Tequendama Falls Museum, Colombia

The Tequendama Falls Museum of Biodiversity and Culture is an upcoming museum in San Antonio del Tequendama, Colombia. The museum overlooks Tequendama Falls on the Bogotá River. Before renovation, the building was an abandoned hotel, known as the Tequendama Falls Hotel (Hotel Salto del Tequendama) and was rumored to be haunted.

[caption id="attachment_541" align="aligncenter" width="594"] Tequendama Falls Museum[/caption]

In 1923, the building was constructed as a mansion by the architect Carlos Arturo Tapias, as a symbol of the joy and elegance of the elite citizens of the 20s. "The Mansion of Tequendama Falls", as the house was called, was built during the presidency of Pedro Nel Ospina (1922-1926). Its exterior features French architecture. The Tequendama Falls Hotel was reached by train from Bogota.

[caption id="attachment_542" align="aligncenter" width="594"] Tequendama Falls Hotel[/caption]

For a year starting in July 1950, the building was reconstructed into an eighteen story hotel. Gabriel Largacha was the designer and Domenico Parma was the constructor. The hotel was then abandoned in the 90s for more than two decades due to river contamination. The Institute of Natural Sciences of the National University of Colombia and the Ecological Farm Foundation of Porvenir are jointly in charge of the renovations to convert the hotel into a museum. The museum plans to include exhibitions on subterranean ecosystems.

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Poseidon Undersea Resorts, Fiji

Poseidon Undersea Resorts was a proposed chain of underwater five-star resorts that was first slated to open by September 2008. The first was to be located on a private island in Fiji. The project was to be the world's first permanent one-atmosphere seafloor structure.

Poseidon was conceived and developed by L. Bruce Jones, president of U.S. Submarines, Inc. It is currently under construction on Katafinga Island in Fiji. With a design concept in mind, Jones needed to find an appropriate location. To help find it, Jones offered a $10,000 reward for anybody that came up with the perfect location for the venture.

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After taking the suggestion of a business associate, who recommended a reef off of Eleuthera, an island in the Bahamas, negotiations began with the island's American owners. The negotiations did not go well, and after a year of failed back-and-forth offers the location was scrapped and sights were set on Fiji. A deal was made with the owner of a privately owned 225-acre (0.91 km2) South Pacific Island located in northeastern Fiji. The resort was to feature twenty-two 550-square-foot (51 m2) guest rooms, an underwater restaurant and bar, a library, conference room, wedding chapel, spa and a 1,200-square-foot (110 m2) luxury suite. The resort will be accessed through 1 of 2 elevators. Reservations at the resort were to be priced at $30,000 per couple per week.

Rates are based on a package price that includes round-trip transport to and from Nadi/Suva, four nights in a beach or overwater villa, two nights in an underwater suite, diving onboard a luxury liner submarine, an initiation to piloting a three-passenger mini-sub, scuba diving and snorkeling, walks on the lagoon floor, wine tasting classes, access to the resort spa (some treatments cost extra), gourmet meals and drinks, a professionally-produced photo album, and lectures and activities.

The Poseidon Undersea Resort is putting a positive spin on "sleeping with the fishes," by providing guests with the lap of luxury 40 feet beneath the waves. Nestled amongst a 5,000-acre Fijian lagoon, the resort is the world's first of its kind. An elevator provides access to the 24 suites and one apartment on the bottom of the ocean floor. Plus, 70 percent of each room is made of four-inch acrylic, allowing unparalleled views of the surrounding sea life.

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World's only seven star hotel, Dubai

Burj Al Arab is a luxury hotel located in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. At 321 m (1,053 ft), it is the fourth tallest hotel in the world. Burj Al Arab stands on an artificial island 280 m (920 ft) out from Jumeirah beach, and is connected to the mainland by a private curving bridge. The shape of the structure is designed to mimic the sail of a ship. Sometimes described as "the world's only seven-Star hotel", its star rating has been often debated.

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The beachfront area where Burj Al Arab and Jumeirah Beach Hotel are located was previously called Chicago Beach. The hotel is located on an island of reclaimed land 280 meters offshore of the beach of the former Chicago Beach Hotel. The locale's name had its origins in the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company which at one time welded giant floating oil storage tankers on the site. The old name persisted after the old Hotel was demolished in 1997. Dubai Chicago Beach Hotel remained as the Public Project Name for the construction phase of Burj Al Arab Hotel until Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the new name.

Several features of the hotel required complex engineering feats to achieve. The hotel rests on an artificial island constructed 280 m (920 ft) offshore. To secure a foundation, the builders drove 230 forty-meter (130 ft) long concrete piles into the sand. Engineers created a surface layer of large rocks, which is circled with a concrete honeycomb pattern, which serves to protect the foundation from erosion. It took three years to reclaim the land from the sea, while it took fewer than three years to construct the building itself. The building contains over 70,000 m3 (92,000 cu yd) of concrete and 9,000 tons of steel.Inside the building, the atrium is 180 m (590 ft) tall.Burj Al Arab is the world's second tallest hotel (not including buildings with mixed use). The structure of the Rose Rayhaan, also in Dubai, is 11 m (36 ft) taller than Burj Al Arab.

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Hotels in the jungle, Bali

Bali : Island of the Gods, The Morning of the World, a mystical place that evokes different visions for all that have experienced it, and for those that have only heard the name. An island that encompasses many diverse regions and styles – regions of untouched beauty, traditional villages, heaving and raucous budget-traveler districts, resort areas, playgrounds for the rich and famous, and many little hideaways all combined to form the identity that is Bali. Though not untouched by the impact of being a popular tourist destination, Bali has successfully managed to accommodate its many foreign visitors while maintaining its own rich culture.

Historically, Bali was a collection of independent kingdoms, before being brought under Dutch colonial control in the 19th century and incorporated into what was then the Dutch East Indies . In 1948, shortly after WWII, Bali, along with the rest of the country, achieved independence from Holland and become a part of Indonesia .

Having been a tourist destination since the early 1900's, Bali is accustomed to playing host to visitors from all over the world. This is expressed in the numerous facilities and activities for tourists on the island, along with the famed Balinese smile accompanying their friendly, relaxed, and personable demeanor.

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