China part 3. A look at old China, Guangzhou. Song by Sally Yeh and traditional Chinese music.

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Tenth part of my summer vacation video. Kinkaku-ji Golden Pavilion Temple, Ryoan-ji Zen Garden (both UNESCO World Heritage Sites) and the Daimonji Bonfires in Kyoto, the final part of the O-bon festival on August 16th. Five giant bonfires are lit on mountains surrounding the Kyoto, to guide the spirits of deceased family members, (who visit during O-Bon), back to the spirit world. Music from Kikujiro by Joe Hisashi.

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All of this is now less than an hour drive from Lisbon International airport along the new A8 motorway, linking the vibrant capital of Portugal with historic Oporto in the North. As there is also a proposed new international airport to be located at OTA, this little known region is opening its doors to the outside world. For decades the Algarve has been the only realistic location for overseas buyers to enjoy the unique hospitality of the Portuguese, but prices there have put it out of reach for most. Now we are pleased to invite you to experience the heart of Portugal - a secret we can all share.

A region for life

Exploring the tranquil towns, villages and countryside of this beautiful region will confirm to you that here is a place that genuinely has the best of both worlds. Whilst offering a life of rural calm amidst the spectacular scenery, at the same time it is perfectly equipped with access to all the modern facilities of transport, healthcare, education and leisure that make life a pleasure for all generations. The Western Region enjoys entertainments and events throughout the year: concerts, art exhibitions, the Torres carnival - ‘the most Portuguese event in Portugal’, the Caldas da Rainha ceramics and fruit fairs, the Bombarral wine festival, Peniche’s Festas da Nuestra Senhora da Boa Viagem, the Montejunto popular festival (Cadaval), Alenquer’s Feira da Ascensao, festivals in Sobral, Monte Agraco and Arruda dos Vinhos, Feiras da Cebola e das Tasquinhas and hundreds more fairs, festivals and popular gatherings. The region has many hotels with superb facilities and innumerable restaurants, bars and lively venues which ensure that one’s first visit to the Western region is never the last. For golf enthusiasts the Western Region is the new destination in Portugal. Golf Courses at Praia d’el Rey (18 holes)and Rio Maior (18 holes) are complemented by 9-hole courses at Consolação and Porto Novo - Bom Sucesso and Perola da Lagoa 18-hole courses are actually already under construction and the brand new project of the 18-hole course of Foz do Arelho, which will be the hugest should begin within the year 2007. The natural abundance of the area is enhanced by beautiful fine-sanded beaches, where the sands shimmer like silver, at Santa Cruz, Porto Novo, Areia Branca, S. Bernardino, Consolação, Peniche, Baleal, Foz do Arelho and Salir do Porto. Local crafts can be found in Peniche, which is notable for its lace, and in Caldas da Rainha, which is one of the most important centres for ceramics in Portugal. The new Peniche recreation centre is a base for water sports, with a haven of fishing and scuba-diving in Berlenga. Santa

Cruz and Peniche (Supertubos beach and Lagide beach) are the places for surf lovers. The Obidos lake has sailing, rowing and windsurfing. Montejunto, Serrado Socorro and Santa Rita beach are the main locations for paragliding and hang-gliding. The Santa Cruz aerodrome, with its flying school, offers flights in light aircraft and gliders. There are equestrian centres in the Hotel Golf Mar, in Marquiteira (Lourinha), in Atouguia da Baleia - at the Quinta das Tripas and the Quintas de Bom Sucesso - Lourinha, S. Sebastido - Arruda dos Vinhos, Quinta da Ferraria and Cortisada - Rio Maior.

A region for health

Healthcare facilities are modern and efficient and offer a good range of public and private services for all your requirements. In addition the region offers several thermal baths: Vimeiro (digestive system, circulatory system, respiratory system and skin), Cucos (metabolic and endocrine systems, rheumatics, muscular and skeletal systems) and Torres Vedras and Caldas da Rainha - the oldest in Europe (respiratory system, rheumatics, muscular and skeletal systems).

A region for Gourmets

Gastronomy in the region is rich and varied: there are many delicious pork dishes, oven baked kid, stewed rabbit with rice, celebrated fish stews, baked or boiled sea bream and rock bass from Peniche, eels and cockles from the Obidos lake and shellfish from the beds at Porto de Barcas (lagosta suada - ’sweating lobster’ - is a delicacy which can only be found in the Western Region). The gastronomical influence of history is evident in trouxas de ovos, lampreias de ovos (sweet dishes made with eggs) and cavacas (light crisp cakes) from Caldas da Rainha, bean pies from Torres Vedras and paes de lo (sponge cakes) from Landal, Painho and Rio Maior. All are complemented by the taste and aroma of apples and pears.

The Western region is also one of the largest wine growing areas in Portugal and indeed the world. The area boasts full-bodied, aromatic red wines with excellent alcoholic content: the wines of the south (castas Camarate, Periquita and Tinto Miudo) are lively when young, intense yet well balanced and with an exquisite bouquet when aged. The white wines of the north are deliciously fruity (castas Arinto, Fernao Pires, Vital). Out of this diversity, the wine-growing areas of Obidos and Alenquer, Arruda dos Vinhos and Torres Vedras were born in 1989. The region is also known for its light wines with lower alcohol content, and for the only DOC (controlled standard of origin) classified brandy in Portugal - Aguardente Vinica from Lourinha.

