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This article details things to do and see in Penang and includes information on accommodation provided, local food and cuisine. |
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Can the sound of a temple bell call forth a mountain range? It would seem unlikely. But in the case of Korea's "holy of holies" Mount Kumgang (aka Kumgangsan, Geumgangsan National Park, or the Diamond Mountains), nothing appears to be impossible. |
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Cape York is one of the most enduring 4WD destinations in Australia. Roderick Eime jumps into a showroom condition VW Touareg for the ultimate road test to the top. |
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On a whirlwind tour of Shanxi province, Fiona Harper sits down to a Chinese banquet with a sting in the tail |
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As Hanoi gears up to celebrate its 1000th anniversary in 2010, city planners are trying to ensure that the city’s fine architectural heritage is not compromised by haphazard development.. |
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Sisowath Quay, in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, is emerging as one of the world's great boulevards |
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A journey from Delhi to the ancient cities of Jaipur, Johdpur, Udaipur and Jalesmere in Rajasthan. Wide selection of images available. If you would like to purchase this story or similar, submit via the form. |
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The people of the Seychelles - of English, French, Asian and African origin - have blended their influences into one potent Creole concoction. |
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Exploring Korea’s border province of Gangwon-do |
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Exploring the bayous and byways of French Louisiana |
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Alaska's vibrant capital is fun in all seasons |
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Taveuni Island, straddling the International Date Line, is a lush getaway |
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Abu Dhabi is rapidly emerging as the most powerful of the United Arab Emirates. |
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An interview with Aboriginal singer/songwriter Ali Mills |
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Alice Springs, in Central Australia, combines cultural and adventure tourism in one exhilarating package. |
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Glenn A Baker uncovers Goths, Punks, Space Cadets, Little Misses Muffett and Bo Peep among the Harajuku hangers. |
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There’s an unusually large amount of gold in Japan's east coast city of Kanazawa |
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Near-record rainfalls along the Zambezi River in 2006 and early 2007 have transformed the landscape into a nature wonderland |
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Alsace, just over the German border in France, is a fascinating ethnic mix of languages, cultures and cuisines |
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Russia's surprising city of Khabarovsk, on the Amur RIver |
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So much has changed in Nepal since the heady days of the great Asian overland journey in the Seventies, let alone since Kipling evoked this description of the semi-mythical city he had never seen. |
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Not that long ago there was no such thing as a ‘holiday’ in India’s Andaman and Nicobar Islands. A visit to this remote, 700 km long archipelago in the Bay of Bengal was nearly always a one-way affair. |
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Call it the peace dividend: the ancient capital of the Khmer Empire now teems with tourists. Here are some tips for getting the best from one of Asia’s great monuments - and a different way to get there from Phnom Penh, the capital. |
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The Samburu of the Northern Rift Valley of Kenya are intriguing cousins of the better-known Masai of the south. |
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The over-water stilt village of Buli Sim-Sim (Sabah, Malaysia) |
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Towering above Arequipa, the recently active volcano Mt Misti, 5,822 metres (19,100 feet) high, looks strangely out of place. At the foot of the mountain, Arequipeños go about their daily lives in sub-tropical conditions, despite the devastation caused by the earthquake of early 2001. |
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It is hard to escape the lure of Buenos Aires, one of the most stylish and fashionable cities in the world (at least until the recent currency crisis). The real challenge for visitors is to venture into those parts of the country which accommodate the other two thirds of the 30 million population. |
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Karen Halabi escapes the madding crowd for the peace and contemplation of a Korean tea house. |
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A tour through the relics of Thailand's glory days |
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on Amorgos Island, Greece |
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Bandung’s biggest drawcard is ugly, smells bad and often can’t even be seen at all. |
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Bangkok's new network of sky-trains, underground trains, river ferries and dedicated bus lanes makes getting around this sprawling city a breeze. |
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A trip through Basque country, in SW France and western Spain |
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German Heritage in the Adelaide Hills |
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On the surface, Saudi Arabia appears a lot like other Muslim countries such as Iran or Iraq. There are many similarities - the wall-to-wall desert and the women clad head to toe in abayyas, but then you start to notice the differences - the obvious wealth and corresponding lack of poverty, the big flashy cars and the obsession with everything American. |
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The surprising city of Belém, gateway to the lower Amazon |
