Travel feature stories

Eye for an eye (and a few teeth missing): Livingston, Guatemala

Over four centuries ago the Garifuna people was enslaved by the British and brought to the Caribbean coast. Today, James Curtis sees first hand how they live, while making a few discoveries of his own.

Our tour guide Eric is serious, looking like a Cuban revolutionary fighter in his green military hat and shades, and the story he is telling has the group gripped.    more....

Budae Jjigae, Memories of War: Korea

Jon Wick finds a Korean war history lesson in his soup.

So often, I thoughtlessly go through the motions of everyday life. The monotony of daily routines force me into an almost comatose state until the next adventure blows away the mindless haze obscuring life’s simpler pleasures. My most recent trip through the lunchroom queue at the elementary school I teach at, I felt the winds gather, and take the shape of a soup I had eaten numerous times before. more....

Taste of the drought: Egypt

Home to the largest city in Africa, it's no wonder Egypt is said to have a promising economic future. So when Naomi Osinnowo explored the ancient sights of Cairo and Sharm el Sheikh, she was shocked by the poverty.

The Great Pyramids stand on a pale sandy hill top overlooking an endless curvy desert and armies of roasted nut coloured buildings that underline the city of Cairo. I approached the Pyramid of Khafre, the second largest of the threesome that make up The Great Pyramids, having been warned by the tour guide that the Daddy, the Great Pyramid of Khufu, might be too much for me to handle. more....

Black Mountain, Black Teeth: volcano surfing, Nicaragua

Avoiding the choking sulphur and giant wasps is the easy part - volcano boarding down Cerro Negro is the true test, says James Curtis in Nicaragua.

Each stumble on the crumbly black molten ash sets the team back, but the determination to trudge on has been worth it, because the view at the summit of Cerro Negro is still fit for old Gods. more....

Yangshuo surprise: Guilin, China

Tanya Perdikou heads to a little heralded backwater in southern China where the subtleties of everyday life keep her curiosity afloat.

The horizon is dominated by hulking lumps of limestone, karsts the shape of camel humps, inverse turnips, shapely breasts; silhouetted against the sky thick with humidity. The road is dominated by Chinese drivers, horn happy, screeching past old men with tanned skin stretched over sinewy calves as they cycle home on bicycles piled high with rice sacks. more....

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Sweet life in Sucre

Mark Kennedy travels to Sucre, Bolivia, to find a backpacker couple turning a local watering hole into a nationally known restaurant and tour company.

Travellers in Bolivia looking to get off the usual backpacker circuit are increasingly finding themselves in Sucre. Unlike the more popular destinations of La Paz, the salt flats near Uyuni and the mines of Potosi, Sucre offers all the modern amenities and culture of a large city and more, despite its relatively small size (the city has about 200,000 residents). more....