Zoë Sheng

Member since August 2017

#1 1067 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
#1
WHS
1067
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

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Hiraizumi (extension) by Zoë Sheng

Hiraizumi (extension) (On tentative list)

Hiraizumi (extension)

In my opinion Hiraizumi is rather boring. Even for someone like me who loves nature, the gardens and temples are very average and a big plain with a lake in …

Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites by Zoë Sheng

Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcela… (Nominated)

Jingdezhen Handicraft Porcelain Industry Sites

As I descend to hell..oh, wrong review, although one could think by the picture on the right that's where I was heading. Jingdezhen kiln sites are by no means a …

Nanxi River by Zoë Sheng

Nanxi River (On tentative list)

Nanxi River

"Charming scernery" (sic), to quote the crappy description of the 2001 documentation. Honestly, this place isn't great even if the description would be updated. I also do not believe the …

Yandang Mountain by Zoë Sheng

Yandang Mountain (On tentative list)

Yandang Mountain

Yandang Mountains is awesome, you should go visit. End of review.

Oh, you expect me to write more? It has been a few years since my visit and I …

Kosice by Zoë Sheng

Kosice (On tentative list)

Kosice

A shoutout to Martina to say "Hey, I visited your hometown", and I think you should be proud to able to call it home. In fact, Košice is a lovely …

Quanzhou by Zoë Sheng

Quanzhou (Inscribed)

Quanzhou

In my quest to cover every Chinese TWHS in the list I...wait, what? Already 2(!) reviews for Quanzhou?! I guess I don't need to add more than a thumbs up.

Poyang Nature Reserve by Zoë Sheng

Poyang Nature Reserve (On tentative list)

Poyang Nature Reserve

Dislaimer: this Tentative WHS is ancient - hasn't been modified since 1996 and the data in their description is from the mid-80s. The main attraction of the lake, or rather …

Miao Nationality Villages in Southeast Guizhou Pro by Zoë Sheng

Miao Nationality Villages in … (On tentative list)

Miao Nationality Villages in Southeast Guizhou Pro

With the countless Miao villages around the country I must have visited a dozen already. Miao minority has become one of the most popular tourist ones due to their festive …

Dong Villages by Zoë Sheng

Dong Villages (On tentative list)

Dong Villages

The name "Dong Villages" is misleading because there are probably thousands of these spread around the country. There is a detailed list of nominated villages shared across Guizhou, Guangxi and …

Haitan Scenic Spots

Haitan Scenic Spots (On tentative list)

Haitan Scenic Spots

Disclaimer: this is a review for a now 20 year old tentative listing which will by all accounts be withdrawn or rewritten and probably best forgotten. The current document does …

Guizhou Triassic Fossil Sites by Zoë Sheng

Guizhou Triassic Fossil Sites (On tentative list)

Guizhou Triassic Fossil Sites

You are probably thinking the same as me: another fossil site? Have you been to any WHS for fossils and you will know they are mighty boring. We have one …

Lingqu Canal by Zoë Sheng

Lingqu Canal (On tentative list)

Lingqu Canal

Come to Guilin and spend an extra day to visit Lingqu rather than enjoy the beautiful scenery to the south! (or, don't!) They say "The North has the Great Wall, …

Willemstad by Zoë Sheng

Willemstad (Inscribed)

Willemstad

No trip to Curaçao is complete without a visit to Willemstad. Well, actually it easily could because it's at the opposite of the island as you arrive by air but …

Mountain-top Hotel and Television Transmitter Ješt by Zoë Sheng

Mountain-top Hotel and Televi… (On tentative list)

Mountain-top Hotel and Television Transmitter Ješt

Don't even ask me how to pronounce Ještěd. I tried telling people on the trip about my stay there and they were like "what, where?" and when they finally figured …

Lake Atitlán by Zoë Sheng

Lake Atitlán (On tentative list)

Lake Atitlán

"multiple uses" of a lake? Already that raises questions. If you read the short description on the official website, which I could paste here but let me get through it …

Tak'alik Ab'aj by Zoë Sheng

Tak'alik Ab'aj (Inscribed)

Tak'alik Ab'aj

Guatemala hasn't inscribed any WHS since 1981, and their tentative list hardly gets updated. Almost all 2002 documentation is rubbish yet one of these, The Mayan-Olmecan Encounter (hereafter the M-O-E), …

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo's Home-Study Museum by Zoë Sheng

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo'… (On tentative list)

Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo's Home-Study Museum

I'm going to be really selfish and champion Frida's "home-study" as worthy to be WHS. The architecture is not that special if you have been to places designed by Le …

Town of Chichicastenango by Zoë Sheng

Town of Chichicastenango (On tentative list)

Town of Chichicastenango

Highly popular, highly recommended, highly religious (bleh) but I didn't like it very much, what went wrong?

For one when you go you need to go on a market …

The Cuenca Mirador by Zoë Sheng

The Cuenca Mirador (On tentative list)

The Cuenca Mirador

There is going to be a long paragraph about logistics but first off: this HAS to be inscribed! One of the Top 20 missing in my opinion and even if …

Bawomataluo Site by Zoë Sheng

Bawomataluo Site (On tentative list)

Bawomataluo Site

Far away from most visited places in Indonesia (read: Bali) is a small island of Nias. In fact the most likely person to have heard of this place is a …

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