Nature

My time on Isla Del Sol was unfortunately very limited as I was on a tight schedule to meet up with friends in Cusco due to the delays on my flight to Rurrenabaque. An afternoon is all I could do and I regret not staying longer as the place had a great charm.  The Lake Titicaca on the Bolivi... read more »

Visited: April 2014 Posted: 15/05/2014 Bolivia

While the south of Bolivia is located in the Andes mountain range with peaks up to 6000m and cities at high altitudes, the north is a flat land covered by pampas and jungle, a few hundred meters above sea level. The town of Rurrenabaque is the starting point of many tours in this region. It is the gate to the famous Madidi National Park, although I didn't have time to visit this one. My ... read more »

Visited: April 2014 Posted: 12/05/2014 Bolivia

There are a few ways to go to Bolivia from San Pedro de Atacama by bus. The less terrible would be through Argentina but it is a massive detour. Fortunately there's also a much more beautiful and impressive path: a three days jeep ride through the mountains and the Salar de Uyuni. The trip leaves early morning with a bus ride through Chilean immigration and to the Bolivian border which i... read more »

Visited: March 2014 Posted: 30/04/2014 Bolivia

They call it "Valley of the Moon" for a reason: walking around the grey-ish and red-ish rocks of this region of the Atacama desert is definitely an out of this world experience. It's not the first time that I feel like a space traveler during this trip but this landing was definitely the less Earth-like of all. Personally, I would have used Mars as a comparison rather than the Moon (NASA i... read more »

Visited: March 2014 Posted: 27/04/2014 Chile

Mendoza is famous for being the wine capital of Argentina. It's the gateway to the vineyards of the region and host of the country's biggest wine festival which I missed by a few. Mendoza is also the last city on the road to Chile across the Andes mountain range. They are more than a few activities to do around. The city is however very quiet during the day and only wakes up at night. The... read more »

Visited: Febuary 2014 Posted: 21/03/2014 Argentina

A few days in Cordoba which is a nice city. I will remember this place more because of the hostel I stayed at which was very cool rather than anything special in the city. I wanted to do a trip to the nearby mountain range but had to fallback on another plan when then tour company forgot to pick me up. Instead, I did a 3h bus ride from the local bus station to the middle of nowhere. Fun ... read more »

Visited: Febuary 2014 Posted: 08/03/2014 Argentina

Iguazu Falls was the best come back possible to Argentina from Brazil. The falls are truly worth the detour from any trip in any of those two countries. The Argentinean side is however the one you'll want to see. I first stopped in Foz do Iguaçu on the Brazilian side. Brazil faces the waterfalls and walking along the river provides some beautiful views. The path ends on the bottom side o... read more »

Visited: Febuary 2014 Posted: 05/03/2014 Argentina

The south of Argentina is famous for its numerous trekking options. Ushuaia is the gate to Tierra Del Fuego National Park and El Calafate is at the center of Patagonia and the gate to Los Glaciares National Park.  *Tierra Del Fuego* After my trip to Antarctica, I stayed a few days in Ushua... read more »

Visited: December 2013 Posted: 28/12/2013 Argentina

With two days left on the schedule, we had plenty of time to explore the South Shetland Islands. Our first stop was at the horse-shoe shaped Deception Island, a sleeping volcano with an opening on the side. Whalers were using it as their base when this activity was at its peak but an eruption a few decades ago stopped any permanent human presence. ![Deception Island](http://travelingcode... read more »

Visited: December 2013 Posted: 15/12/2013 Antarctica

As we continue our cruise down south along the peninsula, the landscape changes and becomes truly breathtaking. It is Antarctica as I pictured it and the one you've seen in so many photos and documentaries: huge mountains covered with a thick layer of snow, icebergs drifting around, glaciers ending in 10-storey high walls of ice and an overall grandiosity. ![Landscape](http://travelingco... read more »

Visited: December 2013 Posted: 13/12/2013 Antarctica

As our luck continued on our expedition to Antarctica, the ship reached the South Shetland Islands on our third day with enough time to make a landing, a rare occurrence according to the crew. The views are already breathtaking. We are still at the tip of the peninsula and the landscape is not yet what I pictured Antarctica to be. While islands are well covered in snow, there are still v... read more »

Visited: December 2013 Posted: 11/12/2013 Antarctica

The Blue Mountains are a short hour drive from Sydney and an excellent escape from the city. There are countless of day trips available but you could easily drive there. The name comes from the blue haze produced by the eucalyptus forest. It is a beautiful place, especially because there are excellent viewpoints which let you see the whole panorama. The landscape is almost untouched by hu... read more »

