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11 Places Where You Can Get Naked Without Getting Arrested

Travel
by Allison Jackson Jun 15, 2015

THERE ARE PLENTY OF PLACES AND EVENTS WHERE NUDITY IS ENCOURAGED, and even celebrated — but a sacred site is probably not one of them.

A group of foreign backpackers are now in trouble after they decided to strip down on top of Mount Kinabalu in Malaysia last month.

Ignoring their guide’s pleas to keep their clothes on, the 10 hikers stripped and posed for photos on the mountain, which the local indigenous tribe believes holds the spirits of its dead ancestors.

They might have gotten away with it had the photos not ended up on social media.

Oops.

More from GlobalPost: Tourists won’t stop getting naked at Cambodia’s most sacred temple

Malaysian authorities reacted swiftly when they learned of the offensive behavior, which some claimed angered the spirits and caused the 5.9-magnitude earthquake that struck the island of Borneo with deadly force about a week after the tourists’ naked stunt.

Four of the travelers — Briton Eleanor Hawkins, Canadians Lindsey and Danielle Peterson, and Dutchman Dylan Snel — were arrested by police and remanded in custody. The others have so far escaped prosecution.

After pleading guilty the young travelers were sentenced on Friday to three days in jail and fined 5,000 Malaysian ringgit ($1,333) for “committing an obscene act.” The group will be released immediately for time already served.

Getting naked at historic sites has become bit of a trend among young travelers, but this latest incident might serve as a warning to future intrepid streakers to keep their clothes on.

Because, really, it makes little sense to run the risk of offending local customs and ending up in jail when there are so many places in the world where shedding your clothes is perfectly acceptable. And legal.

We’ve narrowed the list down to 11, but there are many more.

1. Naked bike riding

Every year cyclists around the world strip and ride their bikes through city streets for the World Naked Bike Ride which aims to raise awareness about bike safety and protest against car culture.

2. Naked gardening

Stripping down and pottering around the garden has become so popular, particularly in the British countryside, that there’s now a special day dedicated to it: World Naked Gardening Day. It officially falls on the first Saturday of May, but really, why wait until then?

3. Naked sledding

A pair of underpants and boots make up the official uniform for the Naked Sledding World Championship in the German town of Braunlage, where semi-naked competitors hurl themselves down an icy track on a toboggan. It’s fun, really.

4. Naked Olympics

It might not be recognized by the fully clothed International Olympic Committee, but the Pilwarren Maslin Beach Nude Games near the Australian city of Adelaide still attracts plenty of attention every year. Events include frisbee throwing, tug-of-war, three-legged races and doughnut eating competitions.

5. Naked cruise ship holiday

Bare Necessities Tour and Travel offers cruise ship vacations where clothing, for the most part, is optional. “You can step out of your cabin wearing nothing but a smile and be welcome throughout the ship,” the company says on its website. The only nude-free zones are the dining rooms, possibly as a precaution to ensure no one loses their appetite.

6. Naked rugby

This is not a game for the fully clothed faint-hearted — so it takes a truly brave person to play this high contact sport naked. Every year beefy rugby players from around the world go head-to-head in the Nude Rugby International in Dunedin New Zealand, which has become the unofficial curtain raiser for the visually less-interesting rugby test matches involving New Zealand’s All Blacks.

7. Naked charity run

Want to help save endangered animals? Run naked through London’s Zoo! The Streak for Tigers charity run raises money for the Zoological Society of London, which is a scientific, conservation and educational charity working to save endangered animals and their habitats.

8. Naked swimming

Let’s face it, skinny dipping in Sydney’s spectacular harbor should be on everyone’s bucket list. The annual Sydney Skinny is a roughly half-mile nude swim aimed at raising money for national parks and promoting a positive body image. Spectators are kept at bay, but we’re not so sure about the sharks.

9. Run naked while wearing a motorcyle helmet

Why? Because when you attend a motocross/music festival in the Netherlands, that’s what you do. Run naked. Wearing a helmet.

10. Naked yoga

Apparently skimpy Lycra shorts and crop tops were too restrictive for some yoga fanatics, so one day they decided to do their downward dogs and sun salutations in the nude. And now naked yoga has become a thing.

11. Naked cross-country running

You might have gathered by now that there are a lot of runners in the world who just love running naked. Another place you can find large numbers of nudist joggers is La Salvaje beach near the Spanish Basque village of Sopelana. Every year runners wearing nothing more than their sneakers flock there for the Patxi Ros three-mile cross-country race.

by Allison Jackson, GlobalPost

This article is syndicated from GlobalPost.

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