PORTUGAL - COSTA DE PRATA - THE SILVER COAST

Aveiro in the north is unique: it is criss-crossed by canals grandly embroidered with art nouveau houses and spanned by hump- backed bridges. Here in colourfully painted ‘moliceiro’ boats, seaweed is gathered in the vast saltwater lagoon. Further inland you can sample the curative waters of the elegant thermal spa towns of Luso and Curia, fashionable since early this century. And in the Bucaco forest nearby, stands the Palace Hotel, resplendent with turrets, arched galleries and an enormous marble staircase: a perfect hideaway for romantics.

The lively University city of Coimbra is a mixture of ancient and modern. Its streets are filled with the chatter of black-caped students and the soulful tones of fado. The university library, one of the best in Europe, is a Baroque fantasy where the rooms each lead into the next creating a telescope-like effect. The old Cathedral is one of the most important examples of Romanesquc architecture in Portugal. In the Marchado de Castro Museum, you’ll find religious art treasures and can actually explore the ruins of the Roman crypt over which the museum was built. An even more impressive sight is the nearby Roman city of Conimbriga. On the west coast, the town of Figueira da Foz has vast beaches and a famous casino.

Further south is the charming town of Leiria with its crenulated walls towering high above an almost perpendicular rock. From May to October, the roads nearby are lined with pilgrims - many on foot - visiting the famed shrine of Fatima where three shepherd children claimed to have seen visions of the Virgin Mary.

Thirty four kilometres east is Tomar where the bastion of the Knights Templar later became the Convento de Cristo. Tales of mystery and hidden treasures echo around it’s cloisters and its crowning glory is the ornate Manueline window.

Another magical place is the Castle of Almmourol, just south, which stands on a tiny island and is steeped in legends of giants and knights.

Further opulent architecture can he discovered at Batalha in the Santa Maria da Vitoria Monastery, with its flying buttresses, gargoyles, pinnacles and the intricate stonework of its cloisters. Close to this is one of Portugal’s most awe-inspiring monuments: the Monastery of Alcobaca, which has been given UNESCO world heritage status. The kitchen, with ovens big enough to roast six oxen at once, even has two streams converging through it into one. The monastery also contains the tombs of King Pedro and Ines de Castro whose passionate love story has inspired writers and poets all over the world. Many of the farming methods and agricultural science of the region introduced by the Cistercian monks are still in evidence today.

The delightful town of Obidos, with white houses adorned with bougainvilleas and honeysuckle was captured from the Moors by the first king of Portugal, D. Afonso Henriques, in 1148. D. Dinis later presented it to his wife, Queen Santa Isabel. From then until 1883, the town of Obidos and the surrounding land was always the property of the queens of Portugal.

Encircled by a ring of medieval walls and crowned by the Moorish castle rebuilt by D. Dinis, which is now a pousada, Obidos is one of the most perfect examples of our medieval fortress. As in olden times, the town is entered through the southern gate of Santa Maria, embellished with eighteenth-century azulejo decoration.

Inside the walls, which at sunset take on a golden colouring, one can sense a cheerful medieval ambience of winding streets, old whitewashed houses bordered with blue or yellow, Manueline embrasures and windows, reminding us that King D. Manuel I (sixteenth century) carried out major works here, and masses of colourful flowers and plants.

Be sure to visit the Igreja Matriz de Santa Maria (Parish Church of Santa Maria), the pretty Capela de Sao Martinho (Chapel of S. Martinho) and, outside the town walls, the Igreja do Senhor da Pedra (Church of the Senhor da Pedra).

Among the events that take place every year in Obidos, the most important are the Holy Week Festivities (recreating the steps on the Way of the Cross), the Ancient Music Festival in October and, for the more gluttonous, the International Chocolate festival in November, which includes an international competition in which the recipes are judged by an international jury of experts.

Fatima - With its origins deep in history, it was during the Arabian occupation that this settlement developed and was named. According to legend, during the Christian Reconquest, the Templar knight Goncalo Hermingues, also known as Bringer-of-Moors, fell in love with Fatima, a Moor captured in the course of an ambush. Reciprocating the love, the young woman converted to Christianity and adopted the name Oureana.

In the sixteenth century, the settlement became a parish in the collegiate church of Ourem within the Diocese of Leiria.

Its subsequent development dates from the events known as the Apparitions of Fatima, in the early part of the twentieth century. It has become one of the key centres for the Cult of the Virgin Mary in Portugal and has been recognised world-wide by the Catholic Church.

The first apparition took place in 1917, in Cova da Iria, at the site of the current Sanctuary. The most important celebrations are held on 13th May (including the Candlelit Procession on the night of the 12th and the Farewell Procession closing the event on the 13th) and 13th October. Furthermore, the 13th of every month between these two dates is also a day of devotion.

