Zoë Sheng

Member since August 2017

#None 0 0

I'm Zoë. I'm originally from Edmonton, Canada and then moved to Vancouver Island although spent lots of time in China where family members still reside. I also spent a few years at boarding school in England where my trips started when my parents took me around the coastal paths and what later turned out to be world heritage sites which are considered my first "ticks". Since then I traveled a lot, studied part-time in Auckland, and my "skills" of efficiency and organized planning helps a lot - meaning that old towns tend to get an overnight stay to easily explore them while churches, tombs or cemeteries that only take an hour tops to visit are really just scheduled for a quick visit. I do sometimes regret not visiting a place longer but revisits are not out of the question. However, as I don't drink alcohol, party, or require fancy nights out on the town it shortens activities in places too (if you enjoy doing this  then I'm happy for you just don't wonder why I get stuff done quicker). I also scuba dive frequently which I love the most in the world though I'm not a tec-diving nerd and keep it simple (thus Bikini Atoll is probably out). No deco diving for me unless it's a special wreck.

Personally I'm very private. I ditched Facebook over a decade ago, Instagram I only lasted for a few months and even Whatsapp I tend to mainly use for staying in touch, contacting hotels and tour guides. I'm not anti-social and usually travel in a small group if it works out, although I do enjoy solo traveling more because nobody will screw up my planning. Anyone tagging along will know "it's her way or no way". I have met two people from our community although they didn't noticed it was me at the time. I also do not know the name of one of them but maybe I'll find out eventually. I also almost ran into the Aussie couple and their dog but I was stuck in the Peruvian mountains while they were partying (joke, or assumption?!) in Cuzco.

Since 2023 I started slowing down world heritage specific traveling mainly because I have just seen so many and so much already. I'd rather spend the time with friends and my marine buddies the sharks and dolphins than seek out a mediocre church or wine county, plus the list keeps growing with lackluster titles that hardly excite me, not that I try tick off tentative sites as I can anyway but outliers and crappy stuff far away from civilization isn't going to be fun to visit.

In 2024 I had a mitral valve replacement (ugly scar now) followed by an RFA to fix my heart rate. It definitely slowed down any traveling I wanted to do and unsure how it will continue. Hopefully I'm as good as new with medication. Even scuba diving is ok!

At the time of writing I still need to visit 156 sites which doesn't seem like a lot but a few are impossible to visit, some require lengthy trips (30 days for one, two weeks for a few others) and can cost a huge sum of money. There are also those warring states that are currently off-limits (+Venezuela for security/embargo reasons). Having officially visited 151 UN listed countries these are still left with sites:

Afghanistan
Angola
Benin
Burkina Faso
Cameroon
Cape Verde
Central African Republic
Chad
Congo, DR
Congo, Republic
Eritrea
Ethiopia
Ghana
Guinea
Haiti
Ivory Coast
Kiribati
Kyrgyzstan
Libya
Madagascar
Mali
Marshall Islands
Mauritania
Niger
Nigeria
São Tomé and Príncipe
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Sudan
Syria
Togo
Venezuela
Yemen

For the rest of sites in countries I have been already:

