When North Korea, China and the United Nations Command (UNC) signed the 1953 armistice which effectively ended the Korean War, they did so in a village called P’anmunjÅ?m. After the cease-fire was signed, construction began on a site located about one kilometre east of the village, the Joint Security Area (JSA). The three blue buildings straddle the border between North and South korea, and were designed and built by the UN to allow delegates from North Korea to enter one end, and delegates from South Korea to enter through the other. All meetings between the two countries have taken place in the JSA since its completion.

History lesson over If you’d like a more complete lesson, try the Wikipedia pages on the Korean War and P’anmunjÅ?m.

Thanks to Andry.

These red-gold buildings in Bangkok, Thailand, make up the Mang Gorn Luang (the Royal Dragon), the largest restaurant in the world. The restaurant covers 33,500 m², has over 1,000 staff, and accomodates 5000 guests. The servers wear roller skates, use speedboats to cross the large decorative ponds and fly on ziplines from upper levels to lower ones, while the kitchen is capable of turning out 3,000 dishes an hour!

And despite all these huge numbers, apparently the restaurant fills up completely by mid-morning. Typical!

Thanks to Matthew Sz

This is Marseille Skatepark in Marseille, France. Just like the previously posted Kona Skatepark, the Marseille park featured in one of the Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater games, THPS 2. You can clearly see the large multi-bowl and the side-by-side pools. As I remember it, version 2 was the one where they introduced manuals; which changed the face of THPS forever!

More information available at the offical site (in French, naturally).

Thanks to Laurent Thevenet and Matthew Sz (who actually submitted Kona too!)

Sticking with members of the World Federation of Great Towers, this is Rotterdam’s 186 metre-high Euromast. Apparently the tower is built on a concrete block weighing 1,900,000 kilos!

You can see the view from the 100 metre-high restaurant on the official site, and Hans points out that the red structure on the water just to the south is another floating Chinese restaurant!

Thanks to Alessandro Lo-Presti (Agilo), Aar Clay and Hans.

This is the super-cool looking Tashkent TV Tower in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Standing at 375 metres, it’s slightly smaller than yesterday’s Central TV Tower, but it’s the tallest structure in central Asia (whatever that means). The tower uses a vertical cantilever structure which makes it look like some sort of gargantuan tripod, and also casts a brilliant shadow.

Note: The thumbnail here is rotated 180 degrees from the original, simply because it looked way cooler the right way up!

Just like the Central TV Tower, the Tashkent Tower has an observation deck (slightly higher at 318 metres) which allows it too, to be a member of the World Federation of Great Towers.

Thanks to Mikhail Kushnir, Pasha M. and Tim, we now have an Uzbekistan category!