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Karen Halabi visits a once divided city to report on how reunification, as well as a huge reconstruction program which turned Berlin into the largest construction site in Europe, have seen it become Germany’s most exciting tourist attraction. |
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This Singapore-sized island kingdom offers the ideal stopover introduction to the Middle East - sunshine and sparkling turquoise waters, smart shopping and a few sights, six hours short of London. |
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Singapore has a fascinating cultural history. Part of this history can be appreciated on a guided walk through Kampong Gelam – also known as the “Arab Street” precinct. |
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In the Victorian gold rush city of Bendigo, Russell Jack, Chinese Australian community leader, has never let the lack of a few million stand between him and his vision. The museum that Jack built is home to the world's oldest and longest Chinese imperial dragons. |
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Philip Game meanders along the Welsh border in search of... books |
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They’re native-born Spaniards but their first language is Catalan, not Spanish. For what it’s worth, the bullrings have fallen into disrepair. |
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Musicians from northern Australia's Arnhem Land are building cultural bridges in trailblazing collaborations with artists from Indonesia and East Timor |
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Melbourne’s Coastal Art Trail around Port Phillip Bay celebrates the generations of Australian artists who have painted our favourite coastal landscapes. |
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Forget the old Iron Curtain nasties; one of Europe's least-known countries is one of the most scenic and hospitable |
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Munich's Oktoberfest beer festival is justly world-renowned. But the rest of Bavaria has an equally enticing beerscape. |
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Visitors to Byron Bay, the most easterly town on the world's most easterly continent, sometimes wonder if they are still on planet earth. |
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We all fall in love with Cambodia... |
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The sign at the town entrance tells it all: “Welcome to Cunnamulla, settled in the Dreamtime.” Aussie towns don’t get much older than that. Nor do they get much more welcoming and community-spirited.
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Australia's capital bristles with artworks - both good and bad |
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Try and describe the unique southern African metropolis of Cape Town without mentioning its imposing Table Mountain backdrop and it would be like describing an elephant without its trunk. |
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The volcanic Krakatoa Island is now staging a menacing re-growth |
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The walled city of Carcassonne, in the south of France, revels in its colourful but grisly history |
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From Roman amphitheatre to Muslim Medina, ancient Carthage to Saharan salt lakes, Tunisia offers much more than sunshine and sand. |
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French Catalonia takes the lead of the Spanish Catalonian heartland |
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Topped by a white sail, a traditional felucca slowly and silently makes its way down the Nile. Just beyond, the cacophony and chaos of Cairo couldn’t be more contrasting. |
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These days all that’s left of the Wall is a short 100-metre section which stands curiously alone in a suburban street just off Potsdamer Platz, metres from Checkpoint Charlie. Open-topped tourist buses file by and tourists crane from their upper decks to take videos and snaps of this last remaining remnant. |
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KAREN HALABI visits Shanghai and discovers the new modern face of 21st century China, where things are changing at a rapid pace. |
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The chaotic Chinese quarter of Ho Chi Minh City, in Vietnam |
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Glenn A. Baker presents a Bakers' Dozen of cities worthy of cruising through, with all antennae twitching |
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"The world's southernmost city has the look of a frontier town. The architecture is eclectic, with buildings in progress, some half finished, and many roads pockmarked, obviously damaged by the severe weather. The warmer season, roughly from November to March, seems hardly long enough to catch up on all the jobs which accumulate during those colder months when, in the depth of winter, there are only seven hours of daylight each day." |
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Soak up the waters in Budapest, a city famous for its health and thermal spas, and the only place in Europe you’ll find Turkish baths, says Karen Halabi. |
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Having sailed along the coast of Arnhem Land, traversing the Gulf of Carpentaria and into one of the most remote towns on the Australian coast, Fiona Harper hungrily anticipates a return to civilisation, dropping anchor at Seisia on Cape York, Queensland.
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The climb to Tiger’s Nest, in Bhutan, is breath-taking – literally. |
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Gujarat is the land of the Mahatma - the birthplace of Ghandi - and the only place on Earth where you can still see the Asiatic Lion, says Karen Halabi. |
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Crocodiles can raise welts in more ways than one, at the Sepik River Crocodile Festival |
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The four-hour cross island walk began as a single lane road winding into the foothills, past ramshackle villages struggling to keep the fast growing jungle at bay. Rarotongan village kids ran beside the road giggling and waving while the dogs were as laid back as the adult villagers, barely lifting their heads in the tropical heat to give us more than a brief glance as we passed by.