For those interested in the historical context of the apparitions of Our Lady of Fatima, visits can be made to the houses of the shepherd witnesses in the village of Aljustrel.

In the gardens of Casa de Lucia, there is a monument commemorating the second apparition of the Angel of Peace and the end of the Via Sacra which begins in the Sanctuary.

Along this route, there are 14 chapels donated by Hungarian Catholic refugees in the West. Of particular note is Valinhos, 400 metres from the village where monuments commemorate the fourth apparition in 1917 as well as the place chosen by the angel. Here, in 1916, the shepherds saw the Angel of Peace for the first and third times.

On the coast is the fishing village of Nazare where you’ll find fishermen in knee length plaid trousers, and women in full skirts and seven petticoats, mending nets. The walled town of Obidos should also not he missed, with its narrow streets of brightly white-washed houses and striking towers of the Castle that’s now a splendid Pousada Take just a short trip south and you can explore the active fishing port of Peniche which has a dominating 16th century fort built for protection against marauding pirates. The Silvercoast is one of the most peaceful and romantic places of all.

Buying Property in Silver Coast Portugal

Buying property in Silver Coast Portugal is currently popular with Europeans, but as of yet, not so much with the British property buyers. This is because properties are relatively inexpensive and transport links to/from the UK are getting better and cheaper to the Silver Coast. Buying property in Silver Coast Portugal offers superb beach holiday facilities with a great summer climate, great culture, architecture and history. Also, the Silver Coast is tipped to see significant capital property value rises in the coming years.

Portugal is an evergreen in the overseas property market. Build quality is high, property prices have grown a steady 10-15% per annum since the Millennium, and there’s a broad choice of property across the price range and country - within the Silver Coast the price grow within the following years will possibly reach the 25 - 35 %.

Buying property in Silver Coast Portugal offers good prospects for rental from both the local market and from holidaymakers, and with the potential of significant property price rises on the Silver Coast Portugal, this could be the ideal place to invest in a holiday home.

Buying property in Portugal still has great appeal as it has a benign tax system which allows avoidance of the worst effects of capital gains and inheritance tax and can put you in a lower tax band.

Why buy in the the Silver Coast

Property experts have been advising clients to look beyond the Algarve, with its pockets of overgrowing, and invest instead in homes 45 minutes’ drive from Lisbon on Portugal’s Silver Coast. Maddison says, “The Algarve used to be the most popular area. However, it is now rather overrun with Brits and over commercialized. In other words it is too popular now, with many of those looking to purchase in Portugal now looking elsewhere.”

According to international property specialists the Silver Coast is now the up-and-coming area in Portugal. “Many Brits are selling up in the Algarve and moving up to the Oeste Region, which is located just north of Lisbon. This area is still very Portuguese, with farming the main source of income for the locals. It does not die in the winter because most of the locals are Portuguese. The cost of properties is so much cheaper than on the Algarve - so there is still room to make money in this area”.

But what of the place itself? The Silver Coast stretches from Porto down to Portugal’s capital Lisbon and hugs the North Atlantic coastline; it is home to beautiful beaches, amazing cliffs, quaint fishing villages, lush rolling countryside and some of the most fascinating historic sites in Portugal. Here you can discover pretty villages and a real Portuguese way of life. The Silver Coast is a particularly good bet for those with holiday lets in mind, thanks to the new A8 motorway which has cut journey times from Lisbon to the Silver Coast considerably, opening the atmospheric towns of Caldas da Rainha and Turcifal, and pretty villages, such as Peniche, up to tourists and investors.

There is a wide range of property available on the Silver Coast. You can find traditional farmhouses in need of renovation, but there has also been a fair amount of developments popping up and luxury villas with pools and apartments in complexes are easy to find.

Access to the area is becoming even easier as more and more airlines now offer frequent flights to Lisbon.

Hope to see you soon in the Silver Coast of Portugal - http://www.silver-coast-properties.net

About The Author

I am 47 years old and definitely love my country Portugal. Just amazing: “The way of life, the people, the hospitality, the nature and so many other things…” A few articles about the different regions. I hope you enjoy them. Come and visit Portugal and I am sure you will choose it as your secondary country. http://www.silver-coast-properties.net/ and http://www.eastalgarve-properties.com/

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Think you can go an entire vacation without hearing the question made famous by kids all over the world: “Are we there yet?” It’s possible with modern cruise ships and kid-friendly itineraries. These roving resorts make traveling to the destination half the fun.

Disney launched the first family-friendly cruise boat in the mid-1990s; this venture inspired a tidal wave of cruises the gorged family can have. Nowadays, family-friendly cruises are experiencing the prevalent evolution in the cruise commerce. There isn’t a cruise boat being built that lacks accommodations for children of all ages. So find your sea legs, start on timber and take your family on a vacation they will evoke for a time.

Cruising with Youngsters

Children have a way of expressing what adult generations keep bottled up inside. Perhaps this is why a screech and laughter of an elated child is so fulfilling. Bringing youngsters along on a cruise adds vibrancy to your vacation and unity to the family. There is some repayment for the kids too.

