Viet Nam's first top-rope climbing competition will be organised in the world heritage site of Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh Province from August 5 to 20 as part of the Cave Festival.
The Phong Nha-Ke Bangg Tourism Centre has built a 30 metre, partially-artificial cliff at the gate of Hang Toi (Dark Cave), the highest of its kind in the country.

The route will later be used as an adventure entertainment option for tourists.

Hang Toi is a part of tours of the national park, offering visitors such attractions as zip-lining and cave mud-bathing.
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A list of most popular local foods that should not be missed in Hanoi, take a look and find out what are they..
1.    Xôi xéo:
Chances are you will encounter this dish in almost every outdoors market. There are even two restaurants dedicated fully to this dish in the Old Quarters. Xoi xeo is sticky rice topped with ground de-hulled mung bean and fried onion. Sometimes it can be served with eggs or steamed chicken breast on request. The serving is really filling and it is good for any time of the day but most Vietnamese have it for breakfast or lunch.
Where to try:
Xoi Yen is a all time local favourite sitting just North of Sword Lake (Hoan Kiem lake) on Nguyen Huu Huan street. Ask anyone in the area and they all know what you are referring to. The price varies, without chicken, a bowl of Xoi xeo costs you about 50 cents. Have it with a glass of soy milk and you have more energy boost than a box of granola bars

2.    Bánh cuốn:
If the French has this famous delicious crepe made of wheat, egg and dairy products; Vietnamese and particularly Hanoian is proud of their steamed crepe from rice flour and water. A savoury meal, the inside stuffing contains ground pork, wood-ear and seasoning. Most street chefs make the dish right at door so look for a place that steams are coming up high. Banh cuon is served with nuoc mam, a mixture of fish sauce, sugar and lime.
Where to try:
Banh cuon Gia An – Ba Trieu street (opposite to Vincom tower) is a more upscale restaurants specializing in Banh Cuon. The price is not that big a difference (about $1.5 for a serving) compared with other street vendors (about 50-70 cents). Banh cuon there is made without preservative and of high hygiene condition. You can ask for a vegetarian option as well
3.Phở (Noodle soup):
This universally famous food is best enjoyed in Hanoi, where it was “invented” in the early 20th century. Pho- or rice noodle soup- is omnipresent in Hanoi, appearing anywhere from street vendors to high end restaurant chain Pho 24. Some is served with chicken and some with beef. Each type of meat entails a variety of sub-dish, using from beef tenderloin to beef brisket, chicken wing to chicken thigh. The tip is, look for the place where locals gather the most and you know where you should order and sit down.
Where to try:
Pho Bat Dan is a famous local restaurants famous for its pho bo (beef rice noodle soup). Located in the Old quarter “jungle”, the store easily stands out for the long line of people waiting to be served. You are highly recommended to join the local, line up for the pho bowl and bring it to a selected table to eat

4.    Bún thang:
If Pho is compatible to linguine in shape, Bun is more like spaghetti. Bun thang is one of the most popular yet hidden fares in Hanoi and one can hardly find it outside of the Old quarters or a few special restaurants scattering across the city. The chicken broth is artistically done and the dish is beautifully served. Bun thang is a harmonious blend of color- the yellow of sliced egg; the white of bun; the off-white of chicken and the green of onions and herbs
Where to try:
Bun thang Ba Duc on Cau Go street is a great place to try the dish. This street vendor has a limited number of seats on the pavement but you will be surprised how many people can fit in the two storey old house behind the stall. Enjoy bun thang in such a setting gives the meal enormous highlights in your trip to Hanoi.

5.    Cha ca La Vong:
You think you have read about this name somewhere and yes, you are right. Cha ca La Vong is listed as one of the top 100 things you gotta try before you die by many cuisine experts. It is exquisitely grilled fish served with bún, peanut, green onions, dills and shrimp paste. The fish is carefully chosen so that there are not too many bones and fishy smells. A glass of bia hoi or tra da will definitely give your meal more flavour.
Where to try:
Cha ca La Vong restaurant on 14 Cha Ca street is renowned nationally and internationally for its tradition and quality of serving the dish. It is much more expensive than other local food but the fact that you are sitting in one of the oldest house in Hanoi, served by the most traditionally styled chef is all worth it. ($6-8, with drink).
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A young Londoner was so thrilled by Vietnamese street foods and the convenient way in which they were served that he has opened a shop to sell them in the British capital.
Paul Hopper, 31, visited Vietnam first during a Southeast Asian trip he made in 2012 after quitting his job at a London bank.

