There are many places around the world that attempt to lure the traveller with pictures of white sands, blue skies, palm trees and clear waters. The Maldives is one of the few that not only delivers on this promise from the moment you step out of the plane, but keeps on delivering every day.
This tiny country in the middle of the Indian Ocean to the south-west of India is made up of 1200 tiny coral islands. With the highest point above sea level being around 2M, the Robinson Crusoe life style is everywhere you look.
The main income for the country is tourism and many of the islands boast resorts catering to every type of traveller from backpackers to the rich and famous.
Having said that though, the government is very aware of the fragile nature of the environment they live in and tightly control the impact of tourists on both the local environment and population.
Vietnam is in South-East Asia. The name of the country has become almost a synonym of the Vietnam War. For Vietnamese, it is called the American War. The history of the country goes back a lot further than 'the war that wasn't won', as the Americans euphemistically call it.
Vietnam is actually a country with a long history and ancient traditions. It has many historic sights and old temples.
Vietnam covers an area of 330.363 sq. km making it about as big as Italy or New Mexico.
Vietnam has a 3400 kilometre coastline and mountainous terrain covers 75% of the country. There are two huge and fertile river deltas where most of the population live, the Red River in the North and the Mekong River in the south.
The mountainous north and central regions are relatively sparsely population. Vietnam shares land borders with Cambodia 609 miles (982 km), China 794 miles (1,281 km) and Laos 964 miles (1,555 km).
A sparkling jewel on the island of Borneo, along the shores of the South China Sea, the land of Brunei Darussalam is an Islamic Sultanate blessed with a royal heritage of 600 years. The Sultanate of Brunei on the northwest corner of the island of Borneo is embraced and at one point even split in two by the Malaysian state of Sarawak.
This tiny Islamic state is especially known for the legendary wealth of its Sultan, and for being one of the richest countries in Southeast Asia, with a very high standard of living. Education and healthcare are free; houses, cars, and even pilgrimages to Mecca are subsidized.
There’s no tax on personal income and the average per capita income among the highest in the world.
In the sixteenth century Brunei was the seat of power to an empire that covered all of Borneo and even captured large parts of the Philippines and Manila for a brief period. Today the Sultanate of Brunei lost most of its territory but is nonetheless thriving on massive oil and gas reserves.
The capital, Bandar Seri Begawan, is an ostensive display of modern architecture, but the rest of the country has remained unchanged for centuries and is luckily quite unspoiled. Because of the oil, Brunei has never needed to exploit its forestry to any great degree, with the result that tropical forests still covers around seventy percent of the total land area.
Indonesia is world largest archipelago made up of more than 17,000 islands which so far only less than 1,500 having a name. The heart of the archipelago is Java; it is not only the location of Jakarta, Indonesia's capital and largest city, but it also puts up a very big part of the population.
Actually, Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous country after China, India and the United States. Indonesia is also the largest Muslim state. Although the islands are home to more than 100 ethnic groups, most Indonesians are of mixed Malay origins and practice Islam.
Be sure to visit at least Bali and if you have some more time, try to make it to Sumatra, with its impressive natural beauty. The smaller islands of Indonesia include Madura, Lombok, Sumbawa, Flores and Bali.
Indonesia's greatest distance from north to south is about 1,900 km (about 1,200 mi) and from east to west about 5,100 km (about 3,200 mi). The country's total land area is 1,904,443 sq km (735,310 sq mi).
If you’re interesting to travel to Indonesia, Jakarta is simply too massive to explore without fragmenting your experience into specific things to do. Here is our suggestion list:
- Be seen in the trendy suburb of Kemang. With its selection of boutiques, fine dining and drinking lounges, this is the place to see and be seen.
- Visit the phallic-shaped, flame-lit national monument (MONAS) otherwise known as Suharto’s “last erection”.
Qatar is a small peninsula in the Persian Gulf. It looks like a big thumb 'way up'.
The country is small but offers quite a few interesting things to the visitors. Doha, the capital city of qatar, is a nice town with good beaches nearby and lively markets.
The city itself has a beautiful developing skyline: whether you want to go shopping in one of Doha's many huge malls, or whether you want to tan in one of the many different hotels with beautiful beaches, there is always something to do.
There are many activites you can pursue in and around Doha such as game fishing, although you'll have to look hard to find a decent boat to take you, dune bashing, scuba diving, sailing and sand boarding.
Access to alcohol is restricted, but can be obtained in hotel bars, clubs and restaurants and at one of the two alcohol shops in the country (if you have an alcohol permit). There are rumours that restrictions will be loosened further with the coming Asian Games.
Khor Al Udeid, or the Inland Sea, in the extreme south-east of the country, is of great natural beauty. This is a large area of natural sand dunes, surrounding a calm inlet of the Gulf. The dunes are quite stunning - tall, shapely sand masses formed by the prevailing winds and subject to radical overnight changes of shape. Half the fun of going to the Inland Sea is getting there - there are no roads leading there, and the entire trip is made with 4x4s through the desert and through the sand dunes. This is something which is not to be missed if visiting Qatar, and there are many places where tours can be set up.
Al Wakra is only ten minutes from Doha. It did contain a photogenic harbour, but this is currently being dug up. It did contain a superb beach, but this is currently being dug up. It also contained Mangrove swamps, but these are also being dug up.
There are several forts in Qatar, giving a glimpse into the past history of the country.
Singapore is an island city located at the southernmost tip of the Malaysian Peninsula in South East Asia. It is well-known for being one of the richest, most well organised, efficient countries in the world, with a very high standard of living and an excellent skyline by the water. Singapore is an island with "1,000 shopping malls" or so they say.
Despite the hot climate, it is a tropical paradise for most tourists. This great diversity of lifestyles, cultures, and religions thrives within the framework of a regulated society. Singapore's "FINE" city reputation is well-earned, and in fact, many will admire at once the clean, modern metropolis.
Surrounded by artificially 'ordered' parks, its tall housing projects are populated by more than 80% of the population -- whose smiling native charms often belie underlying tensions about the way the island is progressing after 30 years of development.
Highlights of Singapore include some of the ethnic parts of town: Arab Street, Chinatown, Colonial District, Orchard Road and Little India.
Afghanistan is a landlocked country in Central-Asia. It has long borders with Iran and Pakistan. It borders on three of the new Central Asian republics: Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikstan. It has a very short border with China which is the result of a strange 19-th century Anglo-Russian deal.
Afghanistan used to be quite a popular travel destination in the 70's when hippies would go overland to India. The capital Kabul was a popular hangout, back then. Things have changed big time since then.
It started in 1979 when Afghanistan was invaded and occupied by the Soviet Union. The USSR was forced to withdraw 10 years later by anti-communist mujahidin forces supplied and trained by the US, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and others.
Fighting subsequently continued among the various mujahidin factions, but the fundamentalist Islamic Taliban movement has been able to seize most of the country. In addition to the continuing civil strife, the country suffers from enormous poverty, a crumbling infrastructure, and widespread live mines.
Pakistan is the sixth most populous country in the world and is the second most populous country with a Muslim majority. Its territory was a part of the pre-partitioned British India and has a long history of settlement and civilisation including the Indus Valley Civilisation.
Most of it was conquered in the 1st millennium BCE by Persians and Greeks. Later arrivals include the Arabs, Afghans, Turks, Baloch and Mongols.
The territory was incorporated into the British Raj in the nineteenth century. Since its independence, the country has experienced both periods of significant military and economic growth, and periods of instability, with the secession of East Pakistan (present-day Bangladesh). Pakistan is a declared nuclear weapons state.