Once one of the richest cities on the Silk Road, a cultural rival to Islamic Baghdad and Cairo, crucible of the arts and sciences, a victim of tyrants and conquerors. Elegant and enigmatic Bukhara

Former trading post for Silk Road merchants, erstwhile Soviet industrial capital, and current largest city in central Asia, Tashkent has always been a crossroads of culture and commerce

"By hotter winds our fiery hearts are fanned. For lust of knowing what should not be known, we take the Golden Road to Samarkand" - James Elroy Flecker

New Zealand, land of the long white cloud. A small nation at the ends of the Earth, crammed full of diverse natural wonders

Sacred Shinto shrines and a Buddhist temple inhabit the forests around mountainous Nikko, a reminder of Japan's imposing, vibrant and secluded Edo period

A sprawling, post-colonial, forward looking city. A non-stop flow of motorbikes, people and enticing food. A dichotomy of the grandiose and the unasuming

Fed by melting snow from the Tibetan Plateau, the fabled Nine Dragons delta sweeps through Vietnam, the lifeblood of ancient kingdoms and empires

“We must remove the lazy, it is useless to keep them, else they will cause trouble. We have to send them to hell.”

Deep within the jungles of Cambodia, north of the sprawling Tonle Sap lake, lies the ruined capital of the ancient Khmer civilization....

Utah, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona touch corners and get all weird with each other. Looks good though....

"Cities have sexes: London is a man, Paris a woman, and New York a well-adjusted transsexual" - Angela Carter

Driving, windows down, music on, through the heat haze along endless highways.

Forged by volcanos, shaped by a subarctic climate and founded by Vikings. Welcome to the bleak beauty of Iceland

Tokyo Metropolis, neon-lit capital of Japan and home to 35 million people. Politely organised culture shock awaits...