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Kochi or Cochin as it used to be called before the name was re-changed to its original form, is a city in south India in the state of Kerala. It is a historic trading port and traded with the Romans, Persians, Arabs, and Chinese. Taken over by the Portuguese, then Dutch in the 16th century, it was later ruled by the British. In my recent visit, I enjoyed a boat trip in the Kochi backwaters. Right at the start, I was greeted by cormorants, lounging on a chinese fishing net st

Very close to Palm Springs desert is a hike named Herman's Trail, which is relatively easy. It is about 11km/7miles long with a 1,200 feet/350 meter climb. A very interesting feature of this hike is the Oasis in the middle of the desert. The hike starts very close to the city of Thousand Palms and the little San Bernandino Mountains are visible as we approach the hike. They have a very peculiar shape that shows a lot of folds or creases. In the middle of mountains and desert

Overnight, the ‘Captain Octopus’, my tour boat, had docked at Padar Island after starting at Kalong. We were 14 passengers onboard and after having a sumptuous dinner, which was completely seafood based, including crabs, fish, and salads, we were told to wake up by 4:30am. The sky was dark, with no light pollution, except that emanating from the hundred or so other boats that were docked here. I learned something new from a young British medical school student about night pho

A few tourists told me about a town named Lovina at the north of the Bali island which was reachable in about two hours on a drive over a 5,000 feet pass driving on a very winding way. It was well worth the drive because the path goes by the two beautiful lakes : Beratan and Danau Buyan, before arriving at Lovina which is situated on the Bali Sea. Lovina has a very long, black sand beach with many restaurants and moored boats. Walking on the beach, it is easy to wade in the

Slovenia has a limited coastline on the Adriatic Sea on its west side and it is very picturesque. I drove towards Portorož from Ljubljana. It is a distance of about 80 miles due southwest of Ljubljana. As it was the Labor Day holiday, it brought a lot of Slovenians on the road. The mountains and houses on hills strewn all throughout the drive made for a very pleasant and scenic drive, however, when I reached the hotel for the night, I discovered it was in the old town that ha

Forty years ago, three brothers wanted to enjoy life and they started distilling rum from the sugarcane in Seychelles for personal consumption. Over the years, it blossomed into a full blown distillery that supplies rum to 50 countries and makes over two hundred thousand liters of this stuff daily. They offer a free tour and a paid tasting, I joined them for both these events. The old ancestral house serves as the reception area, museum and the tasting venue. They display a

Over 23 years ago, I went to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and ventured to do a scuba dive. A huge catamaran took me in the ocean for two hours from Cairns and arrived at the barrier reef dive site. Although I did not know how to swim, I was allowed to dive. The dive instruction went smoothly, and I went underwater. Things were going well until I fully realized that I was underwater with no ability to breath other than the pipe in my mouth. I worried what would happen i

The Erg Chebbi desert is very close to the border between Morocco and Algeria. Touring it provides a great opportunity to see the nomadic tribes, like the Berbers as well as to see their ancient traditions, like gathering water from the desert. To get to the Erg Chebbi desert needs driving all the way to the east of Morocco, which is anywhere from 10 to 15 hours of drive depending on how many stops you take. Most hotels and kiosks around that area offer a 3 to 4 hour driving

At the desert hotel/tent site in Erg Chebbi , Merzouga desert, tourists are offered a sunrise camel ride for 200 dirhams which seemed like a great way to spend a morning in the desert. At 7:30am, the dromedary camel and its keep were ready and waiting. It was cold, about 4C, so holding on to the metal rod on top of the camel's saddle seemed hard, especially since I was not wearing any gloves. Soon I was comfortable enough to ride the camel without holding on to anything and i

Near Vietnam's northern border with China is the Đồng Văn province. It is a very beautiful, hilly region and has many UNESCO world heritage sites. Many international tourists land in Hanoi, rent a moped and ride a 1,100 km loop that includes Ha Giang. You can also take a luxury bus that takes 15 people in about 6 hours to Ha Giang and start riding from there. The bus costs only $20. It is super clean because as soon as you step on it, you are given a plastic bag to put your s

About 4 hours train ride from Taipei is the Taitung Highland. It hosts an international hot balloon festival for two months annually. To get there by the Taiwan's high speed express trains, you get down at Luye station which also show the balloon icon on the station name's board. Walking 4km or taking a 10 minute taxi ride brings you to the highland where the balloons are launched. There are two time windows of two hours each during the day for the viewing, the afternoon one

Two hours train ride on the express train from Taipei is a city called Hualien which has the Taroko Gorge National Park. The train itself is fast, clean, good looking and goes over 125kmph. The train stations are clean and also have a lot of food spots. As you get out from train station to the city, you see a nice picture spot that most cities have now a days, for people to pose and remember that they have visited that city. Next to the train station is the bus stop where al

An hour's bus ride from the Taipei main train station is the Yangmingshan national park. It has a short but moderate to challenging level hike to the Mount Cising Peak, which is at 1,120 meters (3,396 feet) representing nearly 2,000 feet elevation gain in the hike. To get there, a bus stop right across the main train station offers the bus number 260 which runs every 20 minutes. The bus is pretty clean and efficient, and the fare is only 30 NT$ which is about $1. Once at the

In many places around El Nido, one can see signs of four tours, A, B, C and D. Each is a full day trip in a boat to the open sea and includes 5 stops to some the innumerable small islands off the coast, each about half to one hour boat ride away from the other. I signed up to do Tour C which includes helicopter island. Overnight, it rained very heavily and by the morning at the pickup time, it had let up. However the coast guard had rescinded the permission for Tour C and the

The Island of Palawan, which is between Manila and Cebu on the western side of the country, is a very green island spanning about 250 km from south west to north east and has the area named El Nido at its northern tip. I rented a scooter and decided to check out the beaches on this side of the island. The first beach is the Vanilla beach towards the south side of El Nido. It has a beautiful densely wooded small island about a kilometer away. There are ziplines running from t

About two hours on a fast ferry from Cebu is the relatively big island of Bohol. It has a geological formation that is unique. From Cebu there are ferries to at least two ports of Bohol, Tagbilaran and Tubigon. The latter leaves Cebu at 7am and reaches by 9:30. About 50km from Tubigon, in a tuktuk takes you to the starting point of the geological attraction called Chocolate Hills. As soon as you enter the area, you have to pay 100 Philippine peso fee to enter. The first choco

About 100km from Cebu airport, on the eastern coast of the island is a small village called Oslob. Getting there is very slow due to the constant stop and go due to broken roads or construction activity. When there is no traffic to deal with, one can focus on the beautiful green vistas, heavily wooded forests, and the serene views of the Cebu strait with many small fishing boats. Arriving in Oslob fter the long drive with many small towns with almost no tourists around, you a

Uluwatu Temple (Pura Luhur Uluwatu) is one of six key Hindu temples, Bali's spiritual pillars. its location on a steep cliff right next to the Indian Ocean makes for a very serene and picturesque backdrop. Surrounded by a dense forest, the entrance needs a fee of about 50,000 Indonesian rupiah for foreigners. You are required to wear a sarong before entering, which is provided freely. Located about half hour from Kuta or Bali, the Tempe is surrounded by a dense forest and had