  • Heard and McDonald Island - requires lengthy boat tour
  • Macquarie Island - cruise $$$
  • Khinalig, Azerbaijan - wasn't even tentative I think and it's quite far off the beaten track, next time I visit Azerbaijan it shall be done
  • Okavango Delta - didn't want to cram this as a 1½ day drive-by on my last Botswana trip; worth a lengthy visit for sure
  • Peninsula Valdez, thought hard about adding it into my Argentina trip but early February just wasn't good enough to guarantee Right whales and orcas and September just seems better to splurge the money
  • Brazil - still missing almost half because I backed out twice but I will get it eventually lol
  • French Austral Lands and Seas - well, that's the one you join a ~30 day cargo ship trip that will visit it along the way, "fun"
  • Marquesas Island, it's an extra trip from French Polynesia's main hub
  • Zagori Cultural Landscape, Greece - I drove through this, or past this, but I can't really count it I think. I also don't mind visiting Greece again. For now Europe stays incomplete
  • Rio Platano Biosphere Reserve, Honduras - One could tick this by taking a boat around the coast to one of the villages inside the park but visiting this properly isn't easily accomplished - I don't think visiting the villages will give an insight into the heritage of the biosphere reserve at all
  • India keeps adding tentative sites so I can make the trip more worthwhile in the future but only 3 sites remaining at the moment which isn't much 
  • Jordan - my first trip was the main things and rest, probably "meh", would need another trip.
  • Mongolia - a few sites and a couple of these are HARD to visit as they are in the middle of nowhere.
  • Sub-Antarctic Islands, NZ - cruise
  • Te Wahipounamu, NZ south island - technically have been there but I want to hike for a week+ to count this visit
  • Russia is currently off-limits to me personally
  • Aldabra Atoll used to have a $$$ cruise but I think Covid killed it (literally) so the only way to visit is taking the cruise from Zanzibar that stops there on the way. Not super expensive and seeing that you get a cruise it's a nice vacay - if you are into that. Having already done Zanzibar and the Seychelles doesn't help me but maybe fun in a small group
  • Tajik National Park (& Tugay Forests) require a lengthy road trip best done by car from Osh - however, for the last few years the countries haven't seen eye to eye so they won't let rental cars from Kyrgyzstan cross over thus one would have to go from Dushanbe and that's a hefty additional mileage!
  • Gough and Inaccessible Islands - named "inaccessible" with reason
  • Henderson Island - you need special permission to visit although joining a charter trip would include it; however, they are rare and $$$
  • Tauric Chersonese - well, Crimea is now in "Russian" territory and not sure I'm even allowed to visit
  • Zimbabwe I have only visited Victoria Falls but definitely interested in exploring the rest!
  • Palestine: would never visit the Gaza strip and now they have a site so it's probably unvisited from me for a while, mainly due to their policy to fast track the sites under warfare

My most impressive site: Abu Simbel, Ilulissat Icefjord, Cocos Island

My proposal for a new site: Mariana Trench

Recent Visits
  • 1
    0
    Sept. 16, 2024
    Iguacu
  • 3
    0
    Sept. 16, 2024
    Churches and Convents of Goa, Great Himalayan National Park, Nanda Devi and Valley of Flowers
  • 3
    0
    Sept. 5, 2024
    Chola Temples, Sacred Ensembles of the Hoysalas, Western Ghats
>

About Zoë Sheng

First name
Zoë
Member since
August 2017
Country of Origin
None
Visits
Rank
#None
WHS
0
Tentative Sites
0
Website Participation
Reviews
379
Ratings

Ratings

World Heritage Sites
Tentative Sites
1067 160
Photos
N/A
Locations
N/A
Zones
N/A

Reviews by Zoë Sheng

Page 17 of 19
Hubei Shennongjia by Zoë Sheng

Hubei Shennongjia (Inscribed)

Hubei Shennongjia

Some places just take a lot of effort if one wants to visit individually and I feared this would be the same. I hate tours in China and they tend …

Struve Geodetic Arc by Zoë Sheng

Struve Geodetic Arc (Inscribed)

Struve Geodetic Arc

I had finally made it. After always ignoring this WHS due to the distances involved in getting to any or the lack of interest to actually go out of the …

Worship wooden architecture (17th -18th centuries) by Zoë Sheng

Worship wooden architecture (… (On tentative list)

Worship wooden architecture (17th -18th centuries)

Arriving at Zditovo you don't see any of the "Street light posts, benches, and refuse bins were designed and manufactured following the ensemble concept of the avenue." Is there another …

Plain of Jars by Zoë Sheng

Plain of Jars (Inscribed)

Plain of Jars

I visited the Plains of Jars at the end of October just after the rainy season when the valley is still nice and green. It gets cold and chilly up …

Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art by Zoë Sheng

Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art (Inscribed)

Zuojiang Huashan Rock Art

What a disappointment even with my low expectations for rock art in general. A lot has changed since the site has been inscribed and the town of Ningming has really …

Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region by Zoë Sheng

Hidden Christian Sites in the… (Inscribed)