Paul Hopper (L) with the owner of a street food shop in Vietnam during his second visit to the Southeast Asian country in August 2014. Photo credit: VnExpress
He visited Hanoi, Hue, Da Nang, and Ho Chi Minh City and they all had one thing that won him over: the sidewalk stops that serve food fast and fresh on colorful plastic tables and chairs.
Hopper said he was “impressed” by the convenience, which is perfect for workers who have a short lunch break, adding it is the kind of fresh fast food that everyone needs.
During the trip, he built up ideas to open a take-away shop like that in London, putting all the servings in boxes.
Staff members at Hộp restaurant in London prepare lunch bags to customers. Photo credit: VnExpress
He spent 18 months planning for the restaurant and came back to Vietnam with several friends a second time in August last year before opening “Hộp” (Boxes) two months ago with one million pounds (US$1.56 million) from savings and loans.
Hopper said since he has never been a professional chef, it was very hard for him to recreate authentic Vietnamese dishes.
So he adopts the principle he believes most street foods in Vietnam follow: flexibility.
He keeps the basic principles of Vietnamese foods, uses seasonings and spices he can find at Asian food stores in London, and adds some local ingredients.
The restaurant’s menu lists around 40 items including phở, the famous noodle soup served with beef or chicken, some dishes based on rice, vermicelli and noodles, bánh mì, and gỏi cuốn (spring rolls). It charges an average of 6.5 pounds per serving.


Fresh spring rolls are among the best sellers at Hộp shop. Photo credit: VnExpress

Fresh spring rolls are among the best sellers at the shop, which offers nine variants.
It has various sauces just like eateries in Vietnam do.
The lunch boxes are placed in paper bags on which information is printed about some daily activities in Vietnam.

He has also tried to design the shop to make it look open and lively like a street shop in Vietnam.
He uses colorful plastic chairs and tables but most of his customers grab the food and return to their offices.
The shop employs 15 workers and it only takes a customer a few minutes to pick something up and go.

Speed is the essence of the place, he said.
He said it gets 650 customers daily and makes 4,000 pounds a day.
He hopes to develop the shop into a chain of around 40 outlets in London and then across the UK.
“I want to share with people my interesting experiences about enjoying Vietnamese street foods.”
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Are you the real adventurers? If your answer is the big YES, be nimble-footed to experience an Adventure Tour in Viet Nam whenever you’re free. Not everybody gets chances to make a tour of lifetime.

If you’re about to be on tours, it’s the very big luck and you should always appreciate what you have while the others haven’t. Budget, time, partner, knowledge, guide, etc., are what every tourist yearns for in order to obtain the most satisfactory tours. As an adventurer, you’re of course can tour solo, but the necessity is the relevant knowledge about the best destinations to stop by. In that sense, have you known the best tourist sites for your Viet Nam Adventure Tour yet? Different adventure-seeking backpackers can provide different answers, but please let us specially draw your attention to four most ideal destinations which seem to be born for the adventurers only!
The 4 Must-See Viet Nam Tourist Destinations for So-Called Adventurers

First of all, Mai Chau successfully convinces the others of its absolute natural beauty. It is the spectacular landscape of terraced rice fields that can lead you to the heaven step by step. Since the charm of Mai Chau is boundless, the adventurers are showered with immeasurable number of chances to go see the actual essentials of the land. Mai Chau tourist destination is the valley of Thai people; it’s dominated with the radiant carpet of green rice fields. Just spend several days to explore the mountain area by trekking and also mingle with the hill-tribe people, you will soon stay highly interested in the daily life activities at the Thai village.
Ba Be Lake is another excellent spot for the so-called adventurers to try trekking. It’s the largest natural lake in Vietnam which is surrounded by the limestone cliffs and also covered by the original forests. There also stands a large waterfall here. Thanks to the rich collection of flora and fauna, Ba Be National Park is strongly inspirational for trekking. Coming to this destination, the adventurers’ eyes are pleased with a wide array of animals, plants, and natural scenes.