Nowadays cruise boats present an eclectic choice of activities to keep children active and entertained while learning and emergent. Cruising is an admirable way to expose kids to different cultures and subjects. What better place to explain kids about aquatics, maritime ecology and the people of the Caribbean Islands than on the ocean in the Caribbean?

Many cruise outlines make it cool to carry little tykes along with a gorged route of kid-friendly activities. They present supervised services like day-camps, merge parties, cartoon movies, crafts and competitions. Your kids will have a riot making new contacts during these trades. Some boats impart parents with pagers so you’re forever close at hand for any unexpected situations.

Cruising with youth

Child a vacation that you and your teenager both enjoy can be near impossible, but the cruise outline are running on it. nowadays mega boats come entire with very-skilled, out departure teenager counselors that can direct your teenager through a number of high-adventures and learning experiences. Snorkeling, stun climbing and learning tours are just a few of the activities teenagers may experience while on a cruise. Some boats even have entire areas set whisper for teenagers to mix and combine. This hot acne comprises dance floors, mainframe labs, cafes and non-alcoholic bars.

Here are a few equipment parents can do to guarantee teenagers have the time of their lives:

* Sail during the summer and train holidays when teenagers aren’t trade with the stress of mislaid train (as if any teenager stressed over mislaid train). Traveling in summer means there will liable be more teenagers around.

* promote your teenager to go to teenager clubs even if they think it will be inane. They’re guaranteed to have a good time.

* A cruise is an admirable opportunity to thicken your teenager’s learning. Before embarking on your cruise, get some books on the ports of call you’re departure to holiday and read them together.

* promote your teenagers to have the citizen tastes, sites and sounds by annoying different foods, presence legends presentations or option up citizen song CDs.

* test on age divisions before transport your teenager to each activity; your teenager may not be joyful snorkeling with a bunch of pre-teenagers.

Choosing a Cruise Line

* Look for newer cruise outline; they lean to have larger, more elaborate centers for kids of all ages (even big kids, like you).

* Look for boats that present family stateroom options, like a family suite or linked cottages.

* Keep in wits that some cruise outline has programs year-curved while others are only regular. Before booking a cruise, make constant counselors will be on timber and children’s programs will be in place.

* If you’re forecast to store during your cruise, look for ports that have kid-connected activities and score them out together.

* think estimate breaks. Some cruises let children move limitless or at a condensed estimate if two adults are staying in the cottage.

* Find out which youth activities are comprised in the cruise envelope estimate or if they charge mega, so there are no surprises.

* Some cruises only present stiff dining at tables for two-this doesn’t suit children. Decide a boat with some casual drinking options.

About The Author

Priscilla Page writes for http://www.caribbeanlagi.com where you can find out more about caribbean cruise and other topics.

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Travelling to Myanmar presents an ethical decision - Should you go?

With a bustling modern city, emerging beach destinations and more temples than tourists, Myanmar’s rich and thrilling culture - of dozens of languages and peoples - is naturally a drawcard. But going to Myanmar is more complicated than just buying a ticket.

Myanmar - When to Go

Climate wise, the best season for visiting Myanmar is from November to February, when it rains least and isn’t too hot. If you’re hitting the hill stations or the Rakhine coast, try March to May, but bear in mind that Bagan and Mandalay are intolerable during these months (TS Eliot described April as ‘the cruellest month’). The southwest monsoon starts between mid-May and mid-June, and brings frequent rains till October, peaking from July to September. The dry zone (roughly the area between Mandalay and Pyay) gets less rain than the rest of the country, though roads everywhere (particularly in the delta region south and east of Yangon) can become impassable. Rakhaing State bears the full force of the rains - often exceeding 500cm (197in) annually. Myanmar gets the least amount of visitors in May, June and September.

Weather
There are three distinct seasons: the cool, dry winter from November to February; the unpleasantly hot summer from March to May; and the wet, humid monsoon from May to October - also not terribly pleasant. Generally, year-round daytime temperatures average 30°C (86°F), dropping slightly at night. During the cool season, however, you can expect temperatures between 25°C (77°F) and 15°C (59°F). Coastal areas are usually cooler, but more humid.

Myanmar - Getting there & around

Getting There
Although Myanmar essentially remains a ‘fly in, fly out’ destination, the military government has gradually extended visa stays, resulting in more and more airlines putting Yangon on their itinerary. There is a departure tax of around US$10.00 .

There are some road border crossings at the Thai/Myanmar border (noticeably the Mae Sai-Thachilek and Ranong-Kawthoung crossings), but they sometimes close because of guerrilla and bandit activity in the area. In times of certainty, foreign travellers can travel the famous Burma Road and enter Myanmar via the Yunnan province in China, although border traffic is all one way. It’s not possible to cross back into China from the same checkpoint.

One persistent rumour is that Chin State may open its borders to limited tour groups, which could lead to permission for individual travellers to traverse the state via the Chin River, all the way to the Indian border at Tamu.

