapping yourself into a MiG-25 fighter jet and submitting to speeds of Mach 3.2 at a height of 80,000 feet – the edge of space – where the sky is black and the Earth spreads out beneath you. The pilot might even let you take the controls but make sure you’re not too jittery and bank too far, otherwise you might be forced to draw upon that ejector-seat training they put you through.

LOCATION MOST LIKE IT IS IN THE FILM

Australian Outback (New South Wales, Australia)
Think of Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981) and what comes to mind: sandblasted rock? Road kill? Flat desert plains as far as the eye can see? Dry creek beds? No special effects were used to create that particular post-apocalyptic environment because – minus the leather-clad berserk bikers and Mel Gibson – that’s exactly what you can expect to find at Broken Hill, where much of The Road Warrior was filmed. This is real outback territory, where men are men and sheep run for cover.

Dublin (Republic of Ireland)
Shot entirely on location in north Dublin, The Commitments (1991), about a group of youths bringing soul to the people, evokes the melancholy of that city. Drugs, factories, housing estates and the healing power of music are as much a part of Dublin’s fabric as are the standard romantic depictions of the city, and The Commitments doesn’t flinch in this regard. Trawling through the suburbs, the camera brings home the single-minded optimism – and the unfulfilled ambitions – that define the Irish dream.

Manhattan (New York, USA)
Woody Allen is perhaps Manhattan’s most famous mythologiser, recording its streets and people in a huge body of work that includes Annie Hall (1977), Manhattan (1979) and Hannah and Her Sisters (1986). There are loads of walking tours that can take you in and out of the nooks and crannies of Woody’s Manhattan: the delis; the bars; the Beekman Theatre; John’s Pizzeria; Elaine’s restaurant; the 59th Street Bridge. Woody’s direction lovingly lingers on each location – encountering them in real life is almost exactly like the movie.

New Zealand
Peter Jackson’s mega-successful Lord of the Rings trilogy (2001–2003) really put New Zealand on the world stage. It’s no accident that the Land of the Kiwi was chosen to portray the Land of the Hobbit: Jackson, a Kiwi himself, knew that places like Twizel and the south of the South Island, with their mountainous, rolling fields of green, would provide the perfect setting for Middle Earth. Of course, the locations were digitally enhanced for the final product, but there will still be enough verisimilitude to provide kinky thrills for any LOTR fan.

Paris (France)
It’s possible that, aside from American locations, Paris has been the setting for more films than any other city. The City of Light played host to the groundbreaking gangster film A Bout de Souffle (1960); the tragic love triangle of Jules et Jim (1962); the futuristic thriller Alphaville (1965); and the saccharine shenanigans of Amelie (2001). This kind of genre-hopping makes sense: there’s so much to see and do in Paris, with its glorious architecture, its sweeping avenues, and its wonderfully rich cultural life, that the city simply becomes all things to all people.

Angkor Wat (Cambodia)
The 12th-century temples at Angkor Wat, or what remains of them, starred in the smash-hit actioner Tomb Raider: their labyrinthine, decrepit mazes, shrines, platforms, alcoves and spires provided the perfect backdrop for Angelina Jolie’s gyrations as curvaceous archaeologist Lara Croft. In real life the majesty of this mystical location is even more overwhelming than in the movie, and you might be moved to ponder the fact that a far greater intelligence than even Hollywood was behind it all, some 900 years ago.

Tokyo (Japan)
Those who have never been to Tokyo accuse Sofia Coppola of racism in her film Lost In Translation. But those who have spent time there know that Tokyo is exactly as she describes it: bamboozling yet obvious, archaic yet futuristic, mysterious yet crass. Plus there’s all that neon and the wacky TV hosts and the food. Tokyo is a city that bludgeons the unwary, chewing them up and spitting them out before they know what’s hit them, and Lost In Translation is a beautifully succinct summary of the traveller’s experience.

Petra (Jordan)
They say that the forgotten city of Petra was concealed in the Jordanian mountains for thousands of years until its discovery in 1812 by the Swiss explorer Johan Ludwig Burckhardt…and then again in 1989 by Steven Spielberg. Spielberg used Petra’s dramatic red-sandstone temples and tombs as a key location for his blockbuster Indian Jones and the Last Crusade. Indy discovers the Holy Grail in Petra’s ‘Treasury’, so whatever else you might think about Spielberg’s directing abilities, you can’t deny he has a great eye for detail.

Venice (Italy)
Venice is undeniably beautiful but decidedly unsettling as well. Three very creepy films have used it as their setting: Death In Venice (1971), about a dying misanthrope driven mad by lust; Don’t Look Now (1974), about a man driven mad by his ability to foresee death; and The Comfort of Strangers (1991), about a sexually sadistic couple who were already mad. As you get lost in one of Venice’s maze-like alleyways or become gripped by the surreal sight of a city floating on water, then chances are you’ll think of at least one of these films.

Wadi Rum (Jordan)
Not only is this where the epic Lawrence of Arabia (1962) was shot, but it’s where the real-life Lawrence led the famous ‘Arab Revolt’ campaign in 1917. As you explore Wadi Rum’s desert interior, marvelling at the moon-like landscapes, contemplating the ancient carved inscriptions and sipping tea with Bedouin locals, you might just give a whoop and a yell, Peter O’Toole style, and wish you had a fine Arab charger at your disposal rather than that boring old jeep.