世界上最神秘的地方是哪里?（一）

John Garrison
I’m surprised no one has mentioned Myanmar(formerly Burma) yet.
This country sandwiched between India, China, Thailand and Laos, is probably one of the most culturally unique nations in the world. Since it is sandwiched between both India and China it’s history has been heavily influenced by both, as well as Thailand to the south. During the age of Imperialism it was lumped in with British India, but the British themselves recognized that Myanmar was quite distinct from the rest of their South Asian holdings.
India to the West was predominantly Hindu and Muslim, but Myanmar(when the British arrived) was a Buddhist state with hundreds of beautiful pagodas like the ones you see above and below:
After British rule Myanmar became almost completely closed off to the rest of the world. During the cold war Myanmar was not aligned with the Soviet unx or the US, they stayed out of international politics. What’s weird though, is that they joined the UN in 1948 which is before Italy, Ireland, or several other Western countries joined. Despite this they were ruled by a military dictatorship until 2011.
Prior to the 00s it was extremely difficult to get there, and even today the country receives among the least number of tourists in the world. It has a population of 53 million people but received something like 2.5 million tourists last year. Meanwhile Spain(population 47 million) received 75 million tourists last year.
Another interesting thing to note is that Myanmar is one of 3 countries not using the metric system, they use their own system of measurement.

我很惊讶还没有人提到缅甸(以前的缅甸)。

这个国家夹在印度、中国、泰国和老挝之间，可能是世界上文化最独特的国家之一。由于它夹在印度和中国之间，它的历史深受这两个国家的影响，还有南边的泰国。在帝国主义时代，缅甸被归为英属印度的一部分，但英国人自己也承认，缅甸与他们在南亚所拥有的其他国家截然不同。
西边的印度主要是印度教和穆斯林，但缅甸(当英国人到达时)是一个佛教国家，有数百座美丽的宝塔，就像你在上面和下面看到的那些:

在英国统治之后，缅甸几乎与世界其他地方完全隔绝。在冷战期间，缅甸没有与苏联或美国结盟，他们置身于国际政治之外。奇怪的是，他们在1948年加入联合国，比意大利、爱尔兰和其他几个西方国家都早。尽管如此，他们在2011年之前一直被军事独裁统治。
在2000年之前，去那里是极其困难的，即使是今天，这个国家接待的游客数量也是世界上最少的。它有5300万人口，但去年接待了大约250万游客。同时，西班牙(人口4700万)去年接待了7500万游客。另一个值得注意的有趣的事情是，缅甸是三个不使用公制的国家之一，他们使用自己的测量系统。
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Myanmar just has so many different things about it, it is such a strange yet intriguing place. The capital city is one of the strangest capital cities in the world, it takes up an insane amount of space, but is extremely sparsely populated. They have a massive highway system running through the capital that is almost entirely abandoned. Burma's Capital City Is 6 Times The Size Of New York City And Almost Completely Abandoned
Myanmar’s population is clustered in the center of the country, not necessarily based around the sea(unlike most other nations), and away from the borders which contain some of the thickest rainforests in the world.
Myanmar has over 135 distinct indigenous ethnic groups, which is more than most countries, and makes Myanmar one of the most diverse nations in the world.
Largest Ethnic Groups In Myanmar (Burma)
This country only recently opened up, and even when it was ruled by the British the entire country wasn’t explored. There are vast swaths of territory in Northern Myanmar where barely anyone lives. The many ethnic groups, differing cultures, and unique political situation make Myanmar an extremely unique place.

缅甸有这么多不同的东西，这是一个奇怪而有趣的地方。首都是世界上最奇怪的首都城市之一，它占据了惊人的空间，但人口极其稀少。他们有一套庞大的高速公路系统贯穿首都，但几乎完全被废弃。

链接：《缅甸的首都是纽约的六倍大，但几乎完全被废弃》
缅甸的人口集中在国家的中部，不像大多数其他国家那样依海而建，而是远离边界，那里有世界上最茂密的热带雨林。

缅甸有超过135个不同的土著民族，这比大多数国家都多，使缅甸成为世界上最多样化的国家之一。
这个国家最近才开放，即使在英国统治时期，整个国家也没有被探索过。缅甸北部有大片地区几乎无人居住。众多的民族、不同的文化和独特的政治形势使缅甸成为一个极其独特的地方。

