I am taking a series of travels around SL to try to visit all the sims in SL. Hopefully I will be able to give regular reports on the places to see it each area.
Floating Gardens of Shomat
The first place I visited and the first entry would be the island of Shomat. The highlight of Shomat is the Floating Ornate Gardens of Shomat. You take a teleport that leads you to the base of a floating island high in the sky among the clouds. The entrance leads to a large waterfall cave. Once inside you ride a lift to the top to the surface of the island. The garden is beautiful decorated in rich green terraces with many flowers and trees. The terraces are a little hard to go between and requires a little jumping about. The overall effect is very nice. A large castle sits at one edge of the garden. It adds a nice decorative effect to one end of the island. The castle itself is pretty much a big empty room though. Perhaps it will be developed more later.
You can ride the elevator back down to the entrance again, but there is no way to teleport back to the ground. Oh well time to fly back down.
The Shomat Flats
The Shomat Flats are a series of four high-rise apartments and seem to be the dominant feature of the island. They appear to be available to rent. Only half of them are occupied. The top levels of each suite are two level and have a spiral walkway going between floors. The apartments seem to be very light and airy with many large windows.
Sphere Ball Roller Coaster
This roller coaster is a series of red and green tubes. Step into a ball and roll it to the edge of the entrance tube opening. The ball gets blown through the tube and through a series of twists and turns. Sometimes there are gaps between tubes that you jump through. In the end the ball is shot high into the air and comes back down. I tried it a few times. Sometimes I would get thrown out of the ball, or the ball would get stuck in a corner requiring a wobble to get it moving again. The roller coaster is fun but not quite perfect more due to the physics then design. I had the most fun going through without the ball. It seemed to work much better that way.
Venders Store
Shomat also has a venders store. It is a two story building constructed pf black marble and dark burgundy carpeting. About the store there are spaces to rent for various venders. At the entrance to the left there are a panel of colourful disks containing a selection of music. It seemed to be mostly techno music and took a few seconds to load up before it began to play. When I cam there were displays of several outfits. There were also pseudo 3-D images created by Lucia Luminare. These photos were neat to look at as they sort of jiggled back and forth giving somewhat of a layered 3D effect. In the centre toward the back there is a fireplace and some furniture. It seems to be a meeting area for visitors and guests. A teleport leads up to the second floor. The second floor however was completely empty. I guess it’s a bit out of the way and no one wants to put things up there. The ceiling had a neat glowy red star pattern though.
Vampire Castle
The vampire castle looks like something out of the Castlevania games from the outside. It has an entrance leading out to the sea. The gate leads out to a dark stone dock where a boat may sail up to. It appears to be the only regular entrance to the castle. Crickets chirp as you walk up the stairs past the fires within stone brasiers that line the stone walkway. On closer inspection, the cricket noises come from a little cricket house sitting upon the stone railing. Good luck indeed. It makes a nice ambient atmosphere to a spooky castle. The entrance itself is made of two large wooden doors set with glass. On the right and left side are stain glass windows with figures of two dark fantasy characters. There seems to be an aquarium behind the left window. Several small fish swim by randomly and even a jelly fish floats by. I suspect my presence is detected here so maybe it is best to slip off quietly.
Taj Mahal
At the southwest corner of the island is a small and simple replica of the Taj Mahal. Though simple it is nicely built and can be instantly recognized with its golden domes and minarets. It seems to be built of white brick and painted plaster on the outside. A detailed Persian carpeting covers the floor within and also around the outer edges of the building. In the back of the building is a roof top lawn cut fine enough to be a golf course. In the centre of this lawn is a three tiered water fountain.