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This was a facinating experience! I am a "full-time" Flintknapper making my living by knapping flint. This site demonstrates the high prehistoric value of good quality knappable stone. The labor to extract this flint is staggering! Our visit was arranged by Pascal Chauvaux of Belgium. It was difficult to find, but find it we did!

Thanks for the incredible tour! Thanks Pascal!

Traveled to Sian Kaan last December 26th (2002). Made it down the road but it was a very difficult trip and I don't want to think about what could have happened had I broken down. Spent a couple of days with the native Mayans and some "continentals) from the US. Fishing was spectacular, and the reefs are enourmous, although I did not have time to snorkel, and the wind was rather bad. I went alone so it was somewhat of a "bummer" but would definately go back if I found someone else who had this type of adventure in their blood.

There are places to eat seafood in Punta Allan and places to stay at reasonable prices. Don't expect Cancun, you have to have adventure in your blood to like this type of experience.

I visited Ping Yao in August of 2002. I was impressed with its factual existence in the same form as a typical ancient Chinese town. The vehicle traffic inside the wall was virtually nonexistence. I saw no building taller than two stories. I was able to walk around the city on top of the city wall. I was also able to observe construction in the ancient style as properties were being refurbished. It was definitely worth the visit.

Neolithic Mines at Spiennes.

I have 'visited' this place twice, in 2001 and 2002.

As you say, it does not seem to exist, at least it is impossible to find. When you reach the village Spiennes, the site is clearly marked with signs 'Sites prehistoire de Spiennes', but when you have gone through the village, all traces disappear. There is no way to find out where to go. I went to the tourist office in Mons, and they had a brochure saying that the site is closed until further notice, because of the dangerous condition of the site.

But why do they insist on having the signs along the streets???

Of my 230 sites, this has been the most disappointing.

We visited the WHS of the rock drawings as part of our trip through northern Portugal. The drive up the Douro Valley is beatiful anyway but I wouldn't have gone that far if there was no WHS.

We had prearranged a tour with the park rangers and the Coa Valley turned out to be a beautiful and tranquil place. There were no tourists there whatsoever, good on one hand but whether the park will ever be able to economically justify itself, is doubtful.

I have to admit that a good bottle of vinho verde attracts me slightly more than most of the rockdrawings we finally saw. One really has to be an anthusiast of rock drawings to appreciate them as much as our guide did. At the site near Vila Nova de Fozcoa where we've been the rockdrawings are few, they are tiny and difficult to see without being pointet to them. The antelope which became the heraldic animal of the park was detected here. Its about 10cm in size and so delicate that noone wearing glasses will be able to spot it without help. The whole place didn't meet my expectation level of rockdrawings. Maybe the other 2 sites nearby would have shown more.

I don't regret having been there as it is a beautiful landscape, and if the rockdrawings were not detected a huge powerplant would be here today. The artwork itself hasn't converted me into a rockdrawings-maniac.

It's certainly true that the entrance fee for the Tower is out of this planet (same for other London attractions like Buckingham Palace) and the lines are about a kilometer long, but this is worth it. The Tower of London is one of Britain's most interesting attractions, not the least because of its traditions - the ravens, the beefeaters, the stories about the executions. And then of course its highlight - the crown jewels. High security, and you wouldn't want to get caught taking a picture - they will rip the film out of your camera. But still a very exciting visit, also in terms of historical aspects (William the Conqueror, the Normans) and architecture (the White Tower, also the nearby Tower Bridge).

Since the teroist attack if you want to enter the Statue of Liberty you have to call and reserve your tickts two days in advance. Though you do get a great view of New York Harbor at the to at the crown. Also with the ferry tickit it comes with Ellis Island go there to.

One of the most intriguing and unforgettable places we've ever been in Europe. So calm and charming, but almost impossible to explain WHY. Perhabs in there we still feel that right way of living and faith. By the way there's very tasty oranges at the garden beneath the cafe terrace. At least we gathered about 10 kilos. Imagine - in March!! Sorry if it was criminal!!

Seriously, you can spend 2-3 days there just reading books

in the yard or exploring more and more rooms and spaces inside! Don't forget bottle of Portwine with you!!

In town try most popular restaurant not far from the Cathedral, just down the street on the left, oder just half of portions, otherwise, you're dead.

We visited on Christmas Eve 2006 and had a wonderful experience. The Pueblo generously did not charge its usual admission fees that day, although prohibited the use of cameras.

We arrived around 1530 and were provided an unofficial tour by a resident working for tips. He provided a good deal of historical insight, although discussions about the native faith of the Taos Pueblo people were declared off-limits. He did provide some insights into the flavors of their own practice of Catholicism that stem from the original religion. The tour was limited to the outdoor areas. He directed us to a number of the "shops" that were open selling Pueblo-produced breads, crafts, and souvenirs. The most impressive offered a wide range of contemporary art and pottery from Taos Pueblo and a number of other Pueblos. Most shops offered goods of a high level of craftsmanship rather than souvenirs.

