World's Largest Rice Scoop

The world's largest rice scoop is located in the town of Miyajima (Itsukushima) Island, Japan. This impressive wooden scoop, crafted from a 270-year-old Zelkova (Japanese elm) tree, measures 7.7 metres (25 feet) in length, 2.7 metres (9 feet) in width, and weighs a staggering 2.5 tonnes (2.46 Imperial tons). It took approximately three years to carve this gigantic piece.

Rice holds a significant position as a staple food in Japanese culture, and rice scoops, in general, serve as a poignant reminder of its importance. The scoop itself stands as a symbolic representation of Miyajima, renowned for its traditional wood carvings.

Originally commissioned by the town of Miyajima in 1983 to showcase its traditional woodcraft, due to its large size, suitable space to display the scoop was not readily available. Consequently, it remained in storage for an extended period.

In 1996, on the occasion of Itsukushima Shrine's designation as a World Heritage Site, the scoop found its exhibition place at Miyajima Omotesando Shopping Arcade. However, in 2021, it was relocated to the nearby ETTO Miyajima Exchange Centre (Miyajima Community Development Exchange Centre).

This giant scoop is a popular tourist attraction in Miyajima, drawing visitors from far and wide. The town's souvenir shops are brimming with thousands of wooden scoops, spoons, forks, and other utensils of varying sizes, ranging from a few centimetres to a couple of metres in length.

The Scoop at Miyajima Omotesando Shopping Arcade:

Image from Flickr is by Kirk K

The Scoop at ETTO Miyajima Exchange Centre:

Image from Google Maps is by abuw910

Google Street View (July 2016) at Miyajima Omotesando Shopping Arcade.

Google Maps (current location).

Source of information: miyajima.or.jp / uncover.travel

Credits: I am thankful to Miyajima Tourist Association for guiding me to the current location of this giant scoop.

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World’s Largest Paddle

The world’s largest paddle is in Parson, near the town of Golden, British Columbia, Canada. The huge wooden paddle, the brainchild of retired sailor Mark Teasdale, was crafted from a trunk of Western Red Cedar wood. It has a length of 18.57 metres (60.9 ft.), a height of 2.8 metres (9.2 ft.), and weighs 2404 kg (5300 lbs.). Paddle's blade is made of laminated veneer lumber, and the whole sculpture is finished with high-quality wood varnish to give it a glowing finish.

Installed in late 2013 on Highway 95 near the Columbia River in the Columbia River Valley, it is a popular roadside attraction.

Image from Google Maps is by Christopher Chow

Google Street View

Source of information: worldslargestpaddle.com

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World's Largest Drumsticks

David Grohl Alley, located in Warren, Ohio, USA, proudly houses the world's largest drumsticks. These gigantic drumsticks installed as a tribute to the famous Warren-born musician, David Grohl, who is renowned as the founder of the rock band Foo Fighters.

Initially unveiled on July 7, 2012, during a concert at the Warren Amphitheatre, the record-breaking drumsticks were subsequently permanently shifted to the alley, which fittingly bears the musician's name.

Crafted from the trunks of poplar trees, each of these drumsticks is 7 metres (23 feet) in length, and the pair weighs a total of 409 kg (900 lb).

The drumsticks at the Warren Amphitheatre:

Image from Flickr is by Jack Pearce

The drumsticks at the permanent location in the David Grohl Alley.

Image from Google Maps is by David Ritter

Image from Google Maps is by  Stephen Brown

Google Street View

Source of information: worldrecordacademy.org / Wikipedia

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Amazing Floating Islands of Loktak Lake, Manipur, India

Loktak Lake, in Manipur, India, with a surface area ranging from 250 square kilometres in the dry season to 500 square kilometres after the rainy season (an average area of about 287 square kilometres), is South Asia's largest freshwater lake.