And if you’re fond of snorkeling, Whale Island Nha Trang is the must-see place indeed. The attractive island provides the best program for snorkeling in the beautiful island. Just stay and discover the Whale Island, the adventure-seeking tourists can freely snorkel and immerse themselves into the crystal clear water. The pure blue scenes fulfill your adventurous spirit. The full-day underwater discovery of Whale Island is very interesting with beautiful coral, colorful fish, and totally pure background. 

How about rock climbing, my adventurers? Do not miss this venturesome activity and great experience in Cat Ba Island. You’re free to conquer various rocky shapes available at the pristine island to show off your bravery. The cool balance between the hard rock climbing and relaxing stay at Cove Beach resort accelerate the success rate of your adventure tour in Viet Nam. Roaming around the island in the early morning helpfully motivates everybody to regain their lost energy and hearten up their adventuresome passion in the most energetic manner. Just being the rock climbers and you will definitely stay pleased with a sense of victory.
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The Quang Binh provincial People’s Committee has extended the period of time for exploration tours in Viet Nam’s Son Doong Cave, the largest cave in the world, and has permitted Oxalis Adventure Tours to continue organising tours to the cave in 2016


Accordingly, the same itinerary and number of tourists and tours will be maintained as in 2015. Each tour will last for five days and four nights with a maximum of ten people; the total number of tourists for 2016 is set at a maximum of 500.
Oxalis said that the tours will open for booking in August on its website: www.oxalis.com.vn at VND66 million (US$3,000) per person. Tourists must provide accurate information on their health status for medical consultation before being accepted to join the tour.

Tourists also have the opportunity to join tours exploring Tu Lan and Va Caves under lower costs, fewer challenges and less strict health requirements.

Oxalis, based in Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park in Quang Binh Province, has been organising tours to Son Dong Cave since August 2013. Oxalis has often sold out limited tours well before they start. Tours in 2015 were sold out by July of 2014.
Son Doong, which is 150 metres high and 200 metres wide, became known worldwide in 2009 when it was explored by members of the British Cave Research Association led by Howard Limbert and his wife Deb Limbert, guided by local resident Ho Khanh.
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A bout 20 km to the east from Phan Thiet, Ke Ga cape is not only  an attractive  destination but also an ideal place for photographer to take impressive pictures.Unlike other beaches that enchant visitors with their smooth sandbanks, Ke Ga is famous for its strange shaped rocks and 100-year old lighthouse.
Ke Ga Cape is one of few beaches which have not  been affected by tourism in Vietnam. The pristine beauty of the nature remains with strange granites surrounded by small streams. At Ke Ga stands a lighthouse considered to  be the oldest existing lighthouse  in Southeast Asia. Set in the imposing landscape of Ke Ga, the lighthouse with its unique architectural style has enchanted a large number of photographers

