Peking's Ducky: Top 5 Musts in China's Capital

The world’s third most populous city is one of those places which are of course home to some of the most iconic historic sights on the planet, and now a heady mix of the old and the new China. Though compared to when I first visited back in 1993 swathes of Beijing (which to this day I often prefer to call by its traditional English name Peking) I found strikingly different on my most recent visit this year - awash in the cutting-edge bells and whistles of 21st-century consumerism (not to mention air often so foul that many people go around with face masks). But what continues to most impress is the millennia-old legacy of one of the world’s great civilizations. With a recorded history goes back to the 11th century (though evidence of humans’ prehistoric presence stretches back many millennia longer than that), China’s capital boasts so much to see and do that it’s impossible to cover it all in one brief post. But here are five highlights you simply cannot leave without seeing (if you try, you will be... keep reading

León, Nicaragua's Most Venerable City

When it comes to tourism in Central America’s largest country, the city that tends to get most of the attention is Granada (while ironically, capital Managua is pretty much avoided by all but business people). But in many ways I find its traditional – and less tarted up for tourists/expats – rival Santiago de los Caballeros de León, even more fascinating, beginning with the fact that despite its somewhat lower contemporary profile among foreigners, Nicaragua's second largest city (after Managua) is actually is actually home to the country’s oldest history, and indeed has always been considered its intellectual, cultural, and even emotional capital. Located just several miles in from the Pacific coast – a 90-minute drive northwest of Managua and some 2½ hours from Granada – much of León’s appeal is in fact similar to Granada’s, in the sense that it’s packed with wonderful... keep reading

photos |   Hung Chung Chih, Elemaki