Hidden Christian Sites in the Nagasaki Region

Oura Church is easy to visit and combined with the Glover Garden next door. Of all the sites inscribed I think this is the only one not off the beaten …

Chief Roi Mata's Domain by Zoë Sheng

Chief Roi Mata's Domain (Inscribed)

Chief Roi Mata's Domain

Roi Mata is undoubtedly the biggest chief in Vanuatu's history. The "domain" inscribed is a triangle including his old tribe village, his burial grounds, as well as the cave where …

Tr’ondëk-Klondike by Zoë Sheng

Tr’ondëk-Klondike (Inscribed)

Tr’ondëk-Klondike

What do you think when you hear "Klondike"? Gold Rush, Charlie Chaplin, German tourists in camper vans (YES!), First Nations...wait what? Yes! So actually what people probably don't even know …

Gombak Selangor Quartz Ridge by Zoë Sheng

Gombak Selangor Quartz Ridge (On tentative list)

Gombak Selangor Quartz Ridge

The ridge, or dragon spines as they seem to call it locally, is easily seen from the highway north of KL. Getting closer to it, as the other review already …

Gunung Mulu by Zoë Sheng

Gunung Mulu (Inscribed)

Gunung Mulu

Mulu National Park has to be my favorite park I have stayed in, not only because it offers so much nature, variety of activities, amazing professional staff, but also because …

Mining Historical Heritage by Zoë Sheng

Mining Historical Heritage (On tentative list)

Mining Historical Heritage

From the heaps of places that are trying to inscribe I visited La Union near Murcia. The first sights I saw were the typical rundown, forgotten and left behind buildings …

Mediterranean Wind Mills by Zoë Sheng

Mediterranean Wind Mills (On tentative list)

Mediterranean Wind Mills

Chasing these wind mills a la Don Quixote is not necessary. If you are anywhere near Murcia you can easily plot your drive past one them. With these flat lands …

Fagaloa Bay - Uafato Tiavea Conservation Zone by Zoë Sheng

Fagaloa Bay - Uafato Tiavea C… (On tentative list)

Fagaloa Bay - Uafato Tiavea Conservation Zone

I drove right over the mountain to Uafato, a crazy drive alone but luckily only 10 minutes tops (not that you can't drive the flat northern cape "road" unless you …

Liangzhu Archaeological Site by Zoë Sheng

Liangzhu Archaeological Site (Inscribed)

Liangzhu Archaeological Site

At the time of writing the Liangzhu sites are gearing up for an inscription attempt. I went to the Liangzhu Museum on the outskirts of Hangzhou a couple of years …

Sigiriya by Zoë Sheng

Sigiriya (Inscribed)

Sigiriya

I will say right away: this place isn't my favorite. It looks great on pictures, it's a must-do when in Sri Lanka, it has all the things of an epic …

Ring of cenotes of Chicxulub Crater, Yucatan by Zoë Sheng

Ring of cenotes of Chicxulub … (On tentative list)

Ring of cenotes of Chicxulub Crater, Yucatan

The cenotes were part of my plan but a lot of these are impossible to get to. Cenotes are everywhere in Yucatan, basically sinkholes, but there are only 99(?) as …

Phong Nha - Ke Bang by Zoë Sheng

Phong Nha - Ke Bang (Inscribed)

Phong Nha - Ke Bang

I regret taking a tour for this. You pick one of the activities and spend most of the day on a bus from Hue and back on the same day, …

Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution by Zoë Sheng

Sites of Japan's Meiji Indust… (Inscribed)

Sites of Japan's Meiji Industrial Revolution

"I'm getting too old for this s**t", Danny Glover said when arriving at the Glover Garden. And I thought the same having to suddenly ascend from the tram station on …

First Coffee Plantations by Zoë Sheng

First Coffee Plantations (Inscribed)

First Coffee Plantations

Listening to recommendations I picked La Isabela for this. It had at least a road going to the point of the museum on the map. From Santiago it takes around …

Yakushima by Zoë Sheng

Yakushima (Inscribed)

Yakushima

Yakushima is one of those places that just wows you as you even get close to it. It's so amazingly green for one, and the mountains seem to stretch forever …

Page 17 of 19