What’s more is most people have never met someone from this country. It has a massive population, and yet has barely any presence in international tourism. In fact, I’ve met people from dozens of countries, probably over 70 countries and I’ve still never met someone from Myanmar.
I have friends from India, Bangladesh, Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, China, and even Laos(which is another mysterious country), which are all around Myanmar, but I’ve never actually met someone from Myanmar. I met someone who lived in Myanmar, but she was originally from China. I am still waiting for the day to meet someone actually from this fascinating country face to face. Perhaps there are even people from Myanmar on Quora? It’s hard to say though because the country only received internet in the early 2000s, so net penetration still isn’t great.
For a country of it’s size, Myanmar has been isolated for so long that it has truly become a unique and mysterious country. It isn’t like Bhutan or North Korea which are relatively small countries(both population and area wise), Myanmar is huge in comparison, and it is just now opening up, it is just such a unique country.

更重要的是，大多数人从未遇到过来自这个国家的人。它拥有庞大的人口，但在国际旅游业中几乎没有任何存在。事实上，我遇到过来自几十个国家的人，可能超过70个国家，但我仍然没有遇到过缅甸人。
我有来自印度、孟加拉国、柬埔寨、泰国、越南、中国的朋友，甚至还有老挝(另一个神秘的国家)，它们都在缅甸周围，但我从来没有遇到过来自缅甸的人。我遇到一个住在缅甸的人，但她来自中国。我还在等着有一天能和来自这个迷人国家的人面对面。也许Quora上还有缅甸人? 这很难说，因为这个国家在21世纪初才开始使用互联网，所以网络普及率仍然不高。
作为一个幅员辽阔的国家，缅甸已经被孤立了如此之久，它已经真正成为一个独特而神秘的国家。它不像不丹或朝鲜那样是相对较小的国家(无论是人口还是面积)，相比之下，缅甸是一个巨大的国家，它现在正在开放，它是这样一个独特的国家。

James Green
Eritrea is very similar to North Korea, except if you take away everything that makes North Korea interesting. It doesn’t have a weird cult of personality leader, it doesn’t have Com...ism, or oil, or much natural resources really, it doesn’t have nuclear weapons, or pose as much of a threat to anyone, and its arch-enemy (Ethiopia) isn’t anyone important.
About half the population is in the military (even more than North Korea), there is a one-party dictatorship and discussion of politics is a bad idea for your health. Tourism is difficult (on a similar level to North Korea) and journalism is seemingly banned (although some journalists have reported from there so maybe not), so there is not much information being generated about the place. It has the worst press freedom in the world — yes, just below North Korea in the rankings.
They really like cycling there though, it is their national sport.
Eritrea is mysterious because no-one talks about it even though it has much the same conditions as North Korea.

厄立特里亚和朝鲜非常相似，除非你把朝鲜有趣的一切都去掉。

它没有奇怪的个人领袖崇拜，它没有共产主义，没有石油，也没有很多自然资源，它没有核武器，也没有对任何人构成威胁，它的主要敌人(埃塞俄比亚)也不是什么显眼的国家。
大约一半的人口是军人(甚至比朝鲜还多)，那里是一党专政。旅游业很困难(和朝鲜差不多)，新闻业似乎是被禁止的(一些记者在那里报道过，所以也可能没有被禁)，所以没有太多关于这个地方的信息。它拥有世界上最糟糕的新闻自由——是的，在排名上仅次于朝鲜。
他们非常喜欢骑自行车，这是他们的国民运动。厄立特里亚很神秘，因为没有人谈论它，尽管它的条件和朝鲜差不多。
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Edit: I can no longer support the last statement (in italics). After some push-back in the comments I have looked further into the matter and as always these things are not so simple.
Satellite TV tuned to foreign networks is ubiquitous and as with just about every country that doesn’t have much a national football league the English Premier League is closely followed. The internet probably doesn’t need to be censored because it is extraordinarily slow.
The economy does exist in Eritrea although you might be forgiven for not spotting it on a first glance. It is based on agriculture, remittances, and the Bisha metals mine which is apparently quite a well run operation managed by a Canadian firm that employs Eritreans in good conditions.
Eritrea was an Italian colony before WWII and they went wild with Art Deco architecture in the capital Asmara, which earned the city a UNESCO World Heritage Site designation recently.