You can travel to Ke Ga Cape by ship or coracle (small boat made of bamboo). Staying overnight to listen to the waves crashing against the rocks is also an unforgettable experience. You should not miss this extraordinary beach if you want to have great moments and a unique wedding album
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Longing to travel with just a bag and her wits, Sharon Kelly joined the gap yah types in Cambodia and Vietnam, aged 54… and had a ball
There were moments on my month-long backpacking trip around Cambodia and Vietnam, on a budget of £25 a day, that I questioned the sense of my plan. Time-rich and cash-poor, I wanted to travel, but also to rediscover my sense of adventure.
However, it was more than 30 years since I’d last backpacked – around India (and that trip had its challenges). The doubts started almost immediately as I endured the seven-hour, bone-shuddering, coach ride to Phnom Penh from Ho Chi Minh City (there are no trains in Cambodia), being force-fed One Direction and Britney Spears videos.
It was at the Mad Monkey Hostel in Phnom Penh where I faced my first “age-challenge”, on being shown my bed. It was the top bunk of three, eight feet up in the air with a vertical climb up a ladder. My one pair of jeans ripped immediately in protest.
This catastrophe led to a sequence of events that would reduce many a middle-aged woman to tears and an immediate flight home. But not me. How I laughed when I tried on a kaftan that made me look like the not-so-small sister of the late Demis Roussos, how I giggled with the tailor as he measured my behind, and how I howled, hysterically, when he produced an outfit that wouldn’t have looked out of place in an operating theatre. On the upside, he did manage to patch my jeans. If there’s one piece of advice I would give any woman travelling to Indo-China it’s, if you’re over a size eight, make sure you have enough clothes with you.
Next, I needed to find my backpacker legs and acclimatise to the heat, dust and traffic. At 5.30am, having slept very little (there was an all-night bar, a couple feet above my head), I jumped into a tuk-tuk and for £4 rapidly went from temple to monument and back to a temple and so on, while fitting in one palace and the national museum.
At a slower pace, I supped a beer in the Foreign Correspondents Club and savoured the glamour of the Raffles Hotel Le Royal Elephant Bar, which once served, among famous others, Somerset Maugham and Jacqueline Kennedy. On my budget, one cocktail was enough but at least the atmosphere was free. Things were looking up.
There was another spasm of doubt during another long and at times terrifying, bus ride to Siem Reap. No one should take the night bus. But it was in Siem Reap that I realised that for only slightly more money I could have my own quiet room and a bed a lot closer to the floor, (Mandalay Inn, £10 with air-con).


The town’s many glitzy but reasonably priced restaurants (breakfast, lunch and dinner for around £12) compete for business with the beggars, the hawkers and the tuk-tuk drivers, some of whom whiled away the night watching televisions strapped to their vehicles. But I was there to see the world-famous temples of Angkor Wat. I arose at 4.30am for the sunrise along with a thousand or so other people. You can get a three-day pass which might suit some as it was hot and humid by 9am and I had only managed to visit three temples.
Being a backpacker at 54 might not be a good look but age does have some advantages, including being allowed to use the pool in the four-star Angkor Holiday Hotel in Siem Reap, looking like someone wearing pyjamas who’s been dragged through a Gardenia godefroyana hedge backwards. It was a very welcome few hours of luxuriousness.
Back in Vietnam, I planned to fly to Hanoi (two hours from Ho Chi Minh, £56) and then work my way back down the eastern coast. When I took out my travel insurance I ticked the box that promised I wasn’t participating in dangerous sports, so I had to hope that did not include riding pillion on a moped.
Along with millions of other mopeds (some carrying live animals, monks and whole families), a large number of buses, lorries and taxis but a distinct lack of traffic lights, we whizzed through the dilapidated, charming, mildewed city that is Hanoi, only slightly slowing down at crossroads or roundabouts, where my guide would say: “Shut your eyes now, lady”.
Hoan Kiem lake
I flew past the Ho Chi Minh City Mausoleum, the Hanoi Opera House and Hoa Lo Prison. I saw street barbers honing their craft and ex-offenders releasing turtles into West Lake for good luck. We broke into the closed B52 Victory Museum (only the outside) and went to a restaurant that served dog – fortunately they’d sold out.
Needing something a little less frenetic, I spent the following day on a boat visiting the stunning Ha Long Bay. There are approximately a thousand people living in villages floating between the limestone karsts, many of whom make their living rowing tourists around the caves and inlets.
Ha Long Bay
Next stop was Hoi An, an ancient river town, lit by thousands of silk lanterns at night and renowned for its tailors, I stayed at the fantastic Huy Hoang Garden Hotel (£12 for a double room, overlooking the pool, with breakfast included). When the receptionist gave me a map of the town she specifically told me not to go to the indoor market.
It is a tourist trap and unfortunately it’s exactly where I ended up. I was soon persuaded by a couple of great saleswomen to have a foot massage. They showed me books with other travellers’ recommendations although I should have taken note as many featured the word “trapped”.
Fish market , Hoi an
The soothing massage quickly descended into torture when they began to depilate my legs one hair at a time with threading. Then the arguments started – the price they quoted was extortionate. Especially for something I hadn’t asked for. They said I should have said “No”. I’m pretty sure I screamed it on numerous occasions. I got out by the skin of my legs and after a lot of haggling £7 poorer.
I chose the train option to go to Nha Trang (£21, 10 hours from Danang). It felt more like a moving market with vendors entering the train at every stop selling food, clothes and the ubiquitous silk and bamboo fans. Nha Trang is a beautiful resort with palm fringed beaches, and, due to past military connections, the Russians have landed here in vast numbers.
But for all the hammer and sickle flags flapping next to the gold stars, it is capitalism which has won. And the definite losers, apart from the locals, are crocodiles and ostriches which are worn, carried or eaten. I did treat myself to one capitalist-priced drink at the sophisticated Sailing Club on the waterfront.

