Anjar July 2018
The ancient ruins I have visited in the past were normally of Greek and Roman origin. Rarely have I come across an Islamic one. Not far from Baalbek is the Umayyad city of Anjar founded by Caliph Walid bin Abd Al Malik in the 8th century. The Umayads were the first Muslim dynasty to pass […]
Tallinn Old Town July 2017
After an easy 2 hour ferry ride south from Helsinki, we arrived in Tallinn, the capital and largest city of Estonia. Tallinn was founded in 1248 but the earliest human settlements date back 5,000 years making it one of the oldest cities in Northern Europe. Tallinn, with its prime location on the Baltic, was swept […]
Leshan Giant Buddha May 2017
The drive from Chengdu to Leshan Giant Buddha took about 2.5 hours. Leshan Giant Buddha is carved out of a cliff face during the Tang Dynasty and took 90 years to complete, from 713 to 803 AD. The seated Maitreya statue is 71 meter tall and sits on the river banks at the confluence of […]
Dujiangyan & Qingcheng May 2017
Dujiangyan irrigation system 都江堰 was first constructed in 256 BC to control floods. It is still used today to irrigate the region. Instead of building a dam to prevent floods, governor Li Bing constructed an artificial levee to redirect a portion of the water as well as cut a channel through Mount Yulei to discharge the […]
Chichen Itza & Valladolid April 2017
Today we head inland to visit one of the largest Maya cities that ever existed: Chichen Itza. Chichen Itza translates to “At the mouth of the well of the Itzaes” and was built between the Late Classic (600-900 AD) and the Terminal Classic Period (800-900 AD). It is located near two large sinkholes called cenotes, […]
Tulum & Sian Ka’an April 2017
Leaving behind the old world charm of Cuba, we arrived in Playa del Carmen, Mexico for some ancient ruins, good food, sun and sea. We stayed at the Thompson Hotel Playa del Carmen for our visit. The first day after our arrival, we headed to Tulum about a 40-minute drive away. Tulum was one of […]
Trinidad & Cienfuegos, Cuba April 2017
Today we leave Havana for our long drive east to Trinidad located in central Cuba. En route we stopped in Santa Clara founded in 1689 and was the last battle ground of the Cuban Revolution which toppled the Batista government in 1958. One of these guerrilla columns that attacked and captured Santa Clara was led […]
Havana, Cuba April 2017
After a two and half hour flight from Panama City, we arrived in Havana, Cuba. Cuba has forever been on my travel list and since it remained relatively closed off and preserved in a time warp, I always imagined it to be the ultimate looking glass into the the colonial past. We were told that […]
Panama City April 2017
Panama City is the most cosmopolitan city in Central America. The city has been the regional hub of trade and immigration mainly because of the Panama Canal which is one of the most important shipping routes in the world linking the North Atlantic Ocean with the North Pacific Ocean via the Caribbean Sea. Even prior […]
Mamallapuram Feb 2017
Mamallapuram, also known as Mahabalipuram, was the major seaport of the ancient Pallava kingdom, located about an hour south of Chennai. It is famous for its stone carvings, mostly carved directly out of granite and are some of the oldest examples of South Indian art and architecture. With the inclusion of the group of monuments […]
Ellora Caves Feb 2017
About an hour away from Aurangabad are the Ellora Caves which are made up of 34 monasteries and temples cut into the basalt cliff dating from 600-1000 AD. The caves here demonstrate the religious harmony in ancient India where 12 Buddhist caves (500-750AD), 17 Hindu caves (600-870AD), and 5 Jain caves (800-1000AD) were created side by […]
Pingyao Ancient City April 2014
Pingyao is a county in Shanxi province in China and was once the financial center of China during the late Qing Dynasty. The ancient city at Pingyao is a very well preserved walled city, typical of a traditional Han city in the Ming and Qing dynasties (14th-20th centuries), and still inhabited by about 50,000 residents […]