编辑：
我不再支持最后一句话。在一些跟评后，我进一步研究了这个问题，和往常一样，这些事情并没有那么简单。该国的国外卫星电视无处不在，英超联赛(English Premier league)也受到密切关注。互联网可能不需要审查，因为它非常慢。
厄立特里亚的经济确实存在，尽管你可能不会第一眼就发现它。它以农业、汇款和Bisha金属矿为基础，Bisha金属矿显然是由一家加拿大公司管理的，它雇用厄立特里亚人，工作条件良好。
厄立特里亚在二战前是意大利的殖民地，他们（意大利人）曾在首都阿斯马拉疯狂地建造装饰艺术建筑，这使该市最近被联合国教科文组织列为世界遗产。

There are nine ethnic groups and half the country is Muslim and the other half Christian, but there seems to be no internal strife. The ominous threat of much larger Ethiopia, from which the Eritreans fought for independence and, against all odd, won, probably has a lot to do with this.
The Eritreans seem largely free to do what they want so long as they don’t criticise the government, do their compulsory military service (which is highly arbitrary and can last longer than 10 years), and don’t leave the country. Illegal emigration is a big problem for the country.
However if you do leave the country and get a foreign passport you can seemingly come back to visit or stay so long as you have paid your taxes to Eritrea while you were earning money in foreign lands (a strange practice only otherwise found in the United States).

该国有九个民族，一半是穆斯林，另一半是基督，但似乎没有内部冲突。来自更大的埃塞俄比亚的不祥威胁，可能与此有很大关系。厄立特里亚人曾从埃塞俄比亚争取独立，并战胜了所有奇怪的因素，最终取得了胜利。
厄立特里亚人似乎可以自由地做他们想做的事情，只要他们不批评政府，完成他们的义务兵役(这是非常武断的，可以持续10年以上)，而且不离开这个国家。非法移民对这个国家来说是个大问题。
然而，如果你离开该国并获得外国护照，你似乎可以回来访问或停留，只要你在国外赚钱时向厄立特里亚纳税（这种奇怪的做法只有在美国才有)。
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What is really the most mysterious country? It is not Eritrea and I don’t think you will find it elsewhere among the answers here. Eritrea was just the most mysterious country I thought I knew enough to write about (I was wrong, I didn’t know enough). I was well acquainted with all the other countries in the other answers precisely because they were “mysterious”. The real mysteries are the ones you’ve never even heard of, I can’t list them because I don’t remember their names, but some that I know little more than the name of are Equatorial Guinea (I know where it is!), Suriname (they speak Dutch there, but it borders Brazil), Togo (a sliver of a country that used to part of one of the bigger Slave-, Gold- and Ivory Coast countries), and Turkmenistan (another one often compared to North Korea).
After consulting a map though I will take a stab that Guinea-Bissau is the most mysterious country in the world, I can’t write about it though because I know literally nothing about it.

最神秘的国家是什么?它不是厄立特里亚，我不认为你会在这里的答案中找到它。厄立特里亚是我认为、我所知道的最神秘的国家(我错了，我知道的不够多)。在其他答案中，我对所有其他神秘的国家都很熟悉。真正神秘的是那些你从未听说过的，我无法列出它们，因为我不记得它们的名字，但有些是我只知道名字的国家——赤道几内亚(我知道它在哪里!)、苏里南(他们说荷兰语，但它与巴西接壤)、多哥(多哥这个国家的一小部分，曾经是一个更大的奴隶、黄金和象牙海岸国家的一部分)和土库曼斯坦(另一个经常与朝鲜相比较的国家)。
在查阅了地图后，我想说几内亚比绍是世界上最神秘的国家，但我无法写下来，因为我对它一无所知。

Michael Burden
A few months ago I was reading on the BBC news website a report from Eritrea by one of their foreign correspondents, and she remarked that the atmosphere there seemed a lot less tense and much more relaxed than in most other African countries she has visited. When she went out into the public places to interview local people, she was approached by the police but when she explained who she was and what she was doing, she was allowed to continue. By contrast, when she had done the same thing in those other African countries the police had told her to stop doing this or risk arrest, or else she was told that she could continue only if accompanied by a government minder.

