antipodes

when i started digging a hole in the sand in margate, nj back in 1986, the funny thing to ask if you were a member of my family is where i was planning to go. inevitably, the self-supplied answer was a predictable china, though occasionally it was an offbeat country that no longer exists like ceylon or zaire. perhaps if i had the stamina i could have tunneled myself to my antipodal point, that is, the point on the exact opposite of the globe. regretfully, margate’s antipodes is some stinking trench in the indian ocean (as is the antipodes of all of the u.s.).

there are however, a few lucky populated places on earth that have as an antipodal point another populated place. from wikipedia:

Exact or almost exact antipodes:

• Palembang (Indonesia) — Neiva (Colombia)
• Padang (Indonesia) — Esmeraldas (Ecuador)
• Valdivia (Chile) — Wuhai (China)
• Hamilton (New Zealand) — Córdoba (Spain)