Getting Around
Travel in Myanmar tends to be uncertain and uncomfortable. Many visitors are tempted to take internal flights because of the restricted 28-day stay regulation, but the poor safety record and ‘flexible’ notion of schedules of Myanmar Airways and, to a lesser extent, Air Mandalay, can be a deterrent.

Others opt to stick with transport not controlled by the government. The Yangon-Mandalay bus service is the most comfortable long-distance bus trip. Otherwise, visitors can pay a little extra to get a more spacious ‘pick-up truck’ that crams locals in the back and makes many stops between towns all over Myanmar. Many visitors reckon train travel here is like riding a horse - with saddle-soreness from hard-seat bouncing lasting for a day or two. There are daily express trains between Yangon and Mandalay; one service is run by a private company. Forget the ordinary-class trains, which are dirty, slow and unreliable.

Another alternative is arranging a car with a driver; this is easiest to do with a travel agent in Yangon.

Getting around towns can be much of the fun. In most towns, including Mandalay, you’ll see horse carts clip-clopping by, and trishaws are everywhere. Once settled, it’s usually easy to rent a bicycle for a couple of dollars to join the fraccas. Always negotiate fares in advance.

Myanmar - History

Pre-20th-Century History
Myanmar’s prehistory begins with the migration of four groups into the country: the Pyu from either present-day Tibet or India, the Mons from what is now Cambodia, the Mongol Burmans from the eastern Himalayas, and the Thai tribes from northern Thailand. The 11th-century Burman kingdom of Bagan was the first to gain control of the territory that is present-day Myanmar, but it failed to unify the disparate racial groups and collapsed before Kublai Khan’s Tartar invasion in 1287. For the next 250 years, Burma remained in chaos, and the territory was not reunified until the mid-16th century when a series of Taungoo kings extended their domain and convincingly defeated the Siamese. In the 18th century, the country fractured again as Mons and hill tribes established their own kingdoms. In 1767, the Burmans invaded Siam and sacked Ayuthaya, forcing the Siamese to move their capital to Bangkok.

The British saw their chance to invade in 1824, and then again in 1852 and 1883. Burma became a part of British India and a major rice exporter. Indians and Chinese arrived with the British to complicate the racial mix.

Modern History
In 1937, Burma was administratively separated from British India and there was nascent murmuring for self-rule. The Japanese drove the British from Burma in WWII and attempted to enlist Burman support politically. The Burmans were briefly tempted by an opportunity for independence, but a resistance movement soon sprang up. In 1948, Burma became independent and almost immediately began to disintegrate as hill tribes, communists, Muslims and Mons all revolted.

In 1962, a left-wing army revolt led by General Ne Win deposed the troubled democratic government and set the country on the path of socialism. The Burman economy crumbled over the next 25 years until, in 1987 and 1988, the Burman people decided they’d had enough. Huge demonstrations called for Ne Win’s resignation, and massive confrontations between pro-democracy demonstrators and the military resulted in 3000 deaths in a six-week period. Several puppets were appointed by Ne Win and then a military coup (believed to be instigated by Ne Win) handed control to General Saw Maung and his State Law & Order Council (Slorc). The new leader promised elections in 1989.

The opposition quickly formed a coalition party called the National League for Democracy (NLD), under the leadership of Aung San Suu Kyi, the daughter of assasinated independence hero Bogyoke Aung San (still openly revered). In 1989, the government placed Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. Despite her imprisonment, the NLD scored an overwhelming victory at the polls.

The junta prevented the elected party leaders from taking office, then went about the brutal business of quashing Karen rebels and engaging the private army of drug baron Khun Sa. Reports of Khun Sa’s ‘house arrest’ at a cushy villa in Yangon, with personal aides, luxury cars, a military escort and a hotel and real estate empire, has given rise to suspicion of a smacked-out peace deal between the government junta and Khun Sa’s Heroin Inc.

Recent History
Secret talks with the government through a United Nations negotiator led to Suu Kyi’s release in May 2002. However, in May 2003 she was arrested again.

Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt drafted a seven-point ‘roadmap’ to ‘disciplined democracy’ in September 2003. It was dismissed as a diversion by the US, which, along with the EU and Japan, tightened sanctions against Myanmar following Suu Kyi’s re-arrest. Efforts to bring both parties back to the table continued with a constitutional convention in May 2004, although its legitimacy was undermined due to an NLD boycott. The replacement, a few months later, of Khin Nyunt as prime minister was taken as a sign of ongoing unease at the top levels of the junta.

However, in late 2004, Khin Nyunt was removed from office in a surprising take-over from hard-liner Soe Win, who promised he’d continue Khin Nyunt’s program.

The capital was moved to Naypyidaw, 460km (300mi) north of Myanmar’s largest city and former capital, Yangon, in 2006.

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Sydney, New South Wales

The impact on the city was all-embracing, with fifty years’ worth of development compressed into four years under the pressure of intense international scrutiny. Transport infrastructure was greatly improved and a rash of luxury hotels and waterside apartments added themselves to the skyline. The City of Sydney Council spent $200 million to improve and beautify the city streets, public squares and parks, and licensing laws changed too, creating a European-style bar culture. Sydney now has all the vigour of a world-class city, with the reputation of its restaurants in particular turning the lingering cultural sneers to swoons.