The church was open to visitors for the evening service, although could in no way accomodate even a fraction of the people who had gathered by 1700. As a note, there were eventually more than one thousand people there in my estimation (perhaps 2000), so do arrive early in the day before the nearby parking is full.

After the evening service, there was a procession featuring the Virgin Mary, native dancers, riflemen, and many residents in Pueblo dress. To light this procession, there were literally one hundred bonfires of locally gathered "greasewood" (an intensely combustible but highly smoky wood). Most of these bonfires …

The Royal Chitwan Park is situated in the “Terai” - the lowlands south of the Himalaya shared between India, Nepal and Bhutan. Its main up-market hotel/lodge sports the name “Tiger Tops” and one may be tempted to go to Chitwan in order to see Tiger.

When I visited in 1977 I did not stay at Tiger Tops but instead at the rather more down-market Gaida tented camp site a few miles away!! I cannot say whether the additional wild life expertise which might be available from Tiger Tops makes it a good place to see tiger or not but I did not see one and indeed had to try several Indian wildlife parks before eventually being successful at Kanha.

From what I know however I would suggest that you should not go to Chitwan with the prime objective of seeing tiger. What makes this park a special place to visit is the far greater likelihood of seeing the Greater One-Horned Indian Rhinoceros – and in excellent viewing circumstance too.

I was able to take several elephant rides. The park was only created in 1974 and, possibly for that reason, the elephants did not come equipped with the “tourist friendly” sitting platforms with safety rails which I have come across elsewhere – rather a simple platform with a rope which one had to hang onto like grim death! The grass in Chitwan really is “as high as an elephant’s eye” and it was a wonderful experience to be …

I have visited once the beautiful sanctuary of Sacro Monte ('Sacred Mount') of the Rosary near Varese, one of the nine of the regions of Piedmont and Lombardy, forming this WHS. It was an important place of pilgrimage to the headquarters of the eremitic order of Romite Ambrosiane since 1474 and was begun in 1604, on the initiative of the Capuchin friar Giambattista Aguggiari, with the 2 kilometres long steep and winding paved sacred path (that covers a difference in height of about 300 metres), that represents the Mysteries of the Rosary. Thanks to many donations it was constructed very quickly and thirteen chapels were already built in 1623 and the other two were completed by 1698; they are divided in three groups of five, as in the Rosary. Every chapel, well or fountain and also their decoration of sculptures and frescoes, made with strongly educational purposes and realism by local Baroque artists, are different from the others. The main buildings on the path (that has also panoramic terraces, widenings for pauses of the processions and wells for the pilgrims) are: Church of the Virgin (not yet part of the sacred path because it is a sort of introduction to it), Gate of the Rosary, Fountain of the Samaritan, Chapels of the Annunciation, of the Visitation, of the Nativity (there is a painting of 1983 by the famous Italian painter Renato Guttuso on a Baroque fresco in bad state of conservation on its wall), of the Presentation at the Temple, …

I have to admit perhaps my favourite places to visit are these medium sized European cities, and Strasbourg was definitely well worth a weekend break.

The city centre is on an Island (Grande Isle) and its main assets are two fold, hopefully shown in the photo. Firstly rows of half-timbered houses overlooking cobbled streets/ waterways. Secondly the massive Gothic Cathedral. It was regarded by Goethe as the finest Cathedral in Europe, and its main edifice certainly ranks up there with the best. Inside is a fine astronomical clock, which like every other one I have seen is achingly under whelming to watch in motion on the hour.

The area of Petit France is incredibly picturesque, with the canals being lined with black and white houses, mostly filled with restaurants (some are very good!) now but still a great place to amble around.

We spent most of our time wandering around trying to avoid spending our whole budget in bakeries and sweet shops, there are a lot of them here. Also on a culinary note Strasbourg gets high points in my book for being situated in perhaps my favourite wine region, and I really enjoyed the aromatic white wines on offer. If you do visit try to have at least one glass of Alsatian wine, the main varieties to look out for are Guwurtztraminer (my personal favourite), Muscat and Riesling but there are plenty of others to fit your own palette.

I really enjoyed my weekend in Strasbourg and its continuous …

Hoi An seemed to be a nice place. I only had about an hour to visit though since my family and I had to get back to Hue that night. I spent that one hour walking around the old streets and visitng the old bridge built by the Japanese a few centuries ago. I hope to be able to visit this city for a longer period in the future.

