I was in Port Vila for the opening of the annual Nawita Contemporary art exhibition, showing off the best works by young Vanuatu artists. The opening night was held in the Alliance Francaise gallery on Rue Mercet and was packed with dignitaries including the Prime Minister, respective diplomatic representatives, and all the artists. With typical French flair extremely tasty, and highly alcoholic, punch...

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Looking down on the rainforest canopy I had been in Port Moresby for a few days. I had enjoyed visiting The National Museum and seeing some wonderful masks, carvings and bark paintings, and eating lunch at the expat hangout of the Yacht club, but safety reasons meant I could not leave the compound I was staying in to walk around and explore. I...

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Sealand at sunset Sealand is a rather unique Far Flung Place. It is possibly the smallest nation in the world, (although, this is disputed, not least by the UK who still claim ownership), it does not accept tourists, and I have not been there, yet. However there are plans afoot to issue tourist visas later in 2015 and Sealand could become one of...

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Another tiny dot in the Pacific Ocean is Norfolk Island, 1670 Kilometres from Sydney and officially part of Australia, although mostly self governed. Geographically it is actually closer to Vanuatu than Australia. And it is small, with only just over 2000 people. All of which makes for a very expensive flight, it is cheaper to fly from Sydney to Indonesia or Japan than...

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I was toying with the idea of going to a Turkish bath. It was a 'Must Do' according to all the advertising boards outside the travel agents lining the streets. It was just that something about the idea of lying on a slab being pummeled by a big bloke did  not attract me, maybe if it were a lady working on me I...

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Ephesus was the largest city in Roman Asia, and second only to Rome in size with a population at its peak of over 400,000 people. It had all the amenities of a major city, parliament, theatre, library, public baths, housing,  many temples and a flourishing sea port. A number of calamities caused its decline and eventual abandonment, starting with being attacked by Goths,...

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In a restored Silk Road Caravanserai near Urgup, the Sufi religious ceremony of the Whirling Dervishes is performed weekly. It is a separate order within the Sunni faith of Islam and although once practised throughout the middle east, it is now limited to small groups in Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon and Indonesia. ...

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Discovered by chance in 1963 when a homeowner, renovating his cellar, broke through an earth wall and discovered a passageway, Derinkuyu is a huge subterranean city in the Cappadocia region.The region has many of these cities which were built in the seventh century and used to hide from marauding armies, particularly the Romans who had a tendency to raid the Anatolia region to...

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Slow cooked lamb kebabs I was lost. And now I could go no further. The path I was following had suddenly stopped at a huge fissure, with a thirty metre sheer drop and no obvious means to cross it. There was no way to climb down, and if I did get down there I might not be able to get back up again....

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View from an abandoned Cave house looking towards Pink Valley Volcanic eruptions two million years ago caused the region of Cappadocia to be covered by thick ash, which became soft rock (or in geological terms,Tuff). Erosion over time left only the harder remnants of the Tuff, which has been shaped by the elements into amazing formations; towers, chimneys, mushrooms, and rocks that appear...

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The Basillica Cistern Istanbul is a city that has managed to preserve its history well, despite being a pivotal battle ground between the Roman and Ottoman empires, being fought over, ransacked, and changing hands several times. With a population today of 19 million, only slightly less than that of the whole of Australia, it is a frenetic place that rewards wandering around on...

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