Again I found it hard to refuse a moped man offering to show me the sights which included the Cathedral of Christ the King, where brides and grooms, in all their splendour, have their photos taken, sometimes months before their weddings, and the 14m-high Great Buddha, which sits on a hill watching over the city.
I returned once more to Ho Chi Minh, where I was staying for several nights with my friend Rebecca. In Ho Chi Minh City the new jostles for primacy with the old but both have their attractions, especially when it comes to bar hopping. We started out with a view of the heavens and finished in the gutter looking at the stars.
The Chill Skybar is on the roof of the AB tower from which you can see the whole of Ho Chi Minh, illuminated by neon lights punctuating the sky. It is stunning, as are the bar prices (cocktails are around £8 each). So it was just the one drink there before we headed off to one of Graham Greene’s favourite haunts, the Rex Hotel Bar. It was the end of the trip and nearly the end of my money, so we couldn’t stay long in there, either.
Instead, we hung out with the backpackers, sitting on soggy beer-soaked cardboard in the street. But it’s here where I remembered the value of backpacking – the camaraderie. We were soon talking, later dancing with an international smorgasbord of young people. We finally returned home at 9am. Slept and then had breakfast delivered – eggs benedict. How civilised is that, especially at three in the afternoon?
Back home, I found that the whole trip had rejuvenated me in unexpected ways, not least because it showed me that I could still enjoy and do many of the things I did in my 20s. The greatest difference between backpacking now and 30 years ago, apart from creaking bones, is the internet. In India I needed to plan ahead, be physically present to buy tickets, book rooms and have a Poste Restante address for contact with those back home. Now I have a Smartphone which covers everything. Any doubts I had are gone. I can’t wait for the next time I go backpacking.
And what did this all cost? The 28-day trip, including return flight set me back £1,100. But the experience was priceless.


More information, click here:
Flight ticket
Visa to Vietnam and Cambodia
What to do in Cambodia
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“The Hanoi Days” will be held in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan on August 22-28. According to the organizing board, Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre will attend “The Hanoi Days” in Japan.
The Vietnamese water puppeteers will perform seven shows from August 25-27.

The event is expected to be a good opporturnity for the theatre to introduce a special kind of art of Vietnam to Japanese people, and strengthen mutual understanding between Vietnam and Japan.

Water puppetry is a tradition that dates back as far as the 11th century when it originated in the villages of the Red River Delta in northern Vietnam. At present, Vietnamese water puppetry is a unique variation of the ancient Asian puppet tradition.


Beside water puppet performances, Vietnamese and Japanese artists will co-perform folk songs and musical instruments during the event
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The world, as we all know, is a big place - alive with wonderful, well-known attractions.
And plenty that are far more invisible to popular perception. For every New York there is a canyon in a corner of Colorado which barely raises a flicker of recognition outside the state. For every crowded marketplace in Marrakech there is a mountain-framed mosque far from the beaten track in rural Morocco. For every Tokyo skyline, there is a Japanese island awash with art, utterly aloof to the noise of the capital.
The images in this gallery represent 15 such places – from the jungle-shrouded back-waters of the Far East to the sandy coastline of Mozambique via the hard edge of Western Australia.
Know some of them already? Then count yourself as a well-informed, questing traveller. Unaware of many of them? They are all waiting to be discovered...
Read the first part of our guide here
--
1. Gunung Mulu National Park (Malaysia)

Tucked into the north of Sarawak – the largest Malaysian state on the rainforest-shrouded island of Borneo – Gunung Mulu National Park is home to one of the world’s most spectacular cave systems. In particular, it is home to the Deer Cave (see above), a colossal rock-framed corridor which is ranked among the biggest cave passages on the planet. You could store a fleet of 747s within – but the main residents are the wrinkle-lipped bats who emerge from the main cavern mouth every evening at dusk – and set off, en masse, to find their dinner.

