After reaching the northern Yasawa Islands, our plan was to gradually work our way back south. So we left Nanuya Island and took a short boat ride across to Matacawa Levu Island. Our accommodation was set on a hill above a tidal inlet lined with mangroves, so it wasn’t an idyllic location because the water…
Tag: nature
The Best Yasawa Isands To Visit | Fiji
The Yasawa Islands form a string of mountainous islands that rise out of the blue Pacific Ocean. I didn’t expect them to be so beautiful – in fact, I foolishly thought Fiji would be flat and a little boring. For day two in the Yasawas, we travelled on the Yasawa Flyer – a sort of…
Exploring the Yasawa Islands and Staying in Homestays | Fiji
After four long days of travelling from Mongolia to the Pacific islands, we finally arrived in Nadi, the capital of Fiji. As we queued at the immigration counters, two men in tropical shirts, sarongs, and sandals played ukuleles. It was late in the evening so we needed to get a taxi into town because the…
Staying With Yak Herders In Mongolia
The tour we took to visit the Tsaatan reindeer people in northern Mongolia was supposed to include a night in a ger with a yak-herding family. The problem was, when we got there we didn’t see any sign of yaks. In fact, it became clear they’d sold the animals to make more money from tourism. …
Staying With The Tsaatan Reindeer People | Mongolia
Deep in the northern realms of Mongolia, not far from the border with Russia, lives the Tsaatan people, which roughly translates to the reindeer people They’re a nomadic group of around 400 people who live in Orts (teepees) and herd reindeer. They rely on the reindeer for survival in such a remote area of…
Shaman Ceremonies & Wrestling at a Mongolian Reindeer Festival
While volunteering in Khuvsgul, Northern Mongolia, we learned a reindeer festival was happening not far from our camp. The region further north of us was home to the Tsaatan nomadic reindeer herders and some of them come down to the lakeshore during summer to make a bit of extra money from tourism. We were actually…
Volunteering At A Yurt Camp In Northern Mongolia
After a 13 hour overnight bus, we arrived in the town of Murun, in northern Mongolia. With heavy eyes we began wandering around the sleepy town in search of an area where shared taxis depart – but it seemed to be a lost cause, and everyone we asked just tried to call a taxi friend. …
Exploring Terelj National Park | Mongolia
On our first full day in Mongolia, we made our way to Terelj National Park, just a short distance from the capital, Ulaanbaatar. There was a direct bus at midday, but we wanted to make the most of the day so we opted to depart at 7am and take three separate buses. The first city…
The Hottest Town In China Is Built Below Sea Level
Turpan is the second-lowest depression in the world, making it also the hottest place in China. The town sits in northern Xinjiang at 154m below sea level, and when we arrived it was a sweltering 43°. I didn’t check the real-feel, but as we stepped off the train, a strong wind hit us, and it…
Desert Landscapes and Silk Road Sights | Gansu, China
Slot canyons and red rocks aren’t something people picture when envisioning China, but it’s actually home to some spectacular desert scenery. While in northern Gansu we explored a couple of stunning sights which we accessed from the friendly town of Zhangye. The first park was Pingshanhu Canyon, and it sat just a stone’s throw from…
