Noodle stall, Hoi An, Vietnam, originally uploaded by benedict.adam.

A Vietnamese lady sells noodles from her cart in front of a typical building in Hoi An, the beautiful UNESCO World Heritage site in Vietnam.

Great street noodles are available all over the city of Hoi An, as well as the lanterns that can be seen in the early stages of production in the porch.

Sheep!

Declared the eighth Wonder of the World by Rudyard Kipling Milford Sounds is New Zealand’s most famous tourist destination, and not without good reason. Probably my highlight of a trip to New Zealand, located in the Flordlands of the South Island of New Zealand, Milford Sounds has got be some of the best scenery I’ve ever seen.

An early morning cruise with dolphins  bow-riding  boats as you pass through huge peaks emerging straight out of the sea is an awe-inspiring experience.

Getting there

We stayed over in Te Anua, 121 km away rather than the 295km to Queenstown. The drive to Milford Sound is fantastic in itself. It passes through great mountain landscapes and the 1.2 km Homer Tunnel which is cut straight through the rock face of a mountain. It then emerges into rainforest canyons that descend to the sound. The winding mountain road however can be treacherous so look out for warning signs and you may need to use chains in the winter.

The majority of tourists visiting Milford Sounds travel the 295km from Queenstown on an organised tour. The tours depart very early in the day and arrive around midday. To avoid the hoards leave we stayed in Te Anua and left nice an early, in time for a relaxed boat trip at about 10 am.

After the boat trip we stopped at the mirrored lake and for a walk on the alpine trail, both recommended.

Kite flying in Jakarta, Indonesia, originally uploaded by benedict.adam.

One of the better things to in Jakarta, in front of the presidents last erection, watch the kids fly kites as the sunsets. Of course we haggled hard, bought one too and joined in, I was particularly pleased with my handmade kite as it had a drawing of Sponge Bob Square Pants on it. Great!

Following the daughter of Casa Luisa owners, Carolina’s advice, we caught  the bus to El Hatillo, a very colorful and pretty suburb of Caracas. Carolina shared a taxi with us to Caracas bus terminal and kindly accompanied us to the right bus which was headed for Maracay (6,000 Bv)

In Maracay we changed to a bus to Puerto Columbia, the road to Puerto Columbia was a bumby ride along a narrow mountain road through the jungle. We were entertained by local teenagers singing and drinking rum at the back of the bus, I was pleased to be able to sing along with them to Rockin in Free World by Neil Young :-).

Once in Puerto Columbia we looked around for the posadas that Carolina had recommended, we ended up at one with no name, its recognisable feature was the stars on the wall at the front. When we entered the posada we caught a glimps of the slightly chubby owner in just in her pants and vest, predending we hadnt seen her, we expected her to run for cover in embarasement, to our suprise she came and spoke to us and this was how she remained for our stay, as the pants lady. We went for a walk to find the beach and had pabellon crillo (the national dish of venezuela) (6,000 Bv) at a restaurant for dinner. After a few beers sitting on the sea wall it was time for bed.

Day 3

After failing to get any break fast out of the pants lady we bought some cheesy bread and headed for the beach. After spending the morning on the beach we had a greasey emoanada (1,500 Bv) and jugos. After a wash and a rest we walked up to Choreni and had dinner of pabellon and spent the evening on the wall with rum (5,000 Bv) and beer (1,000 Bv each)

Day 4

This shot was taken after a very early morning trip to see the 3 coloured lakes of Kelimutu. The fairly sketchy drive from Moni on the back of 2 kids motorbikes took us up a steep windy, pot hole ridden road, through a river before both bikes managed to break down. Luckily for us a passing Jeep rescued us (for a price of course!) and we got up there in time for the unforgettable sunrise.

Google Earth Outreach was launched in April, endorsed by Sir David Attenborough it allows charities to use the Google Earth software to spread information about their causes. TreeHugger posted about a great new Google Earth KML file Disappearing Forests of the World by David Tryse:

This KML shows deforestation data from a number of sources for different countries, including a live ticker for each country.

The world has lost close to half of its forests already today, and the continued high pace of deforestation contributes greatly to climate change and the loss of biodiversity.

There are some other really interesting Maps, including Black Tides: The Worst Oil Spills in History, EDGE of Existance: Mammals and Amphibians, Survival International: Tribes and more. Lets hope these visualisations help raise awareness and make some sort of a difference.

Great places to go if you want to get away from people, though how you get there might not be so simple!  I like the look of one of uninhabited islands of the Maldives, what about you?

De Long Islands, Russia

Blasket Islands, Ireland

Uninhabited Islands of the Maldives, Indian Ocean

Phoenix Islands, Kiribati

Heard Island & McDonald Islands, Australia

Canadian Arctic Archipelago, Canada

San Juan Islands, United States

We have just got back from 3 nights camping at Tom’s Field Camping. Its a beautiful campsite in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorset. Its situated in the Pubeck hills about 3 miles from Swanage in the pretty village of Langton Matravers.

Highlights of our trip included a beautiful walk from the campsite down to the Dancing Ledge and the rocky coastline.

Bike ride the National trust Purbeck trail.

Drink at the Square and Compass,

Visit Lulworth cove and the far superior Durdle Door.

Stroll around the quaint Corfe Castle eat some Honeycomb Hash Purbeck ice cream