Where in the World? Top Places to Visit In Your Lifetime
- Date: 2007-04-23 - Word Count: 932
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I've often been asked where my favourite place to travel has been; the trouble is there are so many varied experiences out there that it is very hard to choose; here are a few of my top recommendations if you fancy an experience!
1)Taj Mahal. Yup, thought it was going to be tacky, nearly didn't bother going but two people who were staying in my hostel heard me say it, dragged me to a taxi and made me shut my eyes all the way there..... they then walked me in the main entrance, lined me up with it and told me to open my eyes.
I nearly welled up it was so beautiful, the sun was just setting and it took my breath away; everyone should see it once! (Actually, I saw it twice, went back the next morning to see it again in a different kind of sunlight). The glory of it made up for the frankly poor state of the lavatories, they were even worse than the ones on your average Intercity journey.
2)Kakadu, Darwin, Oz. One of the most beautiful places on God's Earth. Can't even describe to you how fanstastic it was, look it up on the net :O)
3)Chiang Mai night market, Thailand. Take an empty rucky and a few quid and you'll be sorted for Christmas presents for the next five years.
4) Pad Thai at the Oriental Hotel, Bangkok. Not cheap, compared to a roadside stall outside, but watching the sun go down over the river as the little fairylit boats chug back and forth and the candles are lit is one of the most romantic evenings I know.
5)Melbourne, Oz. Great coffee, great cinammon rolls. Hire a motorbike and go along the Great Ocean Road. Search for koalas and go on a glow-worm tour at night.
6)Hoi An, Vietnam. Charming French colonial remants, bustling little town, lovely hotels on the river, but best of all, tailors everywhere! Revamp your wardrobe for a $100 bucks then wander the evening streets lit with glowing lanterns and fairylights.
7) Sydney Harbour. Hire a little boat, take a picnic then spend the whole day trying to avoid being hit by ferries.
8)Hay-on-Wye. Not exotic, but I went this weekend and spent a a very happy time buying lots of books by Eric Newby. Great bedtime reading fot the armchair traveller.
9)Lake Toba, Sumatra. An adventure to get to in itself, amazing views and a certain frisson knowing you're staying on an island in the middle of an exploded volcano that was responsible for causing a bottleneck in human evolution. (Couldn't sleep the first two nights in case it exploded again).
10)Bali. Just beautiful. Get straight out of Kuta and head for magical lush Ubud then Lovina on the north coast, where the dolphins live and the volcanic sands are black. Padangbai in particular is also a lovely little village with a golden beach where all the painted wooden boats are pulled up on the shoreline and the ferries depart to Lombok. And make sure you do a cooking course; I'll be posting some of the great recipes I was taught in the next few weeks.
11) Christmas market, Tivoli gardens, Copenhagen. More fairylights, happy glowing faces clustered round open braziers, the aromatic scent and taste of mulled wine, the stickiness of apple dumplings and jam, little chalets selling crafts, children iceskating, fireworks.... the perfect Scandinavian Christmas.
12) Bukit Lawang, Sumatra. Indonesia is quite a good trip, you get everything from the beaches of Bali to the astonishing scenery in Sumatra, the history of places such as Borobodur in Java, lakes, mountains, volcanoes, etc etc... and places like Bukit Lawang, where you can see orang utans and risk your life needlessly crashing down rivers on inflated tyre tubes and then realise afterwards just how dangerous it was. There are also the best fruit smoothies in the world, to be sipped in ramshackle cafes perched precariously on stilts overhanging crashing rivers, and also something called teh jahe, black sweet tea with ginger (which despite it being a hot drink when you are pouring with sweat in the tropical humidity is incredibly refreshing).
13)Diving on the Great Barrier Reef, Oz. Terrifying. Shan't do it again but I'm glad I did it; I don't think the human heart was built to stand such panic, and the only thing I've ever done that was as scary was sky-diving/getting married.
14).Sunset whilst sailing round the Whitsundays, Oz. I'd like to point out that I wasn't actually doing any of the sailing, I was slightly worse for wear due to a heady mix of cheap red wine and anti-seasickness tablets, but it was a beautiful evening; turtles were popping their heads up through the waves and we'd just been swimming at Whitehaven beach (which is so perfect, I think the sand is 99% silica which is why it is so white and beautiful).
15)Holi festival, Goa. This was such a blast, everyone was running round throwing coloured dye at each other... when the picture was taken I was still in relatively good nick, after this I had a bowl of green powder tipped over my head and had to stand in the sea for ages scrubbing myself with sand to try and wash it off.
16) Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, India. A beautiful Arabian Nights-style town with walled fort and palace balance on the edge of the Thar desert. Everything is built with honey coloured sandstone and the effect as the sun goes down is just magical, as the last of the sunlight glitters off the embroidered mirrored hangings that are displayed for sale along the narrow passageways and walls of the old town.
Related Tags: travel, thailand, bali, oz, travel tips, top ten, holiday ideas, travel ideas, holiday reviews, motorbikes, kakadu, pad thai
Becci is an enthusiastic traveller who runs a company called girlstravelclub.co.uk, an online boutique providing beautiful travel accessories for women, plus travel survival courses, holidays and lots of useful travel tips and info. You can even post on the girlstravelclub blog, and maybe win a prize for your holiday ideas, tips, phots and even travel recipes! Your Article Search Directory : Find in Articles
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