A distinctive feature of Loktak Lake is that it is dotted with thousands of small floating islands, which in reality are not land masses but rather remarkable natural formations, locally known as phumdi (a Manipuri word meaning floating mats). These floating mats are composed of a combination of vegetation, soil, and decomposed organic matter. This phenomenon is unique to Loktak Lake, where the vegetation in its shallow water accumulates and consolidates over several years, eventually reaching a thickness of up to 2 metres. Only a small green surface of the floating mass appears above the lake's water, and its major part is submerged beneath the lake, akin to icebergs. This allows the phumdi's living roots to extend towards the lakebed during the dry season, enabling them to absorb nutrients from the sediment. With the arrival of the rainy season, as the lake fills up, the phumdis float up again.

The size of phumdis varies greatly, from a few square metres to several square kilometres. The submerged portion of the phumdis is a rich source of nutrients for the growth of various aquatic flora and fauna, and the top surface provides shade for the fish population. Taking advantage of this, the local people tow and join several floating masses into large circular or rectangular enclosures for fish farming. These fish farms provide a livelihood for thousands of fishermen, and about 1,500 metric tonnes (3.3 million pounds) of fish are caught every year.

Many fishermen have built their hutments and dwellings over the phumdis and stay permanently on the watery surface of Loktak Lake. It is estimated that more than 4,000 people live in these floating homes. A floating elementary school, a floating community health centre, and a few floating tourist lodges and food joints have also been established in the area.

The largest single floating mass of the phumdis, covering an area of 40 sq km (15.4 sq mi), is in the south-eastern part of Loktak Lake, and it is the last natural habitat of the brow-antlered deer (Sangai), the dancing deer of Manipur. It has been declared a wildlife sanctuary called Keibul Lamjao National Park and is the only floating national park in the world.

Construction of the Ithai Dam in the 1980s has disturbed the ecosystem of the lake. Due to damming, the water levels remain high year-round, preventing the phumdis from sinking and reaching the lakebed for nutrients. Consequently, the phumdis are gradually thinning and disintegrating.

Image Source: NASA’s Earth Observatory

Image Source: Google Maps

Image from Flickr is by zehawk

Image from Google Maps is by Lk Sumneilal

Image from Flickr is by Sharada Prasad CS

Image from Flickr is by Water Alternatives Photos

Image from Google Maps is by Bidyanand Hijam

The brow-antlered deer (Sangai):

Image from Google Maps is by Ramesh Smile

Image from Flickr is by Eden, Janine and Jim

Location in Google Maps

Source of information and more information:

• BBC Travel
• NASA’s Earth Observatory
• Wikipedia (Phumdi)
• Wikipedia (Loktak Lake)
• Wikipedia (Keibul Lamjao National Park)

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World's Largest Pendulum Clock

The Harmony Clock Tower in Zhanggong district, Ganzhou, China, has the world's largest pendulum-regulated clock.

The clock's four stainless steel dials have a diameter of 12.8 metres (41 feet, 11.94 inches), which is nearly double the size of those on the Elizabeth Tower (popularly known as Big Ben). Its lightweight carbon fibre hands weigh between 65 and 70 kg. The clock is controlled by a swinging pendulum that measures 13 feet in length and has a swing time of 2 seconds. The bell of the clock chimes hourly and at sunrise. It also strikes once on the half hour.

The clock movement is composed of hardened steel with a bronze finish, brass, and gold-plated components. The 120 metres (393 ft.) high clock tower houses a rotating restaurant as well as a "Time Gallery" that chronicles the history of timekeeping through the stages of human progress.

The enormous clock was commissioned by the Ganzhou Expressway Company Ltd. and was designed and built by famous clockmakers, Smith of Derby Ltd. of the UK.

Note: The clock face of the Abraj Al-Bait Towers, aka the Royal Clock Hotel Tower, in Makkah, Saudi Arabia, is much bigger, or rather the biggest in the world, but it is controlled by an atomic clock, whereas the clock of the Harmony Tower is mechanically controlled by a pendulum.

Image from Google Maps is by Qasim Foo

Image from Google Maps is by Justin Brady

Permission to use image is thankfully acknowledged.

Permission to use image is thankfully acknowledged.

Google Street View (Photosphere)

Location in Google Map (Satellite view) / Google Earth. There is some discrepancy in the Google Maps' default view and in its satellite view. The explanation for this discrepancy is given at this link.

