DISCOVER TAIWAN WHERE NATURAL BEAUTY ABOUNDS

When Portuguese navigators first discovered the Island of Taiwan in 1590 they named it Ilha Formosa ('beautiful island'), an apt description for one of Asia's jewels and a destination that offers much to the adventurous traveller.

Situated between the Eurasian continent and the Pacific Ocean, tens of millions of years of tectonic movement have provided Taiwan with a hugely varied landscape.  From marble canyons to open plains, offshore islands to rising hills, and coral reefs to mountains, Taiwan's geographical diversity is plain to see. 

We had only been in Uzbekistan for barely an hour and already we were at a wedding. A big wedding with several newly wed couples. But this wasn't a case of being a wedding crasher just a case of Uzbek hospitality.

We had just arrived in the town of Andizhan, not far from the border with Kyrgyzstan. We were in the city gardens, climbing a steep hill to get a view over this pretty little city. When we got to the top I thought we had entered a wedding convention for there were at least ten weddings parties having their photos taken at this scenic spot. As soon as they spotted us, a grin swept over the crowd and before you could say "paparazzi" we were being dragged into the wedding photos.

If you love Bali, and books, then the Ubud Readers And Writers Festival is a gift from the gods. It’s a chance to sip a fresh mango juice at a café overlooking a tranquil rice field, then wander down the road to talk about books with literary types.

After an hour or two of workshops, debates, and lectures, it’s time to find another café, tuck into some nasi goreng and continue talking books with your new best friend, whoever you sat next to at the last lecture.

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It's Official! King Jigme Singye Wangchuk and the people of the remote Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan will receive the United Nations' latest environmental award; the "Champion of the Earth"
 
Often ignorantly looked upon, or overlooked, as an irrelevant, backward political curiosity, Bhutan is now acknowledged as a world leader in the field of environmental protection through political stoicism, muting, at least temporarily, those who would criticise the absolute rule of the Wangchuk Dynasty.