Our trip to the island of Bali in Indonesia was one of the most interesting and intense experiences we had during our tours around the world. The trip took place over forty years ago. The island was considered one of the most exotic destinations, but tourism, which at that time did not include organized and group trips, in those distant lands was made up of a few people. Bali was an island still in the hands of the islanders.
A trip made to Indonesia also took us to the island of Bali. It was 1980, about forty years have passed. Western tourists were rare. The only presences were those of many young Australians who filled the town Kuta to ride the waves. They remained there, attracted only by the motion of the waves. For the rest the island was still in the hands of the Balinese. So, we rented a moped and for a week we crossed the island far and wide. Among the casual encounters we had was a religious ceremony that involved a whole village at the foot of the Batur volcano.
Mount Qiyun literally means ‘Cloud-high mountain’, it is a mountain and national park located in Xiuning County in Anhui Province, China. It is located at the foot of the Huangshan mountain range about 33 kilometers west of the city of Huangshan and is known as one of the Four Sacred Mountains of Taoism. Known for its many inscriptions and tablets, as well as monasteries and temples, the highest point on the mountain rises to 585 meters (1,919 feet). It is a destination that I visited during my trip to China in 2014. Few tourists and mostly belonging to the Taoist cult. Several temples and monasteries (out of 33) that promote the spread of Taoist principles are found here.
Vulcano is an Italian island belonging to the Aeolian archipelago in Sicily. Among the Aeolian islands it is the closest to Sicily, just 12 miles from Capo Milazzo. The other islands are Salina, Lipari, Panarea, Stromboli, Filicudi, Alicudi.
Xitang (Chinese: 西塘; pinyin: Xītáng; lit. ‘West Pond’) is a small water village with thousands of years of history, it dates back to 700 BC. It is located in Zhejiang province, two hours by bus from the capital Hangzhou and Shanghai. The village extends over the plains, there are nine waterways that divide the city into eight areas. It is a small Venice, there are no cars, the means of transport for people and goods are boats. One hundred and four bridges connect the areas to each other. Among them, there are 11 old bridges built during the Song dynasty, including Anren Bridge, Anjing Bridge, Wufu Bridge, Yongning Bridge, etc. Also famous are Wolong Bridge, Wuchan Bridge and Songzi Laifeng Bridge built in the Ming (1368-1644) and Qing (1644-1911) dynasty. Some look like a rainbow over the river and some like a long flute. Standing on these bridges and watching the traditional boats pass by, one feels drawn into a profound meditation on the past.
If you visit Chile we cannot fail to notice a unique feature compared to the rest of the world. From Santiago de Chile to Punta Arenas in the far south of the country, near Tierra del Fuego, groups of stray dogs roam free in the cities, colonizing squares and parks, having fun running after cars, barking. While in a country like Italy (my country) they constitute or are felt a threat, and therefore live far from inhabited centers, in isolated places, in the woods, always in search of scarce food, their companions in Chile they are accepted and respected like the sacred cows in India. The inhabitants of Chile respect them, they refresh them, they are patient for their exuberance. And stray dogs reciprocate with their peaceful, meek, and cheerful disposition. In short, they are an institution. Those accustomed to wild strays find it hard to consider them harmless, also for their size, which is remarkable. A tourist, like me Italian, had to make some effort to overcome the profound distrust towards these herds of free animals. The question of where such a Chilean habit originates from is left unanswered. I inserted a video where I filmed a pack of dogs that in the beach of Punta Arenas, surround us in a friendly way.
Hongcun (Chinese: 宏村, pinyin: Hóngcūn) is a village located in Anhui Province, China, near the southern slopes of the Huangshan Mountains. The history of the village is linked to the ancient Wang Clan who formed its family base there. Its birth dates back to the early 12th century during the Southern Song Dynasty. The village is located in the Anhui region, rich in rivers and lakes. The village together with others, located a few tens of kilometers from each other, has largely retained the traditional physiognomy.
A few miles from Ribe in Denmark has been rebuilt a Viking village where the living conditions of the Viking era have been recreated. Crafts, agricultural activities, animal breeding are reproduced that make the visitor take a leap into the past, in that civilization that dominated in the northern Europe between 700 and 1100.
In the Moesgard Museum in Aarhus, Denmark among the collection of prehistoric finds is the main attraction which is the bimillion-year-old Grauballe Man, whose extraordinarily preserved body was found in 1952 near the village of Graubelle, 35 km from the city of Aarhus, in a swamp in central Jutland by a peat-seeker. No jewelry or clothing were found near the body. The mummy is very well preserved. The fingers are in good condition, so much so that they can get fingerprints. Beard, hair and skin are excellently preserved, but the colors have been altered by time and prolonged immersion in the swamp. Nail and hair keratin has taken on a reddish colou for the biochemical conditions of the environment. The bones are almost dissolved due to the acidity of the environment that has soluble the mineral component of the bones. . The skin has taken on a very dark color, almost black, which like a parchment seems to cover the bones. The body had been preserved for a process similar to tanning, caused by the umic acid and the iron contents of the peat water that had made the skin very resistant and prevented rotting.
Yosemite Valley
Yosemite National Park is located in the Sierra Nevada in California. It has an area of 3,027 Km2, is as big as the region of Val d’Aosta (Italy) . One of the most beautiful parts of the Park is the Yosemite Valley along which flows the Merced River. The white granite cliffs that surround this canyon , 13 km long , are among the most beautiful on the planet.
