Japan
A tour of Japan at blossom time
Uzbekistan
A journey along the silk route
Yangon to Mandalay
Cruise Itinerary
UPSTREAM ITINERARY
DAY 1 – RANGOON (YANGON)
Embark and sail up the Rangoon River and enter the Twante Canal, which connects the Yangon River with the Irrawaddy Delta. We stop on route at the Twante Town and explore city center.
DAY 2 – MAUBIN AND NYAUNG DON
In morning we walk to visit Maubin bustling market and […]
Myanmar or Burma
Unlike our last trip to the Maldives where we flew with Qatar, this time we used good old Emirates direct from Newcastle. We flew direct to Yangon from Dubai where we had a couple of days before doing a gentle cruise along the Irrawaddy river to Mandalay then back home via Bangkok.  The flights were fine […]
Things to do in Yangon
One thing you must do is visit the Shwedagon Pagoda
1. Shwedagon Pagoda
Without doubt, the Shwedagon Pagoda is one of the most important religious sites in Yangon, and all of Myanmar.
The golden chedi of the pagoda, which reaches a height of 99 meters, is visible throughout the city, and it shimmers in the sun with its incredibly golden surface. […]
Helengelli daily diving
Daily diving Helengeli in the Maldives
Helengelli local diving
Local diving in Helengeli
Helengeli Snorkelling
Snorkelling Oblu by Atmosphere at Helengeli
Whilst Helengeli was known as an island for divers before it was taken over by Atmosphere it also has fantastic house reefs on both the north and south sides of the island. As both of these reefs are in channels that lead from the open sea to the inside of […]
Helengeli diving
Diving Helengeli in the Maldives
Helengeli Island has a wonderful reputation worldwide, for its incomparably exotic house-reef & superb Channel Diving, just meters from the shoreline.
The island has a unique location at a primary entrance to Male‘ Atoll, in the middle of a Channel (channel on both sides of the island) and is also one of […]
Maldives – Oblu by Atmosphere at Helengeli
Oblu by Atmosphere on Helengeli Island in the Maldives
We decided upon a recommendation to fly with Qatar rather than Emirates, this involved an extra flight but still was quicker getting back to the UK. Qatar were fantastic and the flight had a superb bar which surprisingly was deserted. The airport in Qatar, as are all […]
Diving Kanifushi
Diving Kanifushi in the Maldives
There are many dive sites in the atoll but generally the ones dived are the ones closest to Kanifushi and the gallery below shows them. The ones Paul dived were as follows:
Medu Faru
Kani corner
3 Rocks
Kani West
Kani Medu Kandu
Kani Caves
Veyvah Kandu
Medu Faru Kandu
The Shipyard
Although there is a Manta cleaning station, there were very […]
Maldives Kanifushi
Kanifushi in the Maldives
After a couple of flights and transfer through Dubai we arrived at Male in the Maldives and were taken to a lounge to await our seaplane transfer to Kanifushi. After boarding the plane the pilot couldn’t get it started and although the mechanic, armed only with WD40, managed to start the plane, […]
Chitwan
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Chitwan is the national park situated some 200km south of Kathmandu and is home to to appx 125 Royal Bengal Tigers and over 500 rhinoceros. We went there on safari for a couple of nights at the end of our trip as much for a rest but also in the hope of spotting the […]
Tibet
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Unfortunately when we were in Nepal we were unable to get a visa for Tibet as the UK are currently banned from Tibet. Apparently a young monk from Holland self immolated in protest about the Chinese occupation of Tibet and was aided by some other people one of whom was from the UK and […]
Bandipur
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This is a small village set on a hill en route from Pokhara to Chitwan. It is a car free zone and is a little bit like stepping back in time. The village has a real laid back feel and is popular with hippies and back packers. We stayed in an old Newari house […]
Himalayan Mountains
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The flights through Nepal and the surrounding countries must be some of the most scenic in the world, weather permitting!
To get the best views you do have to be a little bit cute though!
Generally speaking if you are flying between Nepal, Tibet, India and Bhutan you will find that the Himalayas are best viewed […]
Pokhara
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We were going to have a night in Kathmandu en route from Bhutan to Pokhara but due to the pollution there we thought we would head straight through, great decision!
Pokhara is so chilled out, you can understand why all the hippies used to come here from Kathmandu.
Click here to read more
We stayed at […]
Annapurna Trek
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We drove from Pokhara to the start of the trek with the most stunning views of the snow-capped mountains. The weather was so clear that we could easily see the plumes of snow blowing off the higher mountains – over 8,000 metres. We started the trek, passing through mountain villages, getting to […]
Bhutan – Tigers Nest Monastery
Last day in Bhutan and they have kept the best until last. Tigers nest is a 700m walk uphill to the most stunning monastery that we’ve ever seen, thankfully the weather was kind to us. We had a delicious lunch, then had a tour of the kitchens! See video below coming soon……
Bhutan – Punakha
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A wonderful day today travelling from Thimpu to Punakha via the Dochlu Pass at an altitude of 10,000 feet+. Scenery en route was stunning and at the top of the pass there’s lots of small stupas and a botanical garden with thousands of prayer flags. The road was a bit tortuous but worth it […]
Bhutan – Paro
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Bhutan where the GNP is “happiness”.
Bhutan is not the easiest places to get to. Paro airport, where all international flights arrive, is one of only 3 C class airports in the world. These are airports where the pilot needs to be specially trained to both land and take off with only visual flight allowed […]
Sikkim
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We travelled from Darjeeling onto Sikkim over roads that are worse than we have travelled in Africa, there they are called unmade roads, here it was called the highway! A journey of 150km can easily take 6 hours! I think you will find a video of it below set to apt music, it’s […]
Darjeeling
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A short flight on Yeti air and we were into India and off up the mountain road after we fixed the puncture! This is a pretty hairy road with steep drops and lots of vehicles crashed against the cliff face, quite obviously ones that had brake failure and chose to run into the cliff […]
Bhaktapur and Durbar Square
Just outside of Kathmandu but a world away in terms of noise etc. It’s one of the nicer areas to visit and the air is generally cleaner! Bhaktapur is a really nice, quiet chilled place. We strolled through the narrow alleyways, had lunch in a restaurant with great views over Durbar Square, wandered round all […]
Kathmandu
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Kathmandu has changed since I was last here, it’s dirtier, noisier and more polluted, but still you can get all your trekking gear for pennies. Best bet is to get outside and enjoy the surrounding areas and possibly stay for only 2 nights. Having said that we did see some fascinating things. We were […]
