In today's day and age of dependency on the internet for every little thing, human beings have turned a blind eye to the level of human interactions, nature and world around them. Facebook and Twitter obsession has gone up to such an extent, where anything that catches our attention is a potential candidate for the next Instagram upload. Living in a world sans Internet is somewhat like a horror movie! We are constantly caught frantically looking for our phones just to check if there was something we may have missed whilst we were busy admiring the reality's of life off of the virtual world.
For all of us looking for off the grid destinations, we have compiled a list of places with unreliable cell phone services and internet access which would turn out to be the perfect excuse for you to take a vacation right away!
1. Myeik, Myanmar:
Myeik sits on a peninsula that juts into the Andaman Sea. With a location roughly halfway between the Middle East and China, not to mention the safe harbour offered by the peninsula and facing islands, Myeik became an important international port over 500 years ago. It's home to a large fishing fleet, as well as being the centre of Myanmar's pearl industry, and, along with the port of Kawthoung, is the gateway to the 800-odd islands of the Myeik Archipelago.
2. Changlang, Arunachal Pradesh:
The remote reaches of the North-East have recently seen a rise in its tourism department. The state of Arunachal holds a vast expanse of virginal beauty, which has attracted a number of visitors in recent times. Given the extraordinary road journey that one needs to embark upon in order to reach their destination, a lot of unexplored places are yet to be marked on the map.
Changlang has places like ‘Lake of No Return’ and a village, which is called ‘Hell’s Pass’. When the nature calls, I’m sure a ring from the city dwellers is all right to be missed.
3. Pyongyang, North Korea:
An ideological statement forged in concrete, bronze and marble, Pyongyang is the ultimate totalitarian metropolis, built almost entirely from scratch following its destruction in the Korean War. Every visit to North Korea focuses heavily and enthusiastically on the capital's monuments, towers, statues and buildings that glorify Kim Il-sung, Kim Jong-il and the Juche philosophy. Internet is strictly controlled in North Korea. Permission is only with special authorisation, mainly for government reasons, and access to the global internet is limited to a small group of elites.
4. Ittoqqortoormiit, Greenland
There’s a certain ‘End of the Earth’-feeling about Ittoqqortoormiit which lies in East Greenland at the entrance to the world’s greatest fjord system and just south of the world’s biggest national park. But to 450 people, Ittoqqortoormiit is the very beginning, and so it is for adventurers who come from afar to go on kayak expeditions in the summer time or longer dog sled journeys in the winter time. With comfier alternative like Tasilaq, largest town in the East, Greenland should definitely be in your bucket list.
5. Sumatra, Indonesia
Few isles tempt the imagination with the lure of adventure quite like the wild land of Sumatra. An island of extraordinary beauty, it bubbles with life and vibrates under the power of nature. Eruptions, earthquakes and tsunamis are Sumatran headline-grabbers. Steaming volcanoes brew and bluster while standing guard over lakes that sleepily lap the edges of craters. Orang-utan-filled jungles host not only our red-haired cousins, but also tigers, rhinos and elephants. And down at sea level, idyllic deserted beaches are bombarded by clear barrels of surf.
Hyper-connectivity may be getting to most of us. The sad part is that, even when we are on a vacation, we feel the need to keep our so-called ‘friends’ updated with our doings and enjoyments. But why do we feel this need if we are on a vacation to take a break for OURSELVES? Every time a delicious meal is presented to us or for that matter when we see a beautiful sunrise/sunset, why is it that we feel the urge to pull out our ‘smartphones’ from our pockets and click a picture instead of actually living that moment and appreciating it with our bare eyes? We are definitely missing out on the essentials in this race to present the ‘perfect’ life to the society around us.