When: August or September Where: Black Rock City, Nevada

Nevada's Burning Man Festival: It's an epiphany. It's primal. It's newborn. But what is it? 

Hurtling down the road to the Black Rock Desert, the colors paint themselves like a spice cabinet — sage, dust, slate gray. Maybe you're in your trusty car, the one that takes you to and from work every day. Perhaps you've got a spacious RV, your Motel 6 on wheels for the next days in the desert. Or you're driving your glittering art car, complete with poker chips and mirroring to do a disco ball proud

When: Early February Where: Rio de Janeiro 

Carnival is Rio's main event. It happens at the peak of summer, when Cariocas are at their best. Festivities attract thousands of people from all corners of the world. Carnaval, as spelled in Portuguese, is a 4-day celebration. It starts on Saturday, and ends on Fat Tuesday, or Mardi-Gras. Carnival Sunday is seven weeks before Easter Sunday. Dates change every year. This is sex and samba on a stick.

When: 31.3/1.4. Where: Kawasaki 

The Kanamara Matsuri (Festival of the Steel Phallus) is an annual Shinto fertility festival held in Kawasaki, Japan in spring. The exact dates vary: the main festivities fall on the first Sunday in April. The penis forms the central theme of the event that is reflected everywhere—in illustrations, candy, carved vegetables, decorations, and a mikoshi parade.

The Kanamara Matsuri is centered around a local penis-venerating shrine once popular among prostitutes who wished to pray for protection against sexually transmitted diseases. It is said that there are divine protections also in business prosperity and the clan's prosperity, easy delivery, marriage, and married couple harmony. There is also a legend of a sharp-toothed demon that hid inside the vagina of a young girl and castrated two young men on their wedding nights with the young girl before a blacksmith fashioned an iron phallus to break the demon's teeth, leading to the enshrinement of the item.

Today, the festival has become somewhat of a tourist attraction and is used to raise money for HIV research

When:1.+2. November Where: Mexico 

El Dia de los Muertos (the Day of the Dead), a Mexican celebration, is a day to celebrate, remember and prepare special foods in honor of those who have departed. On this day in Mexico, the streets near the cemeteries are filled with decorations of papel picado , flowers, candy calaveras (skeletons and skulls), and parades.

When: December 23th, Where: Oaxaca 

The Noche de Rábanos celebration takes place annually on December 23 in the zócalo of the city of Oaxaca. Special large radishes are grown especially for the celebration. They are an elongated variety up to 2 feet in length and weighing as much as 10 pounds. These are carved and used to create religous or cultural figures and scenes. Many are quite intricate and ornate. Some are just whimsical.

Where: Escalante, Utah (USA)

The Zebra Slot is one of the nicest canyons in the world because of its unique pink zebra-pattern. One thing that makes it additionally special is that the canyon is not marked on any topo or hiker map I've seen and there is no marked route to it. Having that said, it is definitely time to write a hike report about it...

Route description:
From Escalante drive 4 km east on Highway 12 and then 12.5 km down the "Hole-in-the-rock road" to the cattleguard, where the trail starts. From the cattle guard, walk east cross-country a short distance until you reach a small wash (Halfway Hollow). Follow the sandy wash bottom approximately 3.2km to Harris Wash. The Harris Wash is really huge and don't mistake it with a smaller wash coming from the right. Now go the Harris Wash upstream (left) approximately 600m, stay right. A sandy side drainage will appear on the right side. Follow this drainage 500m in deep sand and the Zebra Slot will be visible ahead on the left as a small opening. The rest I do not have to describe, it is just breathtaking to be in the Zebra Slot and you may think to be on another planet.

Reaching a height of 5545m (18,193ft), this three week trek one of the most popular in Himalaya and afterwards you can say 'I  have been at the base of the world's highest mountain'. The trek passes undeniably spectacular scenery and is trafficked by Sherpa people. THe heights reached during this trek are literally dizzying until you acclimatize to the altitude.

Angkor Wat (or Angkor Vat) is a temple complex at Angkor, Cambodia, built for the king Suryavarman II in the early 12th century as his state temple and capital city. As the best-preserved temple at the site, it is the only one to have remained a significant religious centre since its foundation—first Hindu, dedicated to Vishnu, then Buddhist. The temple is the epitome of the high classical style of Khmer architecture. It has become a symbol of Cambodia, appearing on its national flag, and it is the country's prime attraction for visitors.

Leading from Chamonix in France thorugh the southern Valais to Zermatt in Switzerland, the Haute Route traverses some of the highest and most scenic country accessible to walkers anywhere in the Alps. The summer Haute Route walk (which takes a different route than the more famous winter-skitouring route) takes around two weeks to complete. It mainly involves 'pass hopping' and demands a high level of fitness, which every section containing a high hiff factor.