几个月前，我在BBC新闻网站上看到一名驻外记者从厄立特里亚发来的报道，她说那里的气氛似乎比她访问过的大多数非洲国家都要轻松惬意得多。
当她走到公共场所采访当地人时，警察找到了她，但当她解释了她是谁，她在做什么时，她被允许继续。相比之下，当她在其他非洲国家做同样的事情时，警察告诉她停止这样做，否则就会被逮捕，或者她被告知只有在政府陪同下才能继续。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

Darcy Cordell
A somewhat subjective question, but I would argue that Turkmenistan[1] is a good example of a very mysterious country. It is relatively large (i.e. nearly 500,000 square kilometers) and located near the center of Asia at the cross-roads of civilizations and was once part of the ancient Silk Road. It has huge oil and gas reserves, the second largest in the former Soviet unx, meaning it could be a wealthy petro-state akin to the United Arab Emirates or Azerbaijan. Yet, the most recent estimates suggest that it only had about 6000 international tourism arrivals in 2016[2] . This is less than both North Korea[3] and Eritrea[4], despite Turkmenistan being larger than both countries combined.
From 1991 to 2006, the country was ruled by Saparmurat Niyazov who named himself President for Life in 1999. He developed an intense cult of personality worship in the country by writing an autobiography called the Ruhnama which was meant to guide the philosophy and beliefs of the Turkmen people. In the Ruhnama, he argues that the text is divinely inspired[5] . He erected a golden statue of himself in the capital city which rotated so that it always faced the sun

这是一个有点主观的问题，但我认为土库曼斯坦是一个非常神秘的国家的好例子。

它面积比较大(近50万平方公里)，位于亚洲中心附近的文明十字路口，曾是古代丝绸之路的一部分。它拥有巨大的石油和天然气储量，在前苏联排名第二，这意味着它可能成为一个类似于阿联酋或阿塞拜疆的、富有的石油国家。然而，最新的估计显示，只有大约6000名国际游客。这比朝鲜的和厄立特里亚的都要少，尽管土库曼斯坦比这两个国家的总和还要大。
从1991年到2006年，该国由萨帕尔穆拉特·尼亚佐夫(Saparmurat Niyazov)统治，他在1999年自称终身总统。他写了一本名为《鲁赫纳玛》的自传，旨在指导土库曼人民的哲学和信仰，从而在土库曼斯坦发展了一种强烈的个人崇拜。他在首都竖立了一座自己的金色雕像，它可以旋转，使它始终面向太阳。

All doctors in the country were required to swear an oath to the President which replaced the Hippocratic oath. He banned beards, and men growing their hair long. He banned dogs in the capital city of Ashgabat. He replaced the Turkmen word “bread” with his mother’s name. He also closed all the hospitals outside of the capital city because he thought that people should have a reason to come see the capital.
Only 5% of the population has access to the internet and the only internet service provider is state-run. This means that the populace also has relatively little access to the outside world beyond the state-run media propaganda.
Since Niyazov’s death in 2006, the country has opened up somewhat. In particular, a new tourist area on the Caspian Sea has seen an increase in tourists although the area is heavily regulated and requires special visas and tourist permits to visit specific locations. Internet cafes are now legal allowing citizens to gain more access to the outside world. The country is also no longer a one-party state and allows for other political parties. However, the most recent elections resulted in land-slide wins for the incumbent with vote shares exceeding 95%, leading some to question whether the results were rigged. And the new president, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow is arguably just as bat-shit crazy as Niyazov was. He demands that all citizens call him “The Protector”. He also removed Niyazov’s golden statue in an effort to get rid of the cult of personality[7] , but then several years later he built his own golden statue of himself riding a golden horse on top of a 70-foot marble column[8] . He has also implemented strange and arbitrary bans like his predecessor, such as banning dark colored vehicles. Photography is restricted and an 11 pm curfew is enforced throughout the entire country.

这个国家的所有医生都被要求取代希波克拉底誓言以总统宣誓。他禁止留胡子，禁止男人留长发。他在首都阿什哈巴德禁止养狗。
（译注：《希波克拉底誓词》，又称《希波克拉底誓言》，医学的学生入学的第一课就要学习并正式宣誓的誓言。）
他把土库曼语中的“面包”换成了他母亲的名字。他还关闭了首都以外的所有医院，因为他认为人们需要理由来看首都。
只有5%的人口能上网，唯一的互联网服务提供商是国有的。这意味着，除了官方媒体的宣传，民众与外界接触的机会也相对较少。自2006年尼亚佐夫去世以来，这个国家多少开放了一些。特别是里海的一个新旅游区，尽管该地区受到严格管制，需要特殊签证和旅游许可证才能参观特定地点，但游客人数还是有所增加。
网吧现在是合法的，允许公民更多地接触外面的世界。这个国家也不再是一党制国家，允许其他政党存在。
然而，在最近的选举中，现任总统以超过95%的得票率获得压倒性胜利，因此有人质疑选举结果是否被操纵。新总统Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow可以说和尼亚佐夫一样疯狂。他要求所有公民都称他为“守护者”。他还拆除了尼亚佐夫的金像，以摆脱个人崇拜，但几年后，他在一个70英尺高的大理石柱上建造了自己的金像，他骑着一匹金马。他还像他的前任一样，实施了奇怪而武断的禁令，比如禁止黑色车辆上路。摄影是受限制的，而且整个国家都在执行晚上11点的宵禁。