Source of information: guinnessworldrecords.com / smithofderby.com

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Tree With Largest Canopy Area in the World

As per Guinness World Records, the Indian Banyan (Ficus benghalensis) tree known as Thimmamma Marrimanu in Anantapur, Andhra Pradesh, India, is the largest tree in the world in terms of area covered by its canopy. The spread of the tree is roughly elliptical in shape, and its horizontal east-west spread is about 145 metre (476 ft.), and its north-south spread is about 190 metres (623 ft.). The tree is approximately 550 to 660 years old, and its canopy covers an area of 19,107 square metres (4.72 acres / 205,666 square feet) with a perimeter of approximately 846 metres (925 yards). The entire tree is supported by about 4,000 aerial roots.

As per local forest officials, due to care and conservation, the spread is now about 32,370 square metres (8 acres / 348,480 square ft.). In comparison, the famous "Great Banyan" in the Botanic Garden in Kolkata, India, measures about 14,500 square metres (3.58 acres / 156,000 sq. ft.).

Image Source: Google Map

Image from Wikimedia Commons is by PJeganathan

Image from Google Maps is by imran ker

Image from Google Maps is by imran ker

Image from Flickr is by murali sakala

Image from Google Maps is by  Viswanath Ammisetty

Image from Google Maps is by Neeruganti Sreenath

Location in Google Map / Google Earth

Source of information and more information:

1. guinnessworldrecords.com
2. smithsonianmag.com
3. bbc.com
4. bioguia.com(Some good photos.)

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World's Largest All-glass Underwater Restaurant

An underwater restaurant named 5.8 at the Hurawalhi Island Resort in the Maldives is reportedly World's largest all-glass underwater restaurant. The restaurant takes its name from the depth (5.8 metres - 19 ft.) at which it is located in a lagoon. It is accessed by a narrow spiral stair case and offers a fantastic view of the corals and colourful fishes down below.

The glass structure made from of 15 cm thick glass was was manufactured in New Zealand. It took two years to built it and it was shipped in one entire piece, then lowered into the lagoon with a special crane. It costed about USD 8 Millions. With an area of 90 square meters it caters to 20 persons. To keep the glass spotlessly clean professional divers clean the outside twice daily.

360° View (Google Maps Photosphere). Best viewed in full screen. Please hold left button of the mouse and pan around. Don't click on the directional arrow.



Image from Flickr is by Sofia K

Image from Flickr is by Sofia K


Image from Flickr is by Sofia K

View location in Google Maps / Google Earth

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Northumberlandia - World’s Largest Human Shaped Land Art

Note: This post is an updated post of an earlier post which was made when the art form was still being built.
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World’s largest Human shaped land art is located close to an opencast coal mine near Cramlington, Northumberland, North East England.

The gigantic land form christened as 'Northumberlandia' is in the shape of a recumbent naked female, with her hairs spread out, upper portion of her body in supine position and her lower torso (hip downwards) twisted towards her left. She is about 400 metres (quarter of a mile) long and the highest point of her anatomy, her forehead, is 34 metres (about 111 feet) high. In comparison the gigantic Sphinx is only 73.5 metres (241 ft) long and 20.22 metres (66 ft) high.

The 'Northumberlandia' is the brain child of Charles Jencks, landscape architect and designer, who was approached by Banks Mining Group, (who are carrying out the coal mining operations) and Blagdon Estate (owners of the land) to suggest ways and means of disposal of dug up soil, clay and slag from the mining operations. About 1.5 million tonnes of dug up earth from coal mine was used to create this colossal piece of public art.

Work on the project was started in 2010 and it was officially opened by Princess Anne on 29 August 2012. The lady is the star attraction of the 14.5 hectare public park with rolling hills, causeways, lakes, willow islands, and viewing pavilions.

The project had many critics also, who felt that the owners and the mining operator, by creating this giant land art, were circumventing the requirement to move back the dug up material, when mining operations are over.

The locals have given many names to the lady - Slag Alice, Fat Slag, Big Bird, Slag of the North, Goddess of The North etc.