Visited: August 2013 Posted: 29/08/2013 Australia

I came to Fraser Island without knowing much about it. Like most of places I go I don't know much about them before actually being there. I didn't know it was World Heritage listed or that it was the biggest sand island in the world for example. Fraser was one of the top places to visit (and everyone will tell you to go) so I booked a 2 days/1 night tour. What a pleasant surprise I got... read more »

Visited: August 2013 Posted: 14/08/2013 Australia

The Whitsunday Islands is a group of islands of the coast of Queensland which are best explored via sailing trips. The most common starting point is Airlie Beach, a really nice seaside town. From there, every shop and hostel will be happy to sell you a sailing tour. I chose a reconverted racing boat on a two days, one night trip. Named Siska, the boat had a very interesting history and i... read more »

Visited: August 2013 Posted: 11/08/2013 Australia

How could I miss one of the symbol of Australia? Uluru, the rock in the middle of Australia (ie. nowhere), was a must do on my list. It was a long way from Darwin to reach Alice Springs, my longest bus ride yet, 22h through the desert. From there I embarked on a three days camping tour. The Rock Tour is quite famous and you'll find information about it in pretty much all hostels around A... read more »

Visited: July 2013 Posted: 05/08/2013 Australia

On my way to Australia I made a two weeks stop in Indonesia to visit my parents who live there. We took this opportunity to make a three day trip to meet Orangutans in the jungle. Starting from Pangkalan Bun on Borneo, you embark on a boat which cruises along a river, going deep inside the forest. The goal is to reach Camp Leakey, a research facility where rehabilitated Orangutan live fr... read more »

Visited: July 2013 Posted: 29/07/2013 Indonesia

I really wanted to have a look at the iconic mountain. Famous for being shy, I could only catch a glimpse of Mt Fuji while I stayed at Kawaguchi-ko for a night. Kawaguchi-ko is one of the five lakes which surround the mountain and is a common tourist stop in the area. There is a view point which you can reach with a cable car to get the best view of the Mt Fuji. Unfortunately, climbing... read more »

Visited: June 2013 Posted: 14/07/2013 Japan

I had a great time in Hanoi, mainly due to making some very nice local friends. On my last day there, we all went together on a day trip. I had agreed on it without even checking where we were going. I was there for the good time but I got to enjoy a beautiful boat ride in Trang An. Trang An is like Halong Bay on the land. The region is made of karst mountains with rivers flowing in betw... read more »

Visited: June 2013 Posted: 02/07/2013 Vietnam

I don't think Halong Bay needs any presentation. A UNESCO World Heritage Site and voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World, the bay is considered one of the most beautiful in the world. Unfortunately for me, the weather was not very good which always makes it harder to really enjoy a new place. I can however imagine how with a blue sky the bay can be beautiful. ![Halong Bay](ht... read more »

Visited: June 2013 Posted: 29/06/2013 Vietnam

Sapa is one of the most famous tourist spot in Vietnam and it was always recommended by every traveler I met. Up in the North of Vietnam, Sapa is located in the mountains, surrounded by rice paddies. From Hanoi, every hotel and travel agencies in town can sell you a number of tours for three or more nights. It is of course reachable by yourself but as I was short on time, I opted for a t... read more »

Visited: June 2013 Posted: 26/06/2013 Vietnam

Phong Nha Cave is one of the biggest in the world and features an underground river and impressive heights. The inside of the cave is reached from the town of Phong Nga by boat. After a short ride 1km deep, you get to walk for a few hundred meters in one of the biggest grotto. Although this is a big tourist spot (at least for Vietnamese people, not many western tourists) and the cave i... read more »

Visited: May 2013 Posted: 23/06/2013 Vietnam

The Bolaven Plateau is a coffee growing region in the south of Laos also famous for all of its beautiful waterfalls. A popular way of discovering it is renting a motorbike from Pakse and doing "The Loop", a circular road around the plateau. While you can explore the plateau through many other roads, the loop is the easiest option. There are two variants: the "small loop" which takes two... read more »

Visited: April 2013 Posted: 03/05/2013 Laos

Unlike most tourists, I arrived in Thailand by boat! It's a short (but expensive: 1200B) ride from [Langkawi](http://travelingcoder.com/2013/03/penang-and-langkawi) to Ko Lipe, the first island in my 10 days island hopping trip in the Andaman Sea. Ko Lipe is small with two main beaches where resorts line up. None of them are the classical tourist factory but rather small, ranging from very ba... read more »

Visited: Mars 2013 Posted: 08/03/2013 Thailand

Our first night train from Goa to Kochi went smoothly apart from the fact that I didn't sleep much. We stayed only one night in Fort Kochi which was plenty enough as there's not much to do and the town is disappointing compared to the "extraordinary" adjective the Lonely Planet was giving it. A (bumpy) 5 hours bus ride the next day took us in the Western Ghats mountains. Munnar is a busy li... read more »

Visited: January 2013 Posted: 19/01/2013 India