Rajasthan, India

Rajasthan, India

From the cackle of its colour-charged cities to the luminous splendour of its sun-kissed desert, Rajasthan is romantic India wrapped in gaudy royal robes. Here the fearsome Rajput warrior clans ruled with gilt-edged swords, plundered wealth and blood-thick chivalrous codes.

A vast and wonder-laced state with treasures more sublime than those of fable, the Land of the Kings paints a bold image. Compiling a must-see list in Rajasthan can cripple the fussy traveller: Meherangarh looming over bright blue Jodhpur, the giant gold sandcastle at Jaisalmer, the palaces and pageantry of Udaipur, Pushkar’s reverent yet carnival charm, the storybook whimsy of Bundi and the havelis (traditional, ornately decorated residences) sprinkled through Shekhawati – see them all, and you’ll see a month fly by faster than the express bound for Pakistan. Like a microcosm of Mother India, there’s also abundant wildlife and warm people, glitz and camels, soulful music, glittering saris, tottering turbans and a surprisingly rich cuisine.

Yet Rajasthan’s largely rural population has grown tired of its own backward-looking image. Jaipur, the dusty pink capital, has rapidly become a fast-paced, modern Indian city, and literacy has made a rapid rise in the region. While the land is invariably harsh and droughts are a constant menace, imaginations are now fixed firmly on the future.

Salar de Uyuni, Bolívia

The beautiful Salar de Uyuni is with its 10.582 square km (4.085 square miles) the world's largest salt flat. It is located in the Department of Potosi in southwest Bolivia, near the crest of the Andes, at 3.650 meters above sea level.

Some 40.000 years ago, the area was part of Lake Minchin, a giant prehistoric lake. When the lake dried, it left behind two modern lakes, Poopó and Uru Uru, and two major salt deserts, Salar de Coipasa and the larger Salar de Uyuni. Salar de Uyuni is roughly 25 times the size of Bonneville Salt Flats in the United States and is estimated to contain 10 billion tons of salt of which less than 25.000 tons is extracted annually.

Every November, Salar de Uyuni is also the breeding grounds for three species of South American flamingos - Chilean, James's and Andean. La Isla del Pescado (Fish Island) located on the salt flat and full of giant cactuses is named this way as the ´island´ has the shape of a fish. It is the only sign of life for miles.

Laguna Verde, Laguna Colorada and the hot springs can also be visited during the Uyuni salt lake tour when entering the National Reserve Eduardo Avaroa. Laguna Verde (Green Lagoon) is a beautiful green colored salt lake close to the Chilean border at the foot of the Licancabur volcano. Its color is caused by sediments, containing copper minerals. It is located approx. 4.300 meters (14.000 ft) above sea level. Laguna Colorada is a red colored salt lake, also because of the presence of minerals. In these lagoons live flamingo's creating a very unique scene of spectacular beauty.

Bali, Indonesia

Bali may be small in size – you can drive around the entire coast in one long day – but its prominence as a destination is huge, and rightfully so. Ask travellers what Bali means to them and you’ll get as many answers as there are flowers on a frangipani tree. Virescent rice terraces, pulse-pounding surf, enchanting temple ceremonies, mesmerising dance performances and ribbons of beaches are just some of the images people cherish.

Small obviously doesn’t mean limited. The manic whirl of Kuta segues into the luxury of Seminyak. The artistic swirl of Ubud is a counterpoint to misty treks amid the volcanoes. Mellow beach towns like Amed, Lovina and Pemuteran can be found right round the coast and just offshore is the laid-back idyll of Nusa Lembongan.

As you stumble upon the exquisite little offerings left all over the island that materialise as if by magic, you’ll see that the tiny tapestry of colours and textures is a metaphor for Bali itself.

And those are just some of the more obvious qualities. A visit to Bali means that you are in the most visitor-friendly island of Indonesia. There are pleasures of the body, whether a massage on the beach or a hedonistic interlude in a sybaritic spa. Shopping that will put ‘extra bag’ at the top of your list. Food and drink ranging from the freshest local cuisine bursting with the flavours of the markets to food from around the globe, often prepared by chefs and served in restaurants that are world class. From a cold Bintang at sunset to an epic night clubbing in Kuta, your social whirl is limited only by your own fortitude.