It seems to have the best of both worlds – twenty minutes from Circular Quay by bus, the high-rise office buildings and skyscrapers give way to colourful inner-city suburbs where you can get an eyeful of sky and watch the lemons ripening above the sidewalk, while to the centre’s north and south are corridors of largely intact bushland where many have built their dream homes. During every heatwave, however, bushfires threaten the city, and sophisticated Sydney becomes closer to its roots than it sometimes feels. In the summer, the city’s hot offices are abandoned for the remarkably unspoilt beaches strung around the eastern and northern suburbs.

It’s also as beautiful a city as any in the world, with a setting that perhaps only Rio de Janeiro can rival: the water is what makes it so special, and no introduction to Sydney would be complete without paying tribute to one of the world’s great harbours. Port Jackson is a sunken valley which twists inland to meet the fresh water of the Parramatta River; in the process it washes into a hundred coves and bays, winds around rocky points, flows past the small harbour islands, slips under bridges and laps at the foot of the Opera House. If Sydney is seen at its gleaming best from the deck of a harbour ferry, especially at weekends when the harbour’s jagged jaws fill with a flotilla of small vessels, racing yachts and cabin cruisers, it’s seen at its most varied in its lively neighbourhoods. Getting away from the city centre and exploring them is an essential part of Sydney’s pleasures.

It might seem surprising that Sydney is not Australia’s capital: the creation of Canberra in 1927 – intended to stem the intense rivalry between Sydney and Melbourne – has not affected the view of many Sydneysiders that their city remains the true capital of Australia, and certainly in many ways it feels like it. The city has a tangible sense of history: the old stone walls and well-worn steps in the backstreets around The Rocks are an evocative reminder that Sydney has more than two hundred years of white history behind it.

Sydney Opera House

Fourteen troubled years in the building, and AUD95 million over budget, the controversial sail-like roofs of Sydney’s most recognizable icon glisten against the backdrop of Sydney Harbour. Danish architect Jorn Utzon has reportedly never laid eyes on his masterpiece, resigning in 1966 due to political difficulties and construction delays—it was finally finished in 1973. It now has an impressive yearly program of up to 3,000 contemporary and classical performances and is a truly memorable place for theatre, opera and ballet. Various guided tours operate daily from 9a-5p. Cost: Adult AUD22; Seniors/Students/16 & Under AUD16.

Manly Beach

Manly is a popular beachside resort and a favourite with generations of families. In 1915, Aussie surfing was born here, when Hawaiian Duke Kahanamoku rode a plank of shaped wood. There was also the one-man beach protest against the no daylight swimming law, which heralded the rise of Sydney’s fanatical beach culture. Manly has an array of beaches to explore, both harbour and surf, and some breathtaking coast walks. Shops and restaurants abound around the Corso.

Sydney Aquarium

Take a journey through Australia’s rich and diverse marine ecosystems and discover the world’s largest collection of all-Australian aquatic life, with over 12,000 marine animals. Walk underwater and come face to face with dozens of fierce sharks, giant rays, a ferocious 3 metre saltwater crocodile. For the fainter of heart, watch playful seals, a platypus, and adorable penguins. Sydney Aquarium is home to the largest Great Barrier Reef exhibit in the world and interactive touch pools that feel just like being at Sydney’s sea-side rock pools. Purchase tickets online to receive a 10% discount.

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Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN, or Bandar as it’s known locally, is the capital of Brunei and the sultanate’s only settlement of any real size. Straddling the northern bank of a twist in the Sungei Brunei, the city is characterized by its unlikely juxtaposition of striking modern buildings (the latest and most impressive being the twin malls of the Yayasan Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah shopping complex) and traditional stilt houses. These stilt houses make up the water village, or Kampung Ayer, Brunei’s original seat of power and still home to half the city’s population.

Indeed, as recently as the middle of the nineteenth century, Brunei’s capital was little more than a sleepy water village, but with the discovery of oil came its evolution into the attractive, clean and modern waterfront city of today. Large-scale urbanization took place north of the Sungei Brunei, resulting in housing schemes, shopping centres and, more obviously, the magnificent Omar Ali Saifuddien Mosque, which dominates the skyline of Bandar. First-time visitors are pleasantly surprised by a sense of space that’s rare in Southeast Asian cities. However, Bandar isn’t somewhere you’re likely to stay for long: most of its sights can be seen in a day or two.

You might end up staying a bit longer if you use it as a base to explore outlying attractions such as Temburong and Tutong. Tourism in Brunei is still in its infancy and is not yet seen as a moneyspinner, so you’ll find that many sites in the capital have no entrance charge.

