Author Archive for David Moore
Myanmar jade market
We took a short flight in a small plane from Yangon, met with Wyn our new guide and were soon on the road to Mandalay. A surprisingly good road, more like a UK dual carriageway, but as she explained Mandalay is the centre of the commercial world for Myanmar with a 300 mile direct access
Climbing Ayers Rock?
Ayers Rock and Uluru, it has two names. In 1993, a dual naming policy was adopted that allowed official place names to consist of both the traditional Aboriginal name and the English name. ‘Ayers Rock / Uluru’ became the first official dual-named site in Australia’s Northern Territory. Our flight from Sydney to Uluru (for simplicity
Exploring the Hawaiian island of Kauai
Kauai is the fourth largest and oldest of the Hawaiian Islands. Known as ‘The Garden Isle’ it has a perimeter of 90 miles of secluded coastline with lush vegetation, majestic valleys, captivating cliffs, tropical rainforest, waterfalls, rivers and breathtakingly beautiful beaches. Kauai is the result of volcanic eruption, with a crater in the centre of
Hiking the Nakasendo Trail and staying at a Japanese ryokan
By David Moore on Jun 16, 2019 in Accommodation, Asia, Attractions, Going Out, Hotels, Japan, Regions
We had been planning our once-in-a-lifetime adventure for nearly a year; 10 months travel around the world visiting 15 countries to explore the history, landscape, wildlife, people and food of each destination across South America, Australasia, the Polynesian Triangle, Southeast Asia, China and Japan. Our adventure included some of the must-see attractions of global travel; 
Why you should visit Phnom Penh prison and killing fields
We travelled the world visiting 15 countries in 10 months but nothing could have prepared us for the horror we found during our visits to the security prison and the killings fields, that day in Phnom Penh. Pol Pot established Kampuchea, the Khmer Rouge controlled state, and took over the Tuol Svay Prey High School
Discovering Bagan, Mayanmar
On our journey to pick up the boat at Pakkoku taking us down the Irrawaddy river to Bagan, I asked our guide Wyn about a rather peculiar practice I had noticed with the locals in Myanmar. Every morning they paint their faces with a yellow substance, looking like very poorly applied make up, some add
Discover Lake Titicaca
Lake Titicaca was a ‘must-see’ destination on our world tour of 15 countries in 10 months. But we found there is only one way to travel from beautiful Colca Canyon to Lake Titicaca; that’s the roller-coaster road over the volcanic mountains up to 4,910 metres and down into Puna, the elegant city on the banks
Discovering the Amazon in Peru
Our world tour of 15 countries in 10 months included 52 flights one of which was from Cusco to Puerto Maldonado to be met by our driver and transferred to the banks of the golden brown Madre de Dios River. We boarded a long-tailed boat for a 45 minute journey deep into the rainforest to arrive
5 reasons to discover the beautiful Atacama Desert
The Atacama Desert in Chile is the driest in the world, some parts of it have never seen rain. It is the oldest in the world at 150M years and the highest in the world – we visited some parts at 4,600 metres. It is also simply huge at 1,500 sq km and has many
Christmas in Australia – not all barbies, beer and beaches
I’m not entirely sure the Australians quite get Christmas, at least not the way the British do. There are very few decorations in the towns. No lights wound around lampposts, draped over trees or suspended across streets. No Christmas Markets where busy villages are pedestrianised for late night shopping, sweet mince pies and hot mulled
Discover the most sacred place in Japan
The last of the 15 countries we visited in our 10 month adventure was Japan and specifically the village of Koyasan on Mount Koya, the most sacred place in Japan. It is also remote, so after four hours of travel by subway, local trains, the wonderful bullet train, the Nankai Electric Railway, a bus and
Discover where the rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef
By David Moore on Oct 10, 2018 in Accommodation, Adventure Travel, Australia, Food and Drink, Hotels, Oceania, Regions, Speciality Travel, Travel Miscellany
If you drive south from Port Douglas, Australia, hugging the coast on the Captain Cook Highway towards Cairns, you arrive at the Thala Beach Nature Reserve – where the World Heritage Rainforest meets the Great Barrier Reef. The Nature Reserve Hotel is located high on a private peninsular jutting out into the Coral Sea overlooking 
The best cruise around the Fiji islands
Neither of us had been on a cruise before, we had always been put off by the thousands of people disgorged onto a small town or island. So the concept of small ship cruising that would provide a more authentic, personal and less commercial experience was very appealing, particularly as it would allow us to
6 of the best temples to visit at Siem Reap, Cambodia
Siem Reap literally translates to ‘Siam Defeated’, Siam being the former name of Thailand. It is the gateway to the Angkor region, itself a mega city in the 12th Century, supporting 0.1% of the world’s population making it the largest pre-industrial urban centre in the world. Angkor was the capital of the Khmer Empire which
15 reasons to visit the Galápagos Islands
By David Moore on Aug 02, 2018 in Adventure Travel, Cruises & Boat Travel, Ecuador, Leisure Travel, Regions, South America, Speciality Travel
The Galapagos are 16 volcanic islands and hundreds of islets in the middle of the Pacific Ocean straddling the equator 950 km from the South American coast. Our five day cruise was on La Pinta, a ship accommodating just 48 guests accompanied by 4 experienced Naturalist Guides hosting excursions during the day and presentations on 
