Asia

Beautiful mosques of Singapore

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Singapore is home to some of the most exquisite mosques I’ve ever seen. This deeply diverse city state has it all in terms of religious architecture, from Hindu and Confucian temples to Anglican churches. But it’s Singapore’s mosques that are the jewel in the crown. Like the rest of Singapore, the nation’s mosques take their influences […]

Philippines

Kayangan Lake

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Kayangan Lake is on Coron Island, a short boat journey across the bay from Coron Town. There are so many beautiful natural sights around Coron, but Kayangan Lake is arguably the most famous, along with the Twin Lagoons. Kayangan Lake is an exquisitely beautiful place. When the sunlight is right it’s hard to believe your […]

Asia

Alternatives to Halong Bay in northern Vietnam: Ninh Binh, Tam Coc and Sapa

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The spectacular scenery of northern Vietnam is dominated by karst mountains and islands. The natural landscape here has been shaped over thousands of years by rice farming, either in vast, flooded plains that fill the horizon, or steep terraces in the mountains near China. Many itineraries for Vietnam feature Halong Bay as the premier sight […]

Kanchanaburi

Erawan Falls

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Erawan Falls is a national park in Thailand, lying north-west of the town of Kanchanaburi and close to the mountains of Myanmar. It’s a beautiful rainforest setting, where a series of sparkling green pools cascade into each other amidst rampant tropical vegetation. Visiting the Falls you get to clamber around exposed tree roots, low-hanging vines […]

Angkor

The temples of Angkor

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The ancient temples of Angkor are the remains of the Khmer civilisation, an empire that stretched from the heart of Cambodia, across Thailand to the edge of Myanmar, to southern Vietnam in the east and Laos in the north. The ancient Khmers built their capital at Angkor, which is the largest temple complex anywhere in […]

Asia

Arriving in Hanoi: traffic and temples

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After three weeks travelling through Thailand, we flew from Bangkok to Hanoi. I’m quite behind on the blog as we’ve been so busy exploring. We used Hanoi as a base for getting around the north of the country, as the capital has good connections to the surrounding rural regions. We’ve been back to the city […]

Asia

Ang Thong National Marine Park

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One of the sights I’ve been most looking forward to seeing in Thailand is Ang Thong National Marine Park. The National Park incorporates a vast number of small islands in the Gulf of Thailand. These forested, rocky islands are surrounded by a smooth azure ocean, and have outstanding white sand beaches. The islands of Ang […]

Asia

Temple in Taling Ngam

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I’m currently staying on the island of Ko Samui. We’re on the quiet side of the island, in a small fishing village called Taling Ngam. The village has a beautiful temple called Wat Kiri Wongkaram. It’s a Buddhist temple, and is incredibly brightly coloured and well-maintained. It’s kept in immaculate condition, with even the sandy […]

Asia

Surat Thani

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I caught the bus from northern Phuket to Surat Thani, a town near the Gulf coast. I stayed a night there to break up the journey from Phuket to Ko Samui. Most visitors don’t stay in the city and just go straight through, but I’m glad I got to spend a bit of time in […]

Asia

Nai Yang, Phuket

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It’s Day One of my five month trip backpacking through South East Asia and Australia. We flew into Phuket very early in the morning (4.30am) and I’m now at Nai Yang beach. It’s the rainy season here on the Andaman coast at the moment so our visit to Phuket will be brief this time, but […]