Rhine Valley, Germany
The UNESCO listed Upper Middle Rhine Valley, often refereed to as the Rhine Gorge, is a 65 kilometre stretch of the Middle Rhine Valley in western Germany. The area, with its castles, historic towns and vineyards, graphically illustrates the long history of human...
Cologne, Germany
Cologne is a commercial centre and river port in western Germany on the Rhine River. It’s Germany’s oldest city dating back over two millennia. Dominated by the soaring towers of its rustic cathedral, Kölner Dom, the city is a little heralded corner of Germany...
Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom), Germany
Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) is the largest Gothic church in northern Europe, boasting the second-tallest spires and biggest façade of any church in the world. The hulking Gothic masterpiece, Germany’s most visited landmark, was constructed in several phases...
Yungang Grottoes, Shanxi Province, China
“The Buddha in grotto 13 is suffering from various levels of decay, as is the colourful plaster on the backing of his cave, most of which is gone – a little to the original is visible in the top right of this image. During carving, the large right arm of the Buddha needed support hence the need to carve a smaller Buddha.”
The Hanging Temple of Heng Shan, China
“The 50m-high structure is propped up on long oak stilts anchored to the ledges below & supported by crossbeams with the main supportive structure hidden inside the bedrock.”
Terracotta Army, China
“Rather surprisingly, I had received a lot of negative Terracotta Army feedback from fellow travellers prior to arriving in the city. The words ‘disappointment’ & ‘overrated’ were bandied about quite a bit, as were the words ‘boring’ & ‘avoid’. I’m glad I didn’t avoid them as I found the Terracotta Army anything but boring. In fact, I found them fascinating.”
Yangtze River Cruise, China
“It wasn’t easy, but I eventually secured a basic berth in an even more basic 6-berth dorm on a public ferry that I shared with 5 Chinese travellers, none of which had so much as a word of English. It was an interesting time.”
Chengdu Panda Base, China
“…odd creatures; bear like, with carnivore’s teeth and a digestive tract poorly adapted to their largely vegetarian diet, very like the Australian Koala which, of course, isn’t a bear at all.”
Emei Shan, China
“I spent a bit of time at the summit attempting to appreciate the views, if not adequately photograph them, and cursing all those high heel-wearing day trippers I saw getting off the cable car. Oh China.”