Fiona Harper fights tropical lethargy in the Cook Islands. |
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There is a constant, inescapable sensuality to the entire Cuban experience. |
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A cycling trip around Samoa's "big island", overnighting at some inexpensive and supremely relaxing beach resorts. |
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The visitor to Austria finds an unrivalled eye-feast along the shores of the Danube - and the Danube cycle path is one of the best ways to experience the River's ever-changing moods |
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Originating in the Tibetan highlands the mighty Mekong River nears the end of its 4500 km journey as it flows through the extensive delta lands of southern Vietnam. |
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Saudi Arabia is a country of vast distances and huge expanses of desert, where ancient forts and citadels dot the landscape. |
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For a truly invigorating experience, take a trip to this warm island paradise in French Polynesia. Visit the colorful Papeete markets, swim with friendly stingrays, find a deserted island or have breakfast delivered to your own over water bungalow. |
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Archaeologists have yet to determine the origin of the bizarre bronze artefacts in Sichuan's Sanxingdui Museum |
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In East Timor, the world's newest nation |
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As Fidel Castro fades from the Cuban stage, now is the best time to visit |
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The sublime "Culture Capital" of the former East Germany rises from the ashes of World War II |
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When they changed Calcutta's name to Kolkata, the city persona changed just a little. But what remained unchanged is the staggering Durga Puja festival in mid-October, when millions of Calcuttans take to the streets |
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Brunei’s “national dish”, Ambuyat, has the colour and consistency of wallpaper glue. |
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Thomas E King journeys from the Thai island of Koh Samui, in the south of the country, to Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai in the far north-west |
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The people of Futuna Island, in Vanuatu, are the Polynesians in this overwhelmingly Melanesian country |
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Country England has never been so good. |
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Five quick getaways from the world's most dynamic city |
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Estonia is much more than just its mediaeval capital Tallinn |
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Ethiopia has its own religion, a non-colonial history, and a cultural life-support system that could come from another planet. . |
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When a cruise ship gets stuck on Germany's Main River, the result becomes an exercise in "What if...?" |
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The Fishing Boats of Malta.
The coastlines of the Maltese islands of Gozo, Malta and Comino are littered with harbours bays and tiny fishing villages where old men sit in the afternoon sun untangling fishing nets…
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Over 25 years on from the war between Britain and Argentina that claimed nearly a thousand lives, the Falkland Islands town of Stanley - the world's smallest and most remote capital - is once again an important port. |
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4WD or kayak are the best means of transport in the rugged interior of Fiji's main island, Viti Levu |
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Following the collapse of Communism in 1990, Hungary was faced with the task of finding a new identity for itself. Unlike some other former eastern bloc countries, Hungary has "capitalised" on its Communist past. |
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You don't have to go searching for Dylan Thomas in Old South Wales. Quite the contrary - Dylan Thomas will come looking for YOU. |
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Get out of Taiwan's main cities and you'll encounter a nature-feast without peer |
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A road-trip through the heartland of Aragon, with its rich Moorish heritage |
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The vibrant Miraflores precinct is one of Lima's redeeming features |
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On the "Fortress Trail" in the Sultanate of Oman |
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In the last few years, New Caledonia has become less reliant on tourist arrivals from France and more regionally focussed, whilst stubbornly retaining its quaint French colonial heritage. |
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The Aboriginal heritage of the world's largest sand island |
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This article outlines the various activities on the islands and describe the atmosphere of this tropical South Seas country. |
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Beechworth's colourful Celtic and Chinese heritage |
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Easter Island relives its glorious past |
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Scotland's waterfront city of Dundee used to be known as “the city of jute, jam and journalism”. Now. all this has changed |
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Explorations of Bach country, in the former East Germany |
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After civil strife, earthquake and tsunami, the Solomon Islands are on the rebound |
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Across Africa, low-key technology is propelling the continent into the 22nd Century |
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The astonishing architecture of Brunei |