As the lady is made of the natural materials she is expected to remain in existence for thousands of years and may even become Sphinx of the West. Her size, shape and purpose will be an enigma for future archaeologists. To quote Daily Mail Online;

"Many thousands of years hence, archaeologists may wonder what on earth the ancients were up to in a North-Eastern corner of the European sub-province once known as England.

What had driven them, in the latter stages of the Oil Age, to create the largest replica of the human body ever seen on Earth — a reclining female figure a quarter of a mile long and weighing 1.5 million tons.

Was she a burial mound or a deity? Was she supposed to send messages to other planets? Or was she simply a monument to the obesity of 21st century England? Perhaps they will even stumble across the truth - that she was none of the above."

Here is the designer's rendering of the final land form;

She is so huge that her full form can only be visualized in the Satellite View;


Image: geograph.co.uk / Andrew Curtis

Image from Wikimedia Commons is by AWhiteC

Image: geograph.co.uk / Andrew Curtis

Image from Flickr is by Glen Bowman

View location in Google Earth / Google Maps

Main source of info and more info:

1. Wikipedia
2. Daily Mail Online
3. Geograph snippet by Andrew Curtis
4. Official Website northumberlandia.com

Credits: I am thankful to Andrew Curtis who not only informed me about this remarkable and unique piece of land art but also posted its images under Creative Commons licence in geograph.org.uk. He has a remarkable collection in Geograph, both qualitatively and quantitatively, with more than 10,000 photographs in his Geograph collection.

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Tsingy - The Amazingly Alien Landscape in Madagascar

'Tsingy de Bemaraha Strict Nature Reserve' in Western Madagascar is a unique region of amazingly jagged landscape, where needle-shaped limestone formations known as 'Tsingy' rise to heights ranging from few metres to several hundred metres. The razor-sharp karst pinnacles were created due to erosion of limestone cliff by heavy tropical rain. Spread over an area of about 600 Sq. Kms. (230 Sq. miles) along the River  Manambolo, it is considered to be World's largest stone forest.

As per National Geographic (Nov. 2009);
"The unusual formations here are a type of karst system, a landscape formed from porous limestone that was dissolved, scoured, and shaped by water. The exact processes that carved such an otherworldly stonescape are complex and rare; only a few similar karst formations exist outside Madagascar. Researchers believe that groundwater infiltrated the great limestone beds and began to dissolve them along joints and faults, creating caves and tunnels. The cavities grew, and eventually their roofs collapsed along the same joints, creating line-straight canyons called grikes, up to 400 feet deep and edged by spires of standing rock. Some grikes are so tight that a human traveler has difficulty passing through them; others are as wide as an avenue."

The 'Tsingy' which in English translates to 'where one cannot walk' has remained largely unexplored and isolated from most of the World due to these incredibly sharp limestone formations which can easily cut through shoes and flesh. Some walkways and bridges have been provided over smaller pinnacles (known as 'Petits Tsingy') for visitors. The larger pinnacles called 'Grand Tsingy' are accessible only to climbers using ropes and climbing equipment. Although the region is inhospitable for humans and most of the animals yet it is home to 11 species of lemur, 100 types of bird and 45 kinds of reptile.

The area is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Moq

Image from Panoramio is by Stéphane Sagon

Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Gloumouth1

Image from Picasa Web is by rena.remy

Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Zigomar

View general location in Google Earth / Google Maps

Source of info and more info:

1. National Geographic November 2009 - Living on a Razor's Edge
2. Daily Mail Online - Life on the edge: Inside the world's largest STONE forest.. (Contains some great images)
3. Wikipedia

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Widest Non-Clonal Tree in The World

This post has been updated on Feb. 25, 2023

In March 2015, while I was roaming through the Google Street View of Thailand, I came across this large, wide tree in Kanchanaburi.

Image Source: Google Street View

The Google Earth imagery of that time showed a canopy diameter of about 57.9 metres (190 ft.)

Image Source: Google Earth

The large, wide tree located on the Thai Army cavalry grounds in Kanchanaburi, Thailand is known as Albizia saman, or the Rain Tree or Monkey Pod tree. It has a canopy diameter of approximately 60.4 metres (198 feet), a trunk girth (diameter) of 9.15 metres (30 feet), and stands 20 metres (65.6 feet) tall. The tree's canopy covers an area of approximately 2,416 square metres (0.6 acres or 26,000 square feet). The tree is over 100 years old, and its trunk has a circumference of about 17.7 metres (57.5 feet), so large that at least 10 people are needed to embrace it fully. It is a popular tourist attraction.