2. Ninh Binh Province (Vietnam)
Pinned to the north of Vietnam, 60 miles south of Hanoi, Ninh Binh Province is an antidote to the crowded confines of Halong Bay. It deals in similar wonders – limestone scenery, lonely karsts rising from the water – but without a million tour boats chugging into the picture. Most striking, perhaps, is Tam Coc canyon, where cliffs and caves are laid out for photogenic reflection along the slow-moving flow of the Ngo Dong River.

3. Aoshima (Japan)
One of Japan’s hidden secrets, the little isle of Naoshima lies just south of the main island of Honshu (roughly equidistant between Hiroshima and Osaka). It is famed for its love of art, to the extent that intriguing sculptures – polka-dot patterned pumpkins among them (see above) – dot the landscape. The Chichu Art Museum, meanwhile, has a surprising range of works by Claude Monet – a long way from the gardens of Normandy which inspired him.

4. Miho Museum (Japan)
Another Japanese wonder, this remarkable institution lies in the town of Shigaraki, near Kyoto. It houses a collection of Western and Asian antiques garnered by textile heiress Mihoko Koyama – but the museum’s most striking facet is its design. It was crafted by the Chinese-American architect I.M. Pei – who effectively injected it into a mountainside. Three quarters of the building is cocooned within rock – large glass walls and a transparent roof allow light to penetrate. A hint of Bond-villain lair? Perhaps – although this is a spectacular structure which should certainly be spared 007’s destructive urges.

5.Kimberley region (Australia)
Australia has its iconic moments – Sydney Opera House, Uluru, the Great Barrier Reef. This we know. But it also has its areas of thrilling remoteness – of which the Kimberley region is certainly one. Roughly three times the size of England, the northernmost portion of Western Australia is difficult to reach – it is a long way from just about anywhere you may decide to drive from. But it rewards those who make the effort to see it in a series of stark landscapes – low-slung mountain ridges, steep-sided canyons, sullen rivers like the Ord and the Fitzroy flowing through a cracked landscape. It also has the Bungle Bungles (known as the Purnululu range by the indigenous Kija people) – rounded lumps of rock, kindred spirits to Uluru, which form the centerpiece of Purnululu National Park.

6.Black Canyon of the Gunnison (USA)
Deep in the wilds of Colorado lies Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. Like a mini version of the Grand Canyon, it has sheer walls of grey stone that plunge more than 2,700ft to the thundering Gunnison river – a great fissure so narrow in places that sunlight only reaches to the bottom at midday. Above, ravens and golden eagles float and dip on the thermals. According to the National Parks website, the canyon contains some of the steepest cliffs and oldest rock-faces in North America – yet even in peak season, you may see no other visitors and no RVs. There are marked trails along the north and south rims, and experienced, fit climbers can risk the long scramble down to the inner canyon.

7.Marfa (USA)
Very much the USA’s no-nonsense state, Texas is not a corner of America where you expect to find artworks on the side of dusty highways. So Marfa is a surprise to most visitors. Hidden in the Chihuahuan Desert just 60 miles from the Mexican border, this one-horse railroad town was revitalised in the Eighties by New York artist Donald Judd – who used it as a canvas for his minimalist vision. Cue a series of sculptures and installations, as well as a contemporary art museum, the Chinati Foundation, which make the town a hotspot of visual culture. That all of this exists in a slice of desert that Spanish explorers called El Despoblado (“The Uninhabited”) makes Marfa all the more exotic.

