The Slow City movement (or Cittaslow movement) originated in Greve, a small town in the Chianti region of Northern Italy, and it received a sensational response from urban dwellers hungry for an escape from their daily chase around the clock. The word “slow” here actually means more than simply the opposite of the “fast.”

It implies a connection to nature, a respect for the environment, taking the time to appreciate things like the change of seasons, taking life a little easier, and making time for genuine soul-searching.

The meaning of a slow life is also conveyed in the manifesto of Cittaslow, the international network of Slow Cities. It explains that a slow life also means freely strolling around, listening, doing nothing or even daydreaming, contentedly waiting, soul-searching and pursuing “an analogue way of life”. more…

Try something different this October – go island hopping (one month only), join a community walk across Sydney’s seven major bridges, smarten up your salsa moves at Darling Harbour Fiesta and dine, dine, dine.

Add some famous extras to your Sydney outdoor adventure. The Manly to Spit Walk for instance, Sculpture by the Sea on the Bondi to Bronte Coastal Walk or the first swim of the season at an outdoor harbourside pool. Use public transport to get around Sydney. It’s easy and economical to discover the great outdoors by ferry, train or bus.

Essential information for getting around Sydney

Sydney, with a population of almost 4 million, and covering almost 1120 square kilometres (700 square miles), is a remarkably easy city to move around in. An excellent train, bus and ferry service covers all points of the greater metropolitan area. more…

Most of the tourism I’ve seen in Kerala is fairly concentrated. People come to Kerala for the beaches, primarily the little strips in Kovalam and Varkala. They come for the backwaters that link the towns of Allepey, Kollam, and Kottayam. They come for a few famous ashrams – notably Amma’s ashram on the same backwaters. They come to see the European heritage and cultural displays of Fort Cochin. They visit the famous hill stations and National Parks in the Western Ghats. In other words, they miss most of Kerala. If they do see the rest of Kerala, its from their seat in the AC Chair Car, or in a whizzing taxi as they head to some temple festival.

There is nothing wrong with the hotspot, high-end tourism that has developed in Kerala. In fact, it may be the best kind of tourism for the state’s economy, bringing in a lot of money while concentrating the potentially negative impact of tourism in relatively few locales. But I suspect I’m not the only one in the IM community who has wondered – what about the rest of Kerala? What is life like there? Does the scenic beauty of the tourist hotspots extend beyond? more…

Sunlight brightens the flanks of China’s Great Wall—one of the most ambitious construction projects in human history. The wall was a barrier between China and “barbarian” lands.China is the world’s most populous country with more than 1.3 billion people—20 percent of the Earth’s population.

Occupying most of East Asia, it is the fourth largest country in area (after Russia, Canada, and the U.S.). China’s geography is highly diverse, with hills, plains, and river deltas in the east and deserts, high plateaus, and mountains in the west. Climate is equally varied, ranging from tropical in the south (Hainan) to subarctic in northeastern China (Manchuria).

China’s geography causes an uneven population distribution; 94 percent live in the eastern third of the country. Shandong province, with its mild coastal climate, has more than 90 million people, but Tibet, with its harsh mountain plateau climate, has less than 3 million. more…

The Taliban earned global notoriety when it destroyed the famous Bamian Valley Buddhas. Today only a gaping hole remains where the enormous statues stood for some 1,500 years.

Since Alexander the Great, invading armies and peaceful migrations have brought in diverse peoples to this Central Asian crossroads. As a result, Afghanistan is a country of ethnic minorities: Pashtun (38 percent), Tajik (25 percent), Hazara (19 percent), and Uzbek (6 percent). The towering Hindu Kush range dominates and divides Afghanistan. The northern plains and valleys are home to Tajiks and Uzbeks. Pashtuns inhabit the desert-dominated southern plateaus. Hazara live in the central highlands. Kabul, south of the Hindu Kush, is linked by narrow passes to the northern plains. more…

No city has eaten the fruits of the garden of art so richly as the city of Istanbul, birthplace and school of famous men, the nursery of many nations.” –Nabî

I approach Istanbul today as I did when I first saw the city more than half a lifetime ago, taking a ferry from a suburban village on the Bosporus, the incomparably beautiful strait that divides Europe from Asia. On the way, I pass beneath two bridges that link the European and Asian sides of Istanbul, the only city in the world that spans two continents.

Between the scimitar-shaped inlet of the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara is the old city of Stamboul, known first as Byzantium and later as Constantinople—after its celebrated emperor.

The chronicler Procopius more than 13 centuries ago described the city, its seven hills today crowned with the monuments of two world empires, as being “surrounded by a garland of waters.” more…