It may be worthwhile to note there are few wide trees which are bigger in circumference than this tree, however all these are clonal trees and cannot be considered as the Widest Non-Clonal Tree in The World.

I am therefore of the firm opinion that this tree in Kanchanaburi, Thailand is World's Widest Non-Clonal Tree. I request my readers to negate/confirm this.  This premise has since been confirmed as this tree was included in 2018 in the Guinness World Records.

Image from Google Maps is by Yps Yps

Image from Wikimedia Commons is by Chainwit.

Image from Finding The Universe is copyright © Laurence and Jessica. Permission to use image is thankfully acknowledged. 

The tree's radial roots, protruding above the ground, are as thick as the tree trunk.

I am thankful to J'AoO for sharing several fantastic images of this giant tree in pantip.com.

View location in Google Earth / Google Street View

Source of info:

1. tourismthailand.org (Edit Note: The original Tourism Thailand web site is not available anymore, but it can be accessed via Internet Archive Wayback Machine)
2. thailandee.com
3. Guinness World Records

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World's Largest Loudspeaker

A giant loud speaker, now exhibited at the Battlefield Tourist Park in Dadeng Island, Xiang'an, Xiamen, China is reportedly the World's Largest Loudspeaker. A Chinese sign near the Loudspeaker proclaims it as "The world's largest military broadcast speaker".

The huge loudspeaker has a diameter of 2.28 meters (about 7.5 feet), is 4.74 metres (about 15.5 feet) long and weighs 1588 kg (1.7 tons). When functional its peak output was whopping 20,000 watts and sound from it could be heard up to a distance of 12 km.

The Dadeng Island on the southeast coast of the People's Republic of China has often been referred as the "Last Frontier Island". Dadeng along with two other adjacent small Islands namely Xiaodeng and Jiaoyu islands played a strategic role in the defence of the Chinese mainland in the late 1950s during the Taiwan Strait Crisis. These three Islands aka known as "3 Hero Islands" were heavily shelled from nearby Jinmen Island by KMT forces of Taiwan. In turn the Chinese had also heavily shelled the Taiwanese Jinmen Island about 5 km away.

In addition to the military action, both sides had also carried to heavy voice propaganda and psychological war across strait by using giant loudspeakers and this giant loudspeaker is a remnant of those days. Reportedly another such loudspeaker with about 100 holes, due to hits from shell fire across the strait, is on display at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing.

These broadcasts which lasted for about 38 years from 1953 and 1991 are often referred as voices of the "frontier broadcasters". A nice article and first hand information from the broadcasters who had worked here can be read in Women of China.

Note: This loudspeaker is not to be confused with World's Largest Megaphone/Speaking Horn (4 metres long with horn diameter of 2.3 metres) at Avenue de Stalingrad, in central Brussels, Belgium.

Image from Panoramio is by worcep

Image from Panoramio is by Camel Li

Image from Panoramio is by dsxkey

It is worthwhile to note that during the Spanish Civil War, a huge truck mounted loudspeaker (shown below) was used to transmit morale boosting speeches to the soldiers in the trenches. The speeches included speeches of "La Pasionaria", (Ms. Isidora Dolores Ibárruri Gómez) - a Spanish Republican leader of the Spanish Civil War and communist politician of Basque origin. I am not aware whether this loudspeaker still exists or has been destroyed.

Source of info and more info:

• 17u.com (In Chineses) (English Translation)
• Xiamen Municipality Web Page
• CRIENGLISH.com
• womenofchina.cn

View location in Google Earth / Google Maps. (Note: The Giant Loudspeaker is not currently visible in the GE imagery. I have placemarked it arbitrarily and will correct it as and when better imagery of the area is available.)

Edit Note: Based on the additional information the text of the original post has been greatly modified. Earlier there was some doubt whether this is the largest loudspeaker or not, However the additional information confirms that it is The Largest.

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