Suzhou, China

Famous for its gardens and its silk, the ancient and moated city of Suzhou, just sixty minutes from Shanghai by train, lies at the point where the rail line meets the Grand Canal. The town itself is built on a network of interlocking canals whose waters feed the series of renowned classical gardens that are Suzhou's pride and glory. The three most famous gardens – Wangshi Yuan, Shizi Lin and Zhuozheng Yuan – attract a stream of visitors year round, but many of the equally beautiful yet lesser-known gardens, notably Canglang Ting, are comparatively serene and crowd-free.

With the imperial capital close by at Hangzhou, Suzhou attracted an overspill of scholars, officials and merchants, bringing wealth and patronage with them. These were the people responsible for carving out the intricate gardens that now represent Suzhou's primary attractions. They have been laid out here since the Song dynasty, a thousand years ago, and in their Ming and Qing heyday it is said that the city had two hundred of them. Chinese gardens do not set out to improve upon a slice of nature or to look natural, which is why many Western eyes find them hard to accept or enjoy. They are a serious art form, the garden designer working with rock, water, buildings, trees and vegetation in subtly different combinations; as with painting, sculpture and poetry, the aim is to produce for contemplation the balance, harmony, proportion and variety which the Chinese seek in life. Almost everything you see has some symbolic significance – the pine tree and the crane for long life, mandarin ducks for married bliss, for example.

You can enjoy Suzhou by simply roaming. The traditional commercial centre of the city lies around Guanqian Jie, halfway down Renmin Lu, an area of cramped, animated streets thronged with small shops, teahouses and restaurants. Stray from the main streets and you'll come across pagodas, temples, lively shopping districts and hectic canal traffic. Distances are a bit too large to rely purely on walking, but cycling is an excellent alternative as the terrain is pretty flat.

Bagan, Myanmar

Bagan today, in reality, is little more than an archaeological site far less known than the Angkor complex in Cambodia, in part because of the restrictions long imposed on tourists by Myanmar’s military government. Yet it is every bit the equal of the Khmer temple-region for its historic and archaeological significance. This short essay provides a brief introduction to the historic regions and its architecture. Succeeding sections on this site feature a precious few of its major temples and stupas.

‘Bagan’, incidentally, is the closest approximation to the Burmese usage and is now the officially preferred transliteration. During their period of colonial dominance the British spelled it ‘Pagan,’ and that name is still commonly used. There is, however, no consistent system of transliteration of the Myanmar languages into English. While ‘Bagan’ is now preferred, both spellings are still used even, sometimes, on English boards at the same temple site!

The Bagan Archaeological Zone is the formal name used to designate the historic region of the ancient Kingdom of Bagan. It has been suggested that perhaps over 13,000 temples, pagodas and other religious structures originally were built in this 26 sq. mile (42 sq. k.) area during the height of the kingdom between the 11th and 13th centuries. The region clearly stands with Angkor and Borobudur among the most significant archeological sites of Southeast Asia and indeed of the world. It has recently been nominated for World Heritage Site status.

Mount Roraima, Venezuela

It might look like it's straight out of a sci-fi movie, but this natural wonder is completely real, and fully awe inspiring. Mount Roraima, bordered by three different countries (Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana) whose border lines intersect on the massive shelf, is surrounded on all four sides by sheer 400-meter high cliffs. While its cliff walls are only scalable by the most experienced of climbers, there is a hiking path up the mountain’s natural ramp-like path (usually a two-day hike).

However, the mountain is worth a visit for more reasons than its impressive cliffs. Mount Roraima, part of Venezuela's 30000-square-kilometer Canaima National Park, is the site of the highest peak of the country of Guyana’s Highland Range. The mountains of this range, including Roraima, are considered to be some of the oldest geological formations known, some dating back to two-billion years ago. Its near daily rains have also created a unique ecosystem which includes several endemic species, including a unique carnivorous pitcher plant, and some of the highest waterfalls in the world.

Venice, Italy

Venice is one of Italy's top travel cities and a beautiful, romantic destination with many attractions. Its small, traffic-free streets along the winding canals make for great walking. You'll find many magnificent churches and palaces, lively squares, and interesting shops.

Venice actually consists of 117 bodies of land connected by more than 400 bridges over its 150 canals. The Grand Canal is like main street, cutting through the center of the city. Venice is in on northeast coast of Italy. It is protected from the Adriatic Sea by a strip of land called the Lido. The region around Venice is called the Veneto.

