Sigirya dominated the landscape. A two-hundred metre high rock, jutting up from the flat landscape like a fist. More than just a stone monument, a climb to the top reveals a stunning revelation – the ruins of an ancient kingdom remain on the summit. Advertisements
We were the last ones in the bus, sitting in the back seat with our backpacks still on. We craned our necks to find any kind of sign as to where we were, but night had already fallen, and there were no streetlamps on this zig-zagging mountain road. It reminded me very much of the … More Hiking the Magome – Tsumago trail (in winter)
The quest for the scarlet macaw was beginning! The quest took place in the Osa Peninsula, a jungle region sprouting off the south west of Costa Rica’s slender frame. By all reports, this was one of the richest wildlife spotting destinations on earth.
The sun set on just our second night in Costa Rica. The air was cool and peaceful, but something dramatic was happening to the treeline. A fiery crimson sunset had set the sky ablaze, darkening the surrounding clouds and turning them to plumes of purple smoke.
I laced my boots in my hotel room in Kathmandu, and stood up. My feet felt indestructible. They were rentals from a trekking shop in Thamel, bulky leather constructions that looked antique. Today, I was going to hike the formidable Langtang Trek in Nepal.
I ticked an item off my bucket list in Chiang Mai. I rode an elephant. It felt strange to step on it’s great grey head as I boarded it, but once the docile pachyderm lumbered lazily along the path, I couldn’t wipe the smile from my face. But was it ethical?
Kuching means ‘cat’ in Malay, and you don’t have to look very far to find evidence of it’s association. Stone statues of cat families and sculptures of proud bronze felines overlook many of the city’s roundabouts, and adorn it’s manhole covers.
“Enjoy it, man”, Tom said as I walked past, a backpacker from Liverpool who was travelling with his New Zealander girlfriend, Sarah. “Will do”, I replied, as I set off into the jungle. I had met them days earlier in Kuching, capital city of Sarawak, on the West Coast of Borneo.