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Newcastle, "capital" of north-east England, has for the fourth consecutive year been nominated as the country’s favourite city-break destination |
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A road trip through the new Germany |
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They said it could never happen – a peaceful democratic transition in West Africa. But Ghana, which has just celebrated its 50th anniversary of independence, is different. |
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Ghanaian drumming and dancing are the biggest things on the world music stage |
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An unlikely cultural capital, Glasgow's uncomprisingly Victorian streetscape provides the setting for an assemblage of fine galleries and museums. |
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When the vast island continent of Madagascar wrenched itself free from the mighty Gondwanaland tens of millions of years ago, it took with it a veritable Noah's Ark of plant and animal species. |
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Stories from Greenland by Glenn A. Baker |
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Tucked away in the mountainous hinterlands of south western China, unpolluted and relatively sparsely populated Guizhou Province is untrammelled by international tourism. |
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Yesterday we stalked one of India's last lions and her cubs; later that evening we joined in a garba, a neighbourhood carnival, joining in a Gujarati folk dance. |
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Here lie kings... inside the grassy hemispherical mound the temperature drops as the passage burrows into the heart of the tumulus. |
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Odense - the birthplace of famous Danish writer Hans Christian Andersen |
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If your idea of a holiday is hanging by the neck in a medieval style torture chamber then a Slovakian spa is for you. |
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Harpers Ferry village, today so peaceful, was in the 1800s the touch-stone for events that launched the American Civil War. |
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Hanoi, where the late leader lies in state, is the true Ho Chi Minh City |
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The vibrant and bustling seaport of Hong Kong has enjoyed a prominent part in the grand opera of Asia. Roderick Eime travelled to Hong Kong for a whirlwind tour of the sights, sounds and smells of the former British colony and discovered a bright and brassy city with a long and colourful history |
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The Ballinasloe Horse Fair in central Ireland is the oldest in Europe |
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The once treacherous seas of the polar regions are almost tamed by these modern marvels. Roderick Eime ventures aboard the world's most famous passenger-carrying icebreaker. |
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The golf course at Brunei’s Empire Hotel and Country Club is one of the world's most challenging courses. |
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Bohemia, in the Czech Republic, has it all - ancient town squares, Gothic spires and bell towers, castles. music and lazy rivers to boot. |
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The human fabric of the remote Kutch region of Gujarat provides a dazzling spectacle. |
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The Spanish city of Valencia, renowned as the home of paella, is also known as "the rice bowl of Europe" |
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Australia's legendary "Black Outlaw" |
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First time travel to India can be a daunting experience. Debutant Roderick Eime shares his experience and tries to alleviate your concerns about travel to the mysterious subcontinent. |
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Isaan, in the far north-east of Thailand, is one of the most little-known parts of the country |
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As Karen Halabi discovers, Malta is an island built entirely of stone. The buildings, the streets, the cliffs and the whole island are the same honey-coloured stone on this small island which lies in the middle of the Mediterranean. |
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What do three widely separated islands have in common? |
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Israel's small size belies its wealth of historical treasures |
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Kaohsiung, venue for the 2009 World Games, cleans up its act |
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Ghosts still roam parts of Estonia's Hiiumaa Island, renowned for its wilderness and heritage. |
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Thailand's Andaman Coast, three years after the tsunami |
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Korean schoolkids are keen to learn English |
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When stacked up against regional tourism powerhouses like Japan and China, Korea is often not considered a contender. Yet on closer inspection, any visitor will discover a rich, historic culture quite distinct from its neighbours. |
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One of the world's newer tourist destinations has actually been receiving visitors since the 4th century BC. |
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There is something decidedly exotic about hopping onboard a private jet and being whisked away to a far-flung South Pacific Island. Particularly so when your destination has been declared one of the 100 most beautiful hotels and resorts of the world.
Reporting from an exclusive retreat on a privately owned island in Fiji, Fiona Harper discovers that perfection has a new name. It's called Laucala Island. |
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Aloof from the world, Burma / Myanmar remains a land of mysteries, some dark, others whimsical.