Kuala Belait, Brunei Darussalam

It’s a little under 85km from Bandar to Brunei’s second biggest town, KUALA BELAIT. There’s nothing very enticing here, but it’s the main transit point for buses to and from Miri in Sarawak. Buses to Sarawak leave from the bus station on the intersection of Jalan Bunga Raya and Jalan McKerron (B$10.20); the fare includes the ferry across Sungei Belait and the connecting Sarawakian bus over the border. The town’s taxi stand is across the road from the bus station: drivers charge around B$100 for a full car to Miri, though you should be able to haggle them down substantially. To get to Kuala Belait from Bandar, you have to go via Seria, 20km east (see “Travel Details”).

Jalan McKerron houses several good restaurants – the best of which are the Buccaneer Steakhouse at no. 94, whose mid-priced international food is aimed squarely at the expat market, and the New Akhbar Restaurant, at no. 99a, with a Malay and North Indian menu.

Raya’s Orchid Room, on Jalan Bunga, does good-value three-course Western set lunches (Mon–Fri; B$6). Next door to the Buccaneer Steakhouse at no. 93, Hotel Sentosa (tel 03/331345; $40–60) offers well-appointed and welcoming rooms. You can change money at the HSBC, diagonally opposite the bus station, and there’s an internet café, Netcom Computer House, on Jalan Pretty – a minute’s walk from the bus terminal.

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Ho Chi Minh City

Washed ashore above the Mekong Delta, some 40km north of the South China Sea, HO CHI MINH CITY is a city on the march, a boomtown where the rule of the dollar is absolute. Fuelled by the sweeping economic changes wrought by doi moi, this effervescent city, perched on the west bank of the Saigon River, now boasts fine restaurants, immaculate hotels, and glitzy bars among its colonial villas, venerable pagodas and austere, Soviet-style housing-blocks. Sadly, Ho Chi Minh City is also full to bursting with people for whom progress hasn’t yet translated into food, lodgings and employment, so begging, stealing and prostitution are all facts of life here. Petty crime has increased dramatically in the last few years, particularly bag snatching, and care should be taken at all times with personal belongings whilst walking the streets, or travelling on cyclos and motorbikes – especially after dark and around tourist nightspots.

Ho Chi Minh City started life as a fishing village known as Prei Nokor and, during the Angkor period (until the fifteenth century), it flourished as an entrepôt for Cambodian boats pushing down the Mekong River. By the seventeenth century it boasted a Khmer garrison and a community of Malay, Indian and Chinese traders. During the eighteenth century, Hué’s Nguyen dynasty ousted the Khmers, renamed Prei Nokor Saigon, and established a temporary capital here between 1772 and 1802, after which the Emperor Gia Long used it as his regional administrative centre. The French seized Saigon in 1861, and a year later the Treaty of Saigon declared the city the capital of French Cochinchina. They set about a huge public works programme, building roads and draining marshlands, but ruled harshly. After a thirty-year war against the French, Saigon was finally designated the capital of the Republic of South Vietnam by President Diem in 1955, soon becoming both the nerve-centre of the American war effort, and its R&R capital, with a slough of sleazy bars catering to GIs on leave of duty. The American troops withdrew in 1973, and two years later the Ho Chi Minh Campaign rolled through the gates of the presidential palace and the communists were in control. Within a year, Saigon had been renamed Ho Chi Minh City.

Hanoi

The Vietnamese nation was born among the lagoons and marshes of the Red River Delta around 4000 years ago and for most of its independent existence has been ruled from Hanoi, Vietnam’s small, elegant capital lying in the heart of the northern delta. Given the political and historical importance of Hanoi and its burgeoning population of three million, it’s still a surprisingly low-key city, with the character of a provincial town – though with a dramatic rise in motorbike ownership, increased traffic and Western-style retail outlets, it’s catching up fast with the brash, young Ho Chi Minh City. For the time being, however, it remains relatively laid-back. It still retains buildings from the eleventh-century court of its founding father King Ly Thai To, most notably the Temple of Literature, and some of the streets in the Old Quarter still trade in the same speciality goods they dealt in 500 years ago.

In 1887, the French turned Hanoi into the centre of government for the entire Union of Indochina, replacing ancient monuments with grand colonial residences, many of which survive today. Hanoi finally became the capital of independent Vietnam in 1954, with Ho Chi Minh its first president: Ho Chi Minh’s Mausoleum is now the city’s biggest crowd-puller. The city sustained serious damage in the American War, particularly the infamous Christmas Bombing campaign of 1972, much of it lucidly chronicled in the Army Museum. Until recently, political isolation together with lack of resources preserved what was essentially the city of the 1950s. However, since the advent of tourism in 1993, the city has seen an explosion in travellers’ cafés, mini-hotels and cybercafés. Indeed, Hang Bac, one of the Old Quarter’s main drags which is home to a large number of traveller hangouts, is starting to resemble a little piece of Bangkok’s Khao San Road in Hanoi.

The big question now is how much of central Hanoi will survive the onslaught of modernization.

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Overview

Cambodia’s capital, PHNOM PENH, sprawls west from the confluence of the Mekong and Tonle Sap rivers. At first glance, the city is a confusing mess with no obvious landmarks. The main boulevards are choked with motos and other traffic and lined with generic low-rise, concrete blocks. Despite initial impressions, however, the heart of Phnom Penh, immediately west of the river, has a strong appeal. The French influence is evident in the colonial shop-houses lining the boulevards, with here and there a majestic Khmer building animating the cityscape.

