Summary - The Traveller IS a Tourist

  Lourenties, France
Saturday, April 1, 2006

UNDER CONSTRUCTION...




On short trips or on longer travel, the world is full of places that just have to be visited. Here is a selection of these touristic places:
- Moscow, city of the Tsars
- The Gandan Khiid Monastery is the center of Mongolian buddhism, In Ulan Bator. A few hundred kilometers west lies the site of Karakorum, capital city of the Gengis Khan Empire. From there you can go west, up the beautiful Orkhon valley, or head north to reach Terghin Tsagaan Nuur, the Great White Lake.
- Cycling in Beijing is great, despite the polution. Don't miss the night market!
- So far one of the most beautiful countries I have visited, Vietnam requires at the very least a 4 weeks stay. Hanoi is there to be explored again and again; Halong Bay is up to its reputation; Sapa and its ricepaddies on mountain slopes; Hue, ancient Imperial capital city ; the well preserved town of Hoi An; and finally the Mekong delta.
- In Cambodia, the Temples of Angkor are just unique.
- At the southern tip of Loas, Si Phan Don, the 4000 islands on the Mekong.
- Visitors to Myanmar usually do not miss the four main touristic places: the big Inle Lake, surrounded by mountains; Mandalay and the ancient Burmese capital cities; Bagan and its 2000 temples, and finally Yangon, capital city of Myanmar and of Burmese buddhism
- On Java, Mt Bromo is moon on earth, and it's not too far either from Bali
- In Australia, the places to see are all over, and as the country is also a continent, choices have to be made. Mine brought me to Kakadu National Park in the Northern Territories, before moving on to Western Autralia: Karijini National Park, Cape Range, Coral Bay, Shark Bay, the Pinnacles, and the magnificient South-West. Then I drove along the Southern Ocean, finishing in Melbourne after passing the Great Ocean Road.
- New Zealand is a land of tourism, much more hospitable than Australia. The cities like Queenstown, Wellington, Auckland, Christchursh, are worth a visit, mainly because of their astounding surroundings: mountains, lakes, oceans, volcanoes, etc... Then there are places like Lake Tekapo, Mount Cook, the Doubdtful Sound, Fox and Franz Glaciers, and the thermal villages. There were also the views on the west coast of south island: the pankake rocks, seal colonies, etc... to be completed!
- Back to Australia to discover Tasmania, the Yarra Valley, and at last Sydney!
- Northland, the far north of New Zealand, reknowned for the Bay of Islands, 90 miles beach, Cape Reinga, and the giant Kauri trees
- Blue lagoons paradise? Checked out Tahiti and Moorea under the rain!
- Easter Island: lost in the Pacific Ocean, extinct volcanoes and cliffs and caves and clear waters and some statues too
- Porteno life: Malbec, Bife de Lomo and Tango in Buenos Aires
- PATAGONIA - The atlantic coast of Argentina, down south till Tierra del Fuego, and back north along the Cordillera, jumping between Argentina and Chile: Peninsula Valdez, Punta Tombo, Puerto Deseado, Isla de los Pinguinos, Cabo Blanco, Ushuaia and its overlooking Glaciar Martial, Tierra del Fuego National Park, Cabo San Pablo, Punta Arenas and the Peninsula Brunswick. From El Calafate, the cruise to the glaciers, and visit of glacier Perito Moreno. Not forgetting Los Glaciares and Torres del Paine national parks. Then the patagonian canals, up to the Island of Chiloe. I went searching for good weather and found myself in Dinosaur country, before going back down to the Lake District.
- Uruguay off-season lets you appreciate the architecture of the old towns of Colonia and Montevideo, Punta Ballenas, the meeting of Rio de la Plata with the Atlantic Ocean in Punta del Este, and thelovely coastal villages of Punta del Diablo and Cabo Polonio