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Some mysteries are best left unsolved. Roderick Eime laments that the enduring mystery of Easter Island's great moai is solved. |
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This article details the lead-up to the games, where to stay in the city and other things to see and do before and after the Games. |
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Libya reveals its astonishing secrets |
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This story runs to around 1000 words and explains what goes on inside the world’s strangest houses, how to find them, and what else there is to see in the vicinity. |
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Japan's Hida region is Japan's heartland |
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Live like a modern day Maharajah when you visit Rajasthan. |
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A sweep through the rich textures and enticing history of the Portuguese capital, the first true world city, from a base of sumptuous luxury atop one of its seven hills above the Tagus River. |
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Buda and Pest, facing each other across the Danube, together make up one of Europe's most intriguing capitals |
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Slumbering beside the Mekong amidst the mountains of northern Laos, Luang Prabang must be the only Asian city in which one hardly need look before crossing the street. |
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There is no elegant way to climb up onto an elephant. Tricia Welsh learns this at a mahout’s course in Northern Thailand. |
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The efforts of one extraordinary teacher are bringing hope to one of Australia's most disadvantaged communities |
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Art and nature make for a heady mix in eastern France |
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India dances to a different beat throughout the Malabar, a culturally rich and scenically diverse region of northern Kerala. |
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‘A Sunday landscape’ was Mark Twain’s appraisal of Mauritius in his 1897 book, “More Tramps Abroad”. He wasn’t being rude, merely expanding on his clutch of impressions of this island which included ‘a dainty little vest-pocket Matterhorn’ |
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Melbourne's street art sometimes has visitors wondering whether it's their eyes or Melbourne itself that is playing tricks on them. |
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There's much to explore in the Russian capital, deservedly one of the world's great cities, declares Philip Game. |
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China's "Holiest of Holies", the sacred Mount Wutai (Wutaishan) has just received UNESCO World Heritage listing |
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Living in one of the world's most mountainous territories, the people of Sikkim have had to learn how to adapt to nature’s whims. But the whims of nature are as nothing when compared with the escapades of Sikkim's politicians |
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Exploring India's remote northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh |
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Karen Halabi discovers that sun, sea, sand and ancient buildings are why Hollywood is in a sweaty love affair with Malta. With a bit of art direction it can be ancient Rome, Africa or Asia. |
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Birthplace of the revolutionary movement that tore Mozambique apart in the 70s and 80s, the northwest of this country is a spectacular landscape of twisted rock forms - the background to one of Africa's most colourful rail trips. The trip by road to the coast concludes a fascinating journey of discovery |
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Anhar Setjadibrata, one-time medical student and lawyer, developed a consuming interest in preserving Indonesia's cultural heritage... |
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This article continues with details of modern Vietnam and includes information on accommodation provided, local food and cuisine, things to do and see. |
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Enigmatic ruins of a floating city, built by a lost civilisation, survive on the remote Micronesian island of Pohnpei |
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Surprises in store in Australia's most ethnically diverse town |
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Experience the exotic flavours of India's northeast |
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Tourist Police or policing the tourists? |
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Cricket and stunning architecture are the drawcards of Sharjah, just down the road from Dubai |
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Glenn A Baker journeys to Finnish Lapland to spend time with the Jolly Red Gent who receives and answers over a million letters a year from children in more than fifty countries. |
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Whether it's spelled Guipuzcoa or Gipuzkoa, this Spanish province is the heartland of Basque identity |
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Modernity doesn't mean abandoning tradition, in the Sultanate of Oman |
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A gourmet tour through France's Basque Country reveals more than just sensory delights |
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Sniffing out ancient scents, in Oman |
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he Marquesas, subtitled appropriately 'the land of men' is said to be the most remote island group in the world, and are composed of twelve islands. Six are inhabited but the remainder are rocky dots in this forgotten corner of the Pacific Ocean. |
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An innovative Melbourne-based company offers tours of the Outback by air, condensing what might normally take four weeks into just four days – without losing the essence of an authentic Outback experience. |
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Visitors to SW Queensland in the Australian outback are invariably stunned by the richness and abundance of nature-treasures. |
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The voodoo markets of Togo, in West Africa, are a "bewitching" experience |
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Pink elephants are not uncommon after a long night of partying. They eventually go away but imagine a three-headed pachyderm that’s still there in the morning! |
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During its pre 1970 glory days Phnom Penh was known as the Paris of Asia. The moniker is still deserved. |
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This article details of the amazing Silk Road, its history and its fascinating route today and includes information on accommodation provided, local food and cuisine, things to do and see. |
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Roderick Eime returns from a series of voyages to the remote islands of PNG. |
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Gutenberg's marvellous invention on display in Mainz, Germany |
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Each year a dusty throng of Rajasthanis, pious Hindu pilgrims, holy men and spectators from far and wide descends on this normally somnolent desert outpost. |
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Karen Halabi explores the palace and fort hotels of Rajasthan, royal retreats which have become upmarket historic hotels, where you can breathe the rarefied gentile air of a bygone era. |
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Central Australia's new Afghan Mosque commemorates the Afghan cameleers who opened up the heartland of Australia's outback |