The Phnom Penhois are open and friendly, and the city itself is small enough to get to know quickly. Phnom Penh may not have much in the way of tourist attractions – the majority of sights can be covered in a day or two – but many visitors end up lingering, if only to soak up the unique indolent atmosphere of this neglected city.

Phnom Penh’s history began in 1372, when a local widow, Lady Penh, stumbled across a floating trunk containing four bronze Buddha statues and another in stone, washed up by the Mekong River. She saw them as bearers of good fortune and had a small temple built for them high above the water level to guard against flooding. This hill became known as Penh’s hill – Phnom Penh – a name adopted by the town that grew up around the site.

Phnom Penh was briefly made the capital in the fifteenth century, sacked and destroyed by the invading Thais in 1834, then reinstated as capital again in 1866 under the French. The city flourished during the Indochina years, but the departure of the French signalled the beginnings of political in-fighting in Cambodia, with Phnom Penh at the centre. Then came the Khmer Rouge whose experimental ideology rejected an urban existence, and the city was completely emptied, many of its buildings destroyed. It wasn’t until 1979 and the Vietnamese victory over the Khmer Rouge that people began drifting back to the devastated city.

From a low of around fifteen thousand during the Pol Pot era, the population now stands at around one million. Prosperity has also been slowly returning, and mobile phones, Land Cruisers and glitzy karaoke joints are much in evidence. Although not a modern, developed capital by any means, it still provides a huge contrast to the rest of the country.

Toul Sleng Genocide Museum

When Phnom Penh fell to the Khmer Rouge, this former high school was converted into the detention and interrogation center known as S-21. Political enemies suspected of treason were brought here and tortured for confessions. Very few detainees survived S-21, but the brutal history of Toul Sleng was documented by the Khmer Rouge themselves in the postmortem photos of many of the victims. The tragedy of S-21 is almost too much to bear, whether you choose to walk through the buildings alone or with one of the excellent guides registered with the museum. Admission: USD2.

Riverfront

The evening stroll along the Tonle Sap riverfront is an institution among Phnom Penhois, particularly in the hot season when the cool evening breeze blows in over the water from the east. Sisowath Quay, which was “beautified” in 1997 with funds from the Asian Development Bank, is a bustling promenade and home to many international style bars and restaurants, many of them set in restored colonial villas dating back to the 19th century. The riverfront is also a focus for the city’s major festivals such as Khmer New Year in April and the Water Festival in November.

Royal Palace

The Royal Palace commands a fine location overlooking the river at the heart of Phnom Penh. Though most of the buildings of the palace are in fact 20th century constructions, the designs are inspired by traditional Khmer religious and monumental architecture. Important buildings in the palace compound include the Throne Hall and the Silver Pagoda, though, at present the public may only visit the Silver Pagoda and surrounding grounds. Personal greetings to the King can be posted in a special letterbox on Street 240 on the south side of the palace.

Seeing Hands Massage

Certainly one of the most enjoyable ways of supporting local charities in Phnom Penh is to go for a massage at one of the three Seeing Hands centers. In peaceful surroundings, you change into loose cotton pyjamas before putting yourself in the capable hands of one of the blind masseurs or masseuses. In a country with no social security, the training and support provided by the centers allows blind Cambodians to support themselves with dignity. Shiatsu style massage costs USD3 per hour. Additional Branches: #246AEo, Street 63; Garden Center Cafe (+855 23 21 6093), #23 Street 57.

National Museum

Housed in an airy, traditional style building finished in 1920, is the archaeological collection of the National Museum. The collection features Khmer artifacts including large statues of deities, pre-Angkorian pottery and Brahmanist stone phalluses called lingas. The museum’s exhibits are poorly labeled and fairly incomprehensible to those not versed in the subtleties of Cambodian culture so it is worth taking advantage of the guided tours offered in French or English. Even if such artifacts are not of interest, the museum is worth a visit for its architecture including high ceilings, glassless windows and a serene inner courtyard.

Wat Phnom

With phnom meaning “hill” in Khmer, legend has it that Phnom Penh was named after this small hill. At 27 metres above the surrounding plain it is by far the highest point in the city. Though the Wat is by no means the biggest or most impressive in Phnom Penh, it is a focus for the city, particularly during Khmer New Year when crowds gather to celebrate and cover each other in water and talcum powder. The large stupa to the west of the vihear (central sanctuary) contains remains of King Ponhea Yat .

Wat Preah Keo (Silver Pagoda)

Located just next to the Royal Palace, this is the most famous pagoda in Phnom Penh. It was built in 1962 to replace an earlier wooden temple. The name comes from the 5281 tiles of silver, each weighing a little above one kilogram, that cover the floor. The altar houses a life sized Buddha, made of 90 kilograms of pure gold and covered with 9,584 diamonds, the largest being 25 karats. Admission: USD2 (included in the ticket to the Royal Palace). Cameras are USD2 extra and videos USD5. Flash cameras are prohibited.

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