Even more mysteriously, Berdimuhamedow might not even be alive. In July 2019, there were some reports that he had died, but Turkmenistani news media denied the claims and he later appeared at an economic summit[10] .
Human Rights Watch states that the country is one of the most repressive in the world, closed off to any scrutiny, free media, or religious freedoms. The Ovadan Depe prison is considered one of the most harsh and brutal prisons in the world[11][12] . The prison is so secretive that it is only possible to assess the living conditions based on satellite imagery[13] .
The Turkmen people are said to be very hospitable, welcoming and warm. The food is apparently delicious and the country has many amazing sites and world-class history. Life is hard for many of the people, and many people who leave do not wish to return[14] . It remains an enigma. A country which is very difficult to enter requiring a difficult visa and a letter of invitation from a Turkmen national or tour agency. A myriad number of arbitrary rules and restrictions that could get you in trouble. And if the government suspects you are a spy, you may end up in one of the most harsh prisons in the world.

更神秘的是，Berdimuhamedow可能已经不在人世了。2019年7月，有报道称他已经去世，但土库曼斯坦新闻媒体否认了这一说法，他后来出现在一个经济峰会上。人权观察指出，土库曼斯坦是世界上打压最严重的国家之一，对任何审查、自由媒体或宗教自由都是封闭的。奥瓦丹德佩监狱被认为是世界上最严酷、最残酷的监狱之一。该监狱非常保密，只有根据卫星图像才能评估其生活条件。
据说土库曼人非常热情好客。食物显然很美味，这个国家有许多令人惊叹的景点和世界级的历史。生活对许多人来说是艰难的，许多离开的人不愿再回来。这里仍然是一个谜。一个非常难以进入的国家，需要有难以拿到的签证和土库曼国家或旅行社的邀请信。无数武断的规则和限制可能会让你陷入麻烦。如果政府怀疑你是间谍，你可能会被关进世界上最严酷的监狱之一。

Lisa Brunner
I have been to Turkmenistan in 2017. It's an interesting country. Ashgabat (the capital) is all white and gold but as soon as you leave it you can see how the people there really live. The locals outside the capital are poor and their living conditions are far from those golden statues you can find in every roundabout in Ashgabat.
But there's a really cool thing called 'door to hell' there (the picture is mine):

2017年我去过土库曼斯坦。这是一个有趣的国家。阿什哈巴德(首都)以白色和金色为主色调，但一旦你离开它，你就会看到那里的人们是如何生活的。
首都以外的当地人很穷，他们的生活条件远不如阿什哈巴德每个环形路口的金像。
但是那里有一个很酷的东西叫做“地狱之门”(图片是我的):

Forrest Taylor
The deadly beauty of Ethiopia's Dallol volcano, dazzlingly beautiful like an alien planet. At first glance this group of pictures you do not also think you have come to an alien planet, but in fact, this is into the hottest place on earth - Dallol volcano in Ethiopia.
In this exoplanet-like place, the temperature can be as high as 50°C, which is a deadly threat to explorers.
Nature is undoubtedly the greatest and inscrutable magician. Through various chemical reactions and natural weathering, etc., a field of sulphur is changed into various shapes similar to corals under the sea, with colors ranging from the most colorful egg yolk to the most intense burgundy, which is very bizarre.
The Dallol volcano in Ethiopia looks beautiful, but in reality it is very poisonous. Most of the yellow material is sulfur or sulfide.

埃塞俄比亚达洛尔火山的致命之美，美得像外星球。乍一看这组图片，你可能也会认为你来到了一个外星球，但事实上，这是进入了地球上最热的地方——埃塞俄比亚的达洛尔火山。

在这个类似系外行星的地方，温度可以高达50°C，这对探险者来说是一个致命的威胁。
自然无疑是最伟大、最不可思议的魔术师。一片硫磺田，经过各种化学反应和自然风化等，变成了类似海底珊瑚的各种形状，颜色从最鲜艳的蛋黄到最浓烈的酒红色，非常奇异。
埃塞俄比亚的达洛尔火山看起来很美，但实际上它毒性很大。大部分黄色物质是硫或硫化物。

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