Belém is not on everyone’s wish list when visiting the Amazon region.  Most head straight for the jugular city of Manaus, 1400kms northwest on the junction of the Amazon and Rio Negro, but for those who do make the detour, the rewards can be surprising. The city’s beautiful buildings include the famous Opera House modeled on La Scala in Milan, the Basilica of Nazaré built after the style of St Peter’s in Rome, and the fresh fruit and produce market, Ver-O-Peso, with its decorative wrought-iron turret that was transported in sections from Britain and is now an icon of the city.

And stamina it takes to trudge over the 14 ha open air marketplace and pore over what thousands of stallholders and shopkeepers have to show and hopefully sell in an estimated 8600 shops.

By far the largest marketplace in all Thailand and perhaps even the most spacious open air market to be found in Asia, Bangkok's bizarre bazaar is without comparison in either size or diversity.

More like a maze than a market, under canopied comfort you can buy just about anything you’ve ever thought of as well as many items you could never imagine.

An illustrated feature on Chatujak can be written on assignment from 500 to 1000 words - depending upon editorial requirements - and supplied with a selection of hi-res digital images.

Visitors to Stockholm can’t say they know Sweden’s stylish capital until they’ve experienced a quartet of one-off lures.  An entire day or more can be spent at Skansen, the world’s oldest open air museum enjoying costumed musicians, craftsmen and century old buildings.

Another full day lure is Gamla Stan, the Old Town where Stockholm began in the 13^th century.  The streets here are lined with colourful buildings from another era while there’s a happy atmosphere among visitors and shop keepers.

Take time out from sightseeing, shopping and Swedish meatballs for a canal cruise that provides yet another perspective of this chic city on the water.

An illustrated feature on Stockholm can be written on assignment from 1000 to 2000 words, depending upon editorial requirements, and supplied with a selection of hi-res digital images.

There are some 1500 buildings of note in the approximately 1 sq. km medieval centre of the Lithuanian capital.

Their historical and architectural significance were of such global significance that UNESCO bestowed World Heritage status on this unique area in 1994.

The Old Town is literally littered with striking standouts; perhaps most glorious of all is Vilnius Cathedral.  This white neo classical masterpiece now glimmers thanks to plaster and paint restorations.

An illustrated feature on Vilnius can be written on assignment from 1000 to 2000 words, depending upon editorial requirements, and supplied with a selection of hi-res digital images.

In addition, a feature on the emerging golf scene in Lithuania can also be written to suit editorial requirements.   

Passing beneath the skyward reaching pylons of the Bolte Bridge and into Victoria Harbour with its waterfront promenade chock full of restaurants, bars and entertainment, as twilight falls upon the city backdrop, I quietly start swallowing my words. "Perhaps, after all, it is better to arrive", I ponder as we dock at Waterfront City Marina.  Amid the tinkling of wine glasses and the heady restaurant aromas wafting across the dock, Docklands throws open its arms in an exuberant welcome.

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Quashing my fears of paranoia, thinking that I’ve stepped onto the wrong boat, I quickly learn that the balaclava is to keep the heavily polluted water from splashing into her face, and I soon wish I had had the foresight to bring my own. Taking her nod of the head as approval, I snap away. Turning the camera around to show the children the screen snapshot, they both roll simultaneously onto their backs, legs in the air, giggling in puerile delight when they see their own faces staring back at them. The crinkling of pleasure in their mothers eyes assures me that I’m on the right boat after all.....

Contact Fiona Harper if you'd like to commission this article. Images are available.

The apex of excitement is found in the Raekoja.  The Town Hall Square has been the beating heart of life in the Estonian capital since the 11^th century when it was a thriving marketplace.

It has the same role today as the much photographed massive square is ringed by tiny shops and gourmet restaurants that have delicious views of the imposing Town Hall, the only surviving Gothic town hall in northern Europe.

An illustrated feature on the Old Town of Tallinn can be written on assignment from 1000 to 2000 words, depending upon editorial requirements. 

A feature or sidebar can also be written about the unique cultural attractions on the other Baltic capitals of Vilnius and Riga.

Karen Halabi escapes the city for the peace and contemplation of a Korean tea house.

The ancient art of preparing tea is a deeply meditative process that forces one to calm down, relax and lose the worries of the day in the process of making and consuming tea.

In Korea, the art of tea preparation and the meditative ritual of the tea ceremony has been revived in the rash of tea houses that are springing up across the country.

I head to the forest outside Icheon to a Confucian retreat to don a hanbok and find out how it’s done………..