I went to Ping Yao in May 2005 as a field trip from my International school in Beijing. It was realy exicting to find out how the poor half of China lives. It was fun expiriancing the ancient cultures of China. Is was fun finding out how the old bank system is China worked as there were many banks in Ping Yao. It was truly an amazing experiance!

Santo Domingo is a beautiful place. I went there on a day trip from Puerto Plata. The cathedral is pretty breaktaking and it's considered to be the first cathedral in the new world. While in Santo Domingo, I also visited El Alcázar de Colòn, which is an old restored house that belonged to Diego Columbus. I did not have time to visit the lighthouse where Christopher Columbus is buried however. Overall, Santo Domingo was well worth spending a day away from the beach.

Anyone interested in Ethnology, Architecture, Cultural landscapes or African culture generally should try to reach this site. It consists of an area of country in NE Togo and NW Benin which is inhabited by the Battamariba people (who were called Tamberma by the colonial administration – we were told this meant “Good Builders”). Their “fortified” mud-brick houses called “Tata” (or Takienta”) are remarkable both visibly and as an introduction to their entire way of life and to their (animist) beliefs (photo). Walking the hilly savannah between the “villages”, seeing the daily life and agriculture and going inside a few houses is a fine travel experience which we did in Jan 2007, covering villages in both Togo and Benin.

We reached the Togolese inscribed area of “Koutammakou” via a dirt road NE from Kande before crossing into Benin south of Boukombe. The areas we saw in both countries didn't seem to be as significantly on the international travel route as the Dogon country in Mali then was. However, visits to those Tata near to the road, which were all we saw in Togo, were somewhat more “touristy” than I had hoped, with displays of handicrafts for sale and calls for “cadeaux” from hordes of children. Across the Benin border the area (which was not then included in the UNESCO site) proved in our experience, more fruitful for exploration and interaction with the Battamariba as we were able to partake in a full day's walk reasonably well away from the roads. …

There are few accessible sites associated with Alexander the Great, his father Philip II, and ancient Macedonia in general, but Vergina is one of them and a very interesting one to boot. The focus of the site is the great museum that is cut into Philip´s tumulus. It´s one of the most interesting museums I´ve ever been to, and I wish I had had more time in Vergina to explore the area in closer detail. The roads in the vicinity of Vergina are scattered with tumuli, and there are probably lots of undiscovered treasures there. I also visited nearby Pella, which has some interesting mosaics and a nice museum, but doesn´t have anything like Vergina.

This was a site that I really had no preparation for visiting and it was a split second decision at Darmstadt station that brought us here instead of Lorsch. What we didn't realise was that the fossil site is not open between November and April.

When the information centre is closed you will be able to go to the viewing platform to look across the pit (picture). There is some information here and a high tech telescope, which can give you an overview of the site. That is about all you can see in the winter, so really is not worth the effort of getting to.

Fortunately the information centre is staffed by a group of very friendly scientists, who came out and spoke to us. We described why we were there; mentioning this web site, and they invited us in. They put on a video in German explaining more about the history of the site, showed us some geological samples, gave us books and coffee, and at the end of our visit they even drove us back to the station; so Vielen Dank Susana and co.

Inside the Information centre is the UNESCO certificate, behind a model of the small horses found in the mine. There is also a model of the new Visitors Centre that will be built in the next few years; it looks like a very impressive piece of architecture.

Messel has a small railway station, no real platform though, on the Darmstadt - Aschaffenburg line. …

Travelled to Shark Bay on a 4WD backpackers tour up the west coast of Western Australia from Perth to Coral Bay in April 2002.

The most publicised aspect of Shark Bay is the Dolphin feeding at Monkey Mia however I found it personally dissapointing. The half hour "show" involves three rather domesticated dolphins. Much rather see dolphins in the wild.

Some of the coastline contrasts dry red and ochre cliffs with turquoise blue waters.

A good place to stay is at the camping ground at Nanga on the freycinet Peninsula.

I spent 2 weeks in Rapa Nui last year. the plan was to bring a tent and sleepingbag, to keep the costs down on accommodation, but amazingly it turned out cheeper to rent a room in a lady's house than to pitch my tent up on one of the camingsites.

The island is truly beautiful. The atmosphere and the hospitality amazing. The family I stayed with did their very best to look after me, show me their island and include me in their everyday activities. I couldn't have wished for anything better.

Now, the only thing that spoiled this little paradise, was the way it has been exploited to the American tourists. There is this massive hotel which has been built, where the prices are sky-high of course, and designed to cater for the "rich and comfortable". It is such a shame. Thelocals, of course, are happy for the money they can make, but it makes you wonder what the travelagents who exploit places like this think of?! The whole charm, the exotic feeling this island gives you will disappear if they try and change Rapa Nui to yet another tourist-trap.

None the less, I will definetely return to this little paradise. Just as much for the amazing scenery and magic nature as for the kind people and their culture.