Chapada dos Guimarães is a little-known national park in Brazil showcasing the diversity of the cerrado (tropical savanna) landscapes. Accessible from Cuiabá, this park is mostly visited by Brazilian travelers and families seeking a cool escape from the heat of the valleys of Mato Grosso. On the way from Cuiabá, one will pass several rivers […]
Samarkand: The city that ruled the Silk Road
Few places are as mythical and as evocative of the Silk Road as Samarkand, standing in the heart of Uzbekistan. The magnificent monuments and mosques scattered throughout the city have inspired poets and artists for hundreds of years – and continue to do so. Today, Timur’s (Tamerlane) constructions are surrounded by a Soviet-style city, but […]
The desert castles of ancient Khorezm, Uzbekistan
The valleys of Khorezm have seen their fair share of brutal and barbaric history. Once, mighty fortresses dotted the landscape, fighting for control of what used to be very fertile lands. While driving through the harsh desert of Khorezm it is very difficult to imagine that this was one of the richest areas in Uzbekistan, […]
Thimphu: Tradition and globalization in the capital of Bhutan
Home to around 100,000 people and located 1.5 hours away from Paro airport, Thimphu is Bhutan’s capital but still retains a small-town feel. The city embodies the compromise between tradition and development that the Kingdom has embraced. Here, mobile phones and social media coexist with prayer wheels, traditional clothing and Bhutanese architecture. Visitors have numerous […]
The singing sand dunes of Death Valley National Park
With a name that conjures everything that is harsh and dangerous, the Death Valley National Park – the largest in the contiguous United States – is a place of extremes. Its mountains rise sharply from the lowest point in North America (86 meters below sea level) to over 3,000 meters above sea level. In the […]
