Friendship Highway, Tibet (Day 1)
Recapping a 4-day trip on the Friendship Highway, the 800 km scenic route traversing the Himalayas connecting Lhasa, Tibet, to the border with Nepal.
Lhasa, Tibet
The Roof of the World. We’re seeing that slogan a lot since we got here to Lhasa, Tibet, off the Qinghai–Tibet Railway. That was Sunday evening. It’s now Tuesday morning and yesterday was our first full day of acclimatising and taking in the sights and...
Qinghai–Tibet Railway, Tibetan Plateau || Riding The Rails
We made it out of Xi’an as planned, made it onto the train for Lhasa, Tibet, as planned, and all without needing (yet) to produce the permits we acquired in Xi’an to enable us to undertake this trip legally. We left Xi’an yesterday, Saturday, morning...
Xi’an, Shaanxi Province, China
As soon as we arrived in Xi’an a few days ago off the overnight train from Beijing we were trying to organise our way out of the city. Maybe it’s because we’d spent more time than planned in Beijing. Or maybe it was because I hadn’t initially...
Beijing, China (2008)
Some days ago now, Valentine’s Day actually, I started what I know is going to be a pretty swell trip. That’s when I met Pat, my bestie, in the Capital International Airport here in Beijing, China. I arrived in the city the day earlier off the ferry from...
Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Kyoto, Japan
Kiyomizu-dera Temple One Of Japan’s Most Celebrated Temples & A New7Wonders Of The World Finalist Kiyomizu-dera Temple, Kyoto, Japan. November 20, 2007 ; As the imperial capital of Japan for more than a thousand years, Kyoto conjures up the classic images of...
Gyeongju, South Korea
Gyeongju is a coastal city in the southestern corner of the Korean peninsula. The city is famous throughout Korea as the capital of the ancient Korean Silla Dynasty, a dynasty that rose at the turn of the 1st millennium and ruled most of the Korean Peninsula from the...
Bulguksa Temple, Gyeongju, South Korea
The Bulguksa Temple (temple of the Buddha land) is the most famous temple in South Korea and home to seven of the country’s listed National treasures. A temple was first constructed on this site in 528, but, & like nearly every historic building in Korea,...
Folk Village, Yongin, South Korea
I’ve been back in South Korea for a few months now on this my forth visit to the country since my first back in late 2003-early 2004. Already this place feels like a second home. I haven’t had much time thus far on this visit to the Land of The Morning...
Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Ye olde. With a 6,000-year-old history, Europe’s fourth-oldest continually inhabited city boasts Roman ruins & a charming & photogenic cobbled Old Town made for exploring.
Sofia, Bulgaria
Pictures from my September 2007 visit to Sofia, the capital and largest city of Bulgaria located in the west of the country. ______________________________________________________________________
Lake Ohrid, Macedonia
Ohrid, immortal Ohrid – a kingdom of light and water, a repository of ancient ruins from Macedonia’s earlier kingdoms – is the sublime lakeside town that for many represents the culmination of the Macedonian experience. The charming tourist friendly town of Ohrid is...
Tirana, Albania
Tirana is the capital city & the centre of political, economic, and cultural life in Albania, the budding bastion of new democracy that is this little corner of Southeastern Europe. Having spent the majority of the last 60 years under a strict and isolationist...
Durres, Albania
I was befriended by a local here in Durres, Albania, shortly after disembarking the overnight ferry across from Bari in Italy. It was an abnormally wet & overcast September day yesterday upon arrival but David, my new Albanian best friend, brightened up the mood...