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Glenn A Baker discovers a new kind of cool in Iceland. |
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Well worn cobblestone lanes lead from one architectural treasure to the next in the Old Town of Riga. |
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It’s eleven at night, but who wants to sleep, anyway? |
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1968: 'Fab Four' seek eastern wisdom at Rishikesh, joined by a young Canadian photographer |
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A journey through the surprising Mediterranean country of Syria |
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Though Haji Latif Abdulla has never had his business devastated by fire much of his life’s work has gone up in smoke! As I slowly sauntered down Rabindra Sarani exploring an alluring sector of Calcutta where the city’s rich Muslim heritage is readily visible he beckoned me into his shop to explain such a seemingly contradictory statement. |
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When you think of samba, chances are you don't immediately think of Finland - which is why Helsinki's annual Samba Festival comes as such a pleasant surprise |
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On December 3, 1894, a “cloud of gloom” drifted over Samoa as Robert Louis Stevenson was laid to rest on a peaceful hillside outside of the quaint capital of Apia. |
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The Caribbean's "Silk 'n Satin" Port of Plenty stuns its privileged visitors |
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Say “Fromage” at the Cheese Museum of Chaource, in France |
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The art of Australian Aboriginal artist Albert Namatjira |
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This article starts with the Seine River and continues with details of Paris. It includes information on accommodation provided, local food and cuisine, things to do and see. |
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Glenn A Baker extends the boundaries of retail with a visit to the amazing markets of Seoul |
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This article tells of the traffic, the constant horn-tooting, beautiful scenery and even more lovely people, their religion, and the tea plantations for which this country as Ceylon made its name. |
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By the eager people's bureaucrats of South West China's remote Diqing Region, that is... |
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Show week in Mount Hagen is a riotous celebration of the highland cultures of Papua New Guinea |
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In 1860, French naturalist Henri Mouhot was trudging through the steamy jungles of Indochina in search of rare orchids. He found something far more exceptional. |
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Bojnice Castle in Slovakia looks like it’s straight out of the pages of a Hungarian fairytale. |
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Glenn A Baker settles into his room at the fabled Vila Bled and enjoys the view all the way to Italy |
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Tricia Welsh takes an exhilarating ride on a zip-line high above the treetops in Costa Rica |
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Although much has changed in South Africa since the breakdown of apartheid, I'll wager most of Soweto is pretty much as it's always been - a hot, motley, dusty settlement for struggling black Africans. |
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Conceived from the first to be one of Europe's great cities, St Petersburg grew from the vision of just one man, a monarch who engaged the finest architects of the day. |
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Mix green from verdigris; blue from precious lapis lazuli, transported from the Orient; yellow from orpiment, a sulphide of lead; collect and crush cochineal beetles to make a rich red... |
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Time to pick my way back down to street level. But as I turned, I found the spiral staircase enveloped in darkness... |
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The ancient port of Tangier is described by its partisans as the White Dove on the Shoulder of Africa: white cuboid buildings tumble down the slopes around a horseshoe-shaped bay. |
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Kiribati hold its head high, in the face of rising sea levels |
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It's not every day you get to narrowly avoid falling into a volcano - even on Tanna Island, in Vanuatu |
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Sunny Samui and cultural Chiang Rai are tempting destinations providing superb places to relax and recharge after exploring dazzling heritage attractions. |
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This article highlights all the other Ss that can be applied to Singapore: strict, sleek, savvy, sixty…. and many more. |
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This article details the custom of these men who bring their caged birds to a cafe so they can learn from each other how to sing beautifully in order to win singing contests. |
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Karen Halabi explores what lies "behind the veil" in Saudi Arabia, a land of contradictions where strict Muslims traditions come face to face with designer labels. |
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In Henan and Shanxi provinces, China's rich Buddhist heritage is once more delighting and astonishing the world |
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Sri Lanka's capital Colombo is an intoxicating mix of cultures |
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The west coast village of Tiendanique, in New Caledonia, is the birthplace and home village of Jean-Marie Tjibaou, architect of Kanak independence. |
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The chieftain of Kundu Hite (Skull Island) in the Solomon Islands is last in a long line of headhunters |
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The old imperial city of Hué, in Central Vietnam, seems to have sprung direct from a colour designer’s palette. |
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Glenn A Baker retraces Bligh and Cook and overtakes John Wayne and Cary Grant on his way to Rarotonga |
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The Ainu people of Hokkaido (Japan) want not just recognition but land rights and hunting rights too |
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This tiny principality, home to the rich and infamous, seems determined to show that it still has plenty of "green space" |
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Startling contrasts in the former Portuguese enclave just across the water from Hong Kong in the Pearl River estuary - casinos, lavish hotels and Grand Prix excitement on one hand and languid, family-based villages with famous traditional junk building yards on the other. |
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Entranced by horses in mystical Indonesia |
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European holidaymakers flock to Malta for the sunshine, but the rest of us savour fine food with an Italian touch, and other legacies of a long and tortuous history - including the post-War exodus of emigrants. |
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Glenn A Baker rejoices in the delights of Dalat - a very different Vietnam |
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The son of Zambia’s first President Kenneth Kaunda reminisces about his days growing up at "The Mushroom House", where Africa's history was shaped |
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The souks of Marrakech are colourful and vibrant |
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Ever since the Middle Ages, Nile cruises have been de rigeur – but never so stylish as they are now.
