The changing of the guard ceremony takes place every hour at the “Tomb of the Unknown Soldier” near parliament in Athens, Greece. This is an event that I would classify as a “Must See” activity when visiting Athens and I would say that it was one of the highlights of my trip to Greece. The…
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The Red-Shanked Douc is a critically endangered primate species that is endemic to Indochina. They are only found in North and Central Vietnam and Laos. The largest population of Red-Shanked Doucs are in Son Tra Nature Reserve and are estimated to be around 1300 individuals. They are called the “Queens of the primates” and very…
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Son Tra Nature Reserve is the last remaining coastal rainforest in Vietnam and is home to 287 species of wildlife, of which 29 species are listed as rare including the Red-shanked Doucs (shown in the photo above) a critically endangered primate species that is endemic to Indochina. Among the 287 species of wildlife, there are…
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The Belem Tower is on the northern bank of the Tegus River and was built in 1521 as part of the Tegus estuary defense system to defend Lisbon from sea attacks. The fort was originally built in the middle of the Tegus River on a small outcrop of rocks but with changes of flow of…
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The Petronas Twin Towers were built in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 1998 but weren’t officially completed until August 1999. These towers have 88 floors and are 1483 feet tall which made them the tallest buildings in the world at the time they were built. They remained the tallest buildings until 2004 and are currently the…
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The Northern Shoveler Ducks are also known as Shoveler or Spoonbill Ducks. These ducks are common throughout the northern hemisphere. They spend the summer months in the northern regions and migrate south in the colder months. The male and female are strikingly different in their color pattern but their distinctive bill identifies then as the…
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Other cities have Trolley Cars but in New Orleans they are called Streetcars. The New Orleans street cars in are the oldest continuously operating streetcar in the world which has been in operation since 1835. The first streetcar line was the St. Charles Line and ran on steam and was converted to its current system…
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The To-Sua Ocean Trench is located on the southeast coast of the island of Upolu in Samoa. At first sight of this natural occurrence my thought was that it is the perfect swimming hole and it absolutely was! There is no better setting than a nature made saltwater aquarium in the warm tropical climate of…
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Leeds Castle is located in Kent, England and is built on an island in a lake formed by the Len River east of the village of Leeds and is 37 miles southeast of London. In 2019, Leeds Castle is celebrating its 900 year anniversary. The castle has been called the “loveliest castle in the world”…
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Sung Sot Cave is located inside Bo Hon Island in the middle of Ha Long Bay and it is considered to be the best cave in Ha Long Bay. The name “Sung Sot” Cave means “Surprise” Cave and is named that because the discoverers were surprise how large the cave is when the small entrance…
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Stacked rocks are not something new. In fact they have been around for centuries. Their original purpose was as a memorial or a marker and they were called “cairns”. The most frequent use of cairns were to mark a trail and many trails are still marked with cairns. Recently rock stacking has become more of…
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The Tenerife Auditorium is located in the city of Santa Cruz on the island of Tenerife in the Canary Islands of Spain. It opened in 2003 and is home to the Tenerife Symphony Orchestra. The building has two performing halls. A 1616 seat auditorium and a 422 seat chamber music hall. The distinctive feature of…
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