aawAny trip to Laos will inevitably include time spent in Luang Prabang. While this city is not the capital of Laos, it once was. Today, it is a hub for travelers in the region and a great base to explore Northern Laos from.
more “Luang Prabang: Ancient Kingdom and UNESCO Heritage Site”
A little more than 40 years ago, a genocide was happening in Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge had risen to power and were implementing their vision of a Maoist, communist society. This began with converting the country into an agrarian society, expelling people to the countryside. It also involved torturing and murdering the opposition, and as time went on anyone accused of conspiring against the party. Cambodia has made it point to preserve this history, to ensure it isn’t repeated.
For a while when I was younger, I thought that Kathmandu was just a made up place. Turns out, it’s the capital city of Nepal, nestled in a beautiful valley among the Himalayas. There’s plenty of things to do within Kathmandu, from Swayambhunath (the monkey temple) to Durbar Square. However there are some interesting and great places to visit as a day trip if you base yourself in the city.
Think of Thailand and you likely conjured up images of pristine beaches, massages and elephants. While it’s true that all of these things could be used to represent Thailand, elephants are actually the national animal and they play a key part in Thai history, culture and identity.
Every country, and indeed even ethnic groups, provinces and cities, are represented by a flag. When Ghana gained independence, it was crucial for the new country to assert its independence with a new flag, which is still in use today.
Visiting a cemetery while on a vacation may seem a bit morbid and morose to some. However, Paris’s Père Lachaise cemetery is the final resting place for some very influential artists and rich with its own history.
Budget an hour or two to stroll through the cemetery and pay your respects to these people.
If I told you that there is a historical site in Southeast Asia that dates to the time of Ancient Greece, but we know nothing concrete about, what would your reaction be? If you’re like me, you’ll want to at the very least know more about it and at the most visit.
That place exists and it’s known as the Plain of Jars near Phonsovan in Laos.
Because of centuries of colonialism and the slave trade that came with it, Ghana has centuries of traumatic history. However, I believe that it is important to face that history and to learn about it, as a way to gain a fuller understanding of present situations and as a way to prevent atrocities in the future.
The former slave-trading castles in Ghana have all been declared UNESCO Heritage Sites. The two that are most frequented by visitors to Ghana are the Cape Coast Castle and Elmina Castle. Elmina Castle also has another interesting designation – it’s the first permanent European structure built in West Africa.
The first things that probably come to mind when anyone thinks about travel to Egypt are the Pyramids of Giza. Of course, they are the only surviving wonder of the Seven Wonders of the World. They are easily accessible, being right on the border of Cairo, and are very much worth the visit. However, those aren’t the only impressive pyramids to visit on a trip to Egypt.
A harsh and sobering part of history is the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which lasted from the 16th to 19th centuries and stole an estimated 12 million people from Africa. These human beings were taken from their families and homelands and sold into slavery in the Americas. By the late 17th century, the British were shipping the most slaves from their colonies in West Africa, including Ghana. One of the their slave trading forts was Cape Coast castle.