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The day begins early for those saffron-robed legionaries... |
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Famous for its surreal landscapes and underground dwellings, Turkey's Cappadocia is more than just a tourist destination |
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Nauru, the world’s smallest island republic, searches for a sustainable future... but is money laundering or hosting Australia's unwanted boat people the answer? |
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Nine nights of non-stop dance, Navaratri in Gujarat (India) is the planet’s oldest, biggest and most spectacular dance celebration. |
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The Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Ganzi, now a part of China’s Sichuan province is the homeland of the Khampa people. The atmosphere here is totally relaxed – hardly a Chinese soldier is to be seen, the visitor can wander freely without having to worry about permits, and images of the Dalai Lama are found in the most surprising places. |
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Tallinn’s terrific Old Town tantalises travellers with a mix of medieval charm and modern comforts. |
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A "meeting" with the ex-President of Yugoslavia |
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Sandakan Memorial Park commemorates the infamous Sandakan Death March of World War II |
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The two approaches to northern Italy's Gran Paradiso National Park reveal a huge diversity of landscapes |
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Glancing over my shoulder at our driver, momentarily I wonder if I've stepped onto the wrong long-tail boat. Her face fully covered by a menacing full-faced balaclava, she navigates our vessel away from the dock. Fiona Harper takes a journey upstream to the floating markets of Bangkok, Thailand. |
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Visitors to Valencia this year for the America's Cup will find more than just oranges in this chic Mediterranean city of just 800,000 people.
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Fiona Harper discovers the cruising grounds of volcanic Vanuatu. |
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To see Venice at its best go in winter. Few places can claim to be more beautiful in winter than in summer, but Venice is an exception. Cloaked in mist and fog she wears her wintry cloak like a grand dame dressed for the opera. |
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The masks of Carnevale personify Venice, a fantasy city whose real life is hidden behind a tourist veneer and hardly ever revealed to strangers. |
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Tableland retreat of an Australian artist still bears his unmistakeable imprint |
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A Jeepney takes me along a bumpy road that winds through the hills a few km out of Banaue to a vantage point that has a sweeping vista over what’s been called the ‘eighth wonder of the world’. |
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The world's wettest town runs out of water during the dry season |
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The ancient water temples of Gujarat are architectural marvels that have something in common with the pyramids |
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Bali's priceless treasures are at last recognised by UNESCO |
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Lafayette’s annual (April) Festival International de Louisiane, deep in Cajun Country of Louisiana, is a celebration of all things Francophone. |
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Roderick Eime travels to the scenic east coast of NZ's South Island to investigate the 'deep secret' of Kaikoura |
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Everyone recognises a World Heritage site or two, and many pass one every day, like the thousands of Sydney commuters who steam past that thing with the sails every time they embark from Circular Quay... |
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From Malaysia and Turkey to India and Afghanistan, people from diverse countries and backgrounds unite in a common faith at prayer time. Found throughout much of the world, mosques may differ in architectural style but not their spiritual importance. |
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The legendary spice and slave port of Zanzibar, just off the African coast |
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Finland's semi-independent Åland Islands have strong links with Australia |
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