The main public transport in Venice is the vaporetti, boats that ply the principal waterways. The #1 goes along the Grand Canal from the train station and makes many stops, so it’s a good way to cruise the main canal and get a good overview of the city. There are also more expensive water taxis and gondolas Gondolas are a romantic form of transportation but today they're used mainly by tourists and can be costly.

Uluru (Ayers Rock), Australia

Uluru is an isolated sandstone rock (not technically a monolith) that stands 346 meters high and more than 8 km (5 miles) around. Roughly triangular in shape, it stretches for over 2 miles in length and nearly 2 miles in width. It has a harder exterior than most other rock formations, which allows for the unusually steep rock faces all the way to ground level.

Uluru is a completely bare rock without the least bit of vegetation, which only adds to its stark and mysterious beauty. By great contrast, however, the base of the rock is nourished by rain runoff from Uluru and is a fertile oasis of water pools, rich greenery and a variety of wildlife. It is thus an ideal ceremonial site for the Aborigines, who camp in the caves and are sustained by the water and available food.

Ayers Rock contains a variety of interesting cracks, canyons, caves and natural formations, all of which the Anangu attribute to the activities of ancestral beings at the creation time. The shallow caves at the base of the rock contain ancient carvings and paintings. But unlike the Lascaux caves and other cave art sites, the Uluru rock drawings are just not artifacts of some distant culture they are still being created by the Anangu.

At Uluru, the old cave drawings are simply painted over with new ones, and the paint is made largely of water and is therefore quite delicate. For these reasons, the rock art in these caves is impossible to date with any certainty. The rock art includes figures like boomerangs, human beings, waterholes and abstract symbols.

Mount Fuji, Japan

Mount Fuji (Fuji-san) is the highest mountain in Japan, rising to 12,388 feet. Visible from Tokyo on a clear day, the beautiful cone-shaped mountain is located west of the city, surrounded by lakes in a national park.

Mt. Fuji is named for the Buddhist fire goddess Fuchi and is sacred to the Shinto goddess Sengen-Sama, whose shrine is found at the summit. It is the holiest of Japan's "Three Holy Mountains." Every summer, thousands of pilgrims and tourists climb to the summit, many of them hiking throughout the night to witness the sunrise from the summit.

Mount Fuji is a volcano, which geologists estimate was created 600,000 years ago during the Pleistocene era. It last erupted in 1707 and is now dormant. According to Buddhist tradition, Fuji rose from the earth in 286 BC after an earthquake that also created Lake Biwa (the largest lake in Japan).

The climb is no walk in the park - it is very steep and takes about 8 hours - but for many it is an experience of a lifetime. It is estimated that up to a third of the climbers are foreign tourists, making for an atmosphere that is at once quintissentially Japanese and international. An especially memorable approach is to complete the hike in the early morning, arriving at the summit in time to witness the sunrise.

There are ten stations along the way up, the first at the foot of the mountain and the 10th at the summit. These include huts for resting as well as other basic amenities. Paths are paved up to the 5th station (at 1400-2400 m), which is the most common place to begin the ascent to the summit. There are four 5th stations, located on different sides of the mountain, among which the most popular is Kawaguchiko on the Tokyo side.

Santorini, Greece

Santorini has about ten thousand inhabitants during the winter time and about forty in the summer. Santorini is a crescent shape surrounding the black volcanic islands lying in the bay. What was once the island of Thira sank to the bottom of the caldera in the apocalyptic explosion in 1450BC. The lagoon-like caldera measures 32 square miles and is 300 to 400 meters deep. In the center are Palea Kameni and Nea Kameni.

There are 14 villages and the capital on Santorini island is Fira full of motion and night life. Each one of the villages has its own character, while all together create the unique Santorini atmosphere. On the western side where the volcano is located, the sheer cliffs, 300 meters high, are multi-colored strata of black, red, grey, and brown.

Don´t forget to go to Nea Kameni(appeared in 1720AD), is a volcanic islet. The trip involves 30 minutes walk from the mooring up to the crater of the islet. Boat trips operate to Thirassia Island (half an hour from Ia), a small island originally part of Santorini until another eruption-earthquake in 236 BC split them apart.The port village is about 300 steps up the cliff face. Ia (north of Fira) with spectacular views sitting on the cliff, Akrotiri (south west) the island's archaeological site are not to be missed. Perissa and Kamari (south east) are the beach resorts with black sand.