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Madeiras Monte toboggan, Portugal
The Monte toboggan ride down towards the Funchal city centre is perhaps one of the most famous of Madeira's tourist attractions. The renowned American author, Ernest Hemingway, said it was “the most exhilarating experience of my life”. The total distance from Monte to the finish of the ride is little more than 2km. The journey will take approximately 10 minutes, which means that your average speed will be about 12kph. However, during your journey, do not expect your speed to go beyond 20kph. It's just a tourist thing now but it used to be how the locals got around in the late 1800s. A pair of men dressed in white, each sporting a straw hat, control the wicker basket and, where necessary, use their rubber shoes as brakes. Reuters

We travel in cars, bikes, trains, airplanes - this is about as common as it gets. Everyone has been in or on at least one of these, right?

However, some times, in some places, let's just say certain conditions force improvisations and innovations!

Check out some of the weirdest forms of transportation in the world!

The following slides take you from Madeira in Portugal to scenic Amsterdam and from exotic Cambodia to the equally exotic Caribbean islands, before bringing you back to the solid and comfortable environs of Germany.

In all that cruising, you'll come across, at each stop, an example of innovation in commuting and transportation that even Henry Ford, way back when he was dreaming up cars (could he have foreseen a Ferrari or a Formula 1 race car, we wonder?), could not have thought possible.

These instances offer themselves as being worthy of crediting their inventors with more than a fair degree of approbation and commendation... if not for being practical and roadworthy (in the sense we would understand) then for simply being fun!

In Portugal, we will go tobogganing... as did Ernest Hemingway, much to his great amusement.

In Amsterdam, we will do as the countrymen and women do, and go cycling... but with a very strange difference.

Among the rice fields and temple ruins of Cambodia, we will witness an incredibly cost-effective form of rail travel... one that, if we think about, could actually point the way to how the world will look at transportation in the future, given global problems like parking and traffic!

Once in the sun-kissed Caribbean Isles, we will again go train-travelling and in the process enjoy the breathtaking scenery that is the St Kitts island.

Finally, when we land in Germany, we will go aboard (a train again, we know, but this is definitely worth your trouble!) the oldest elevated railway in the world... and a floating tram!

So strap in... check in your baggage and turn off your mobile phones because this will be a hugely interesting ride, one that even if is short, will be instructive and will certainly leave you smiling.

Germany Portugal