8.Scotts Bluff National Monument (USA)
Nebraska rarely tops the must-visit lists of even the most devoted of US-obsessed wanderers. But it calls to those who love the more rough-shod contours of the American landscape in the form of this grand ridge of rock, which rears to 800ft (240m) above the plains of this less-known state. Utterly majestic, Scotts Bluff might be described as a lost shard of Monument Valley. You can climb to its summit and peer out across a vista that only true Americanophiles ever see, with the North Platte River winding along far below.

9.The Rupununi region (Guyana)
South America is blessed with numerous landmark moments – and even in Guyana, the Rupununi region is lost behind the splash and crash from the country’s most famous site, Kaieteur Falls. But, tucked into the south-west of this little nation, close to the border with Brazil, this expanse of savannah and wetland deserves closer inspection. Not least for the graceful – yet enormous – Victoria Amazonica lilypads which decorate the surface of the Rupununi River, and the otters who swim playfully between these saucers of green.

10. San Agustin Archaeological Park (Colombia)
Slotted into the south of Colombia, in Huila department, San Agustin Archaeological Park was granted Unesco World Heritage status in 1995 – and with good reason. It spreads out as an enclave of grassy clearings, dotted with excavated tombs which may be almost two millennia old. Who was buried here is a mystery – this unnamed Andean civilisation had vanished long before the Spanish conquest of South America in the 16th century. All they left were the “tomb guardians” who protected them in death – slabs of stone carved with faces that, though human, also have the features of birds and jaguars.

11. Los Haitises National Park (Dominican Republic)
The Dominican Republic stands as a mystery to many travellers – with even those who make it to what is the eastern half of the second biggest island in the Caribbean (behind Cuba) being restricted to the beaches of Punta Cana by an absence of viable transport links. Pinned to the north-east coast, Los Haitises National Park can only really be accessed by boat on an official guided tour – but it seduces those who discover it with lonesome rock formations and lush mangrove swamps. This is "Hispaniola" as Columbus found it in 1492.

12. Ibo Island (Mozambique)
Part of the Quirimbas archipelago – a cluster of islands which dots the Indian Ocean, just off the long eastern edge of Mozambique – Ibo was once one of Portugal’s main footprints in Africa. Then the colonial era collapsed in 1974, and this distant outpost was left marooned by the tide of history. Four decades on, its churches, forts and homes are sun-bleached and fragmented – though some of them are being reconditioned as boutique hotels, as Mozambique struggles away from a difficult past into a more promising present.

13. Ruaha National Park (Tanzania)
This glorious expanse of epic vistas and noble wildlife is the largest national park in Tanzania – but it suffers from a lack of profile when placed alongside Serengeti National Park and the annual spectacle of the Great Migration. No matter. Those who venture to this sublime slice of land at the heart of the country – feasible to reach by road, but most easily accessed via the Jongomero airstrip – find a place where elephants roam amid the howls of wild dogs and the calls of more than 500 bird species. That the Great Ruaha River – which dissects the park, often runs dry in parts – only adds to the area’s dusty majesty.

14. Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art (Slovakia)
You expect to encounter one of the 20th century’s most revered artists in New York, where his Factory studio was a creative whirlwind. You know you can find him in his birthplace, Pittsburgh, where the Andy Warhol Museum (warhol.org) salutes the city’s most famous son. But a town in Slovenia? Medzilaborce has a link to Warhol in that his mother, Julia Warhola, was born 10 miles away in the village of Mikova. It embraces the connection in style via the Andy Warhol Museum of Modern Art, set up by the icon’s family in 1991. It has a fine collection of his works, including a raft of Marilyn Monroe prints (see above).

15. Tin Mal Mosque (Morocco)
Concealed in the High Atlas mountain range – alongside the serpentine road which leads from Marrakesh to Morocco's desert south – lies the Tin Mal Mosque. This is a roofless ruin of a place of worship built in 1156 to commemorate the founder of the Almohad dynasty. The keeper will unlock it for you – it is one of only two mosques in Morocco that non-Muslims may enter. Inside, you will find intricate plasterwork and sculpted ceilings that hint at the glorious building this once was. It is just 60 miles (100km) from Marrakesh, but most tourists never come this far. Be one of the few who do.

Source:Telegraph

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