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Category: India

April 27, 2016March 10, 2018sarahnicho

Jewels in the crown …

About me …

My name is Sarah and I’m a travel journalist writing features and news for a swag of Australian newspapers, magazines and websites.

This is my website, the place I post words and pictures gathered as I gallivant around the globe.

So enjoy the news, reviews, updates, random thinking and regular snapping – photos, that is – assembled here.

And hopefully you will find inspiration for your next trip far, near or here …

What's new on Instagram ...

... summer nights below the olive trees, 9pm and still close to 30C.

... summertime sunset walks and golden blossom on the gum trees.

... cronuts and coffee at Rustica. . . . #rustica || @rustica_hq

... admiring architecture at my local shopping centre while waiting for my “puter” - that’s what my favourite little person calls my MacBook - to be fixed.

... I’m going to take one last chance to look back at 2018’s travels before stepping forward to 2019. My favourite trip of last year was my expedition to South Africa with @awtravel which took in Johannesburg, Cape Town, the Bushmans Kloof and Sabi Sand Game Reserve. While there were many magical moments - seeing wildlife while on safari, staying in wonderful accommodation, taking in glorious sunsets - the most awesome afternoon was spent exploring Soweto. I’m just old enough to remember apartheid so the chance to visit the settlement that was home to so many of the people that protested, perished, persisted and finally brought down the system of discrimination was so significant. And South Africa was special because I travelled with friends old and new and a big thank you to @ali0l0, @vjbudah, @ndragun, @malchenu and @meaganlevans for making the trip such a treat.

... the Australian outback speaks to me and whether it's Katherine, Kakadu or Kalgoorlie I love venturing into locations where the red dust meets a big blue sky. So I was chuffed to join an Air Adventure Australia tour to the Flinders Ranges in July, with a quick four-day journey done in a zippy little aircraft taking me into South Australia's red heart. We did a one-night stop at the Arkaroola Wildlife Sanctuary and two nights staying Parachilna's Prairie Hotel which is a former railway settlement between Hawker and Leight Creek. We visited Nilpena which is a sprawling sheep and cattle station stretching towards the sunset from the Flinders Ranges' western slopes and took a four-wheel drive safari into the sand dune on one edge of the property. There were outback sunsets, loads of native animals like kangaroos and emus, an abandoned railway line, rugged mountains, and enough red dirt to turn my white runners a wonderful shade of outback ochre. . . . @airadventure || @nilpenastation || @southaustralia || @arkaroolaofficial || @prairiehotel

… Vietnam is my all-time-favourite destination so it’s inevitable the magical South-East Asian land would make my list of 2018’s memorable travel moments. . I’ve been to Vietnam a few times now – I’ve lost count but it would be 12 or 13 jaunts since my first trip back in 1997 – and it’s the place I feel comfortable and always head when it’s time for a holiday. . I spent two weeks in Vietnam during the middle of the Melbourne winter and divided my time between Saigon and the AVANI Quy Nhon which is a blissful beachside hotel 700km along the coast. . It was wonderful to do my own thing in Quy Nhon, never looking at the clock or fretting about being behind schedule, but simply sitting to silently soak in my surrounds. . It was wonderful to wake up with the sun and indulge in an early-morning swim, spend a couple of hours at breakfast savouring the view and the morning heat while picking at fresh fruit, pass a couple of hours reading on my veranda, retreat to the day spa for a treatment when the midday temperatures became stifling, and swim again in the afternoon. . Then sunset drinks and dinner on the terrace before retreating to my balcony to occupy the dark hours before midnight listening the music coming from a bar at the end of the beach, enjoying the night-time humidity, and watching lightening from far-away storms illuminating the sky. . This, for me, is the recipe for the perfect holiday. . . #avaniquynhon || @avani_hotels || @avaniquynhon

...as we rocket towards 2019 I thought I should look back at my most memorable 2018 travel moments. . My travel year included 108 days of travel in just nine months, dozens of flights, even more hotel rooms, and lots of kilometres covered by what were – at times – very tired toes. . My first moment came back in April when I spent a few days in Shanghai during my second visit to China and visited a well-preserved neighbourhood in the former British Concession. . The architecture hasn’t changed much since the late 1800s and this history stretched from colonial times, when rich people wanted to build traditional “shikumen” dwellings in a neighbourhood enjoying British order, through the days when the current regime took over and packed dozens of families into every structure. . The neighbourhood is called Arcadia, named after the baronial house that once stood in this corner of Shanghai, and the streets have managed to evade development while other parts of the city have dashed towards modernity. . A highlight of the outing was going inside some of the more magnificent estates – a mansion that once belonged to a shipping baron, another estate owned by the boss of a petrochemical company – and seeing for myself the gems of colonial-era architecture. . Architecture, colonial-era Asia, and history are three of the things I love most so to combine them in a day of unique and unexpected sightseeing in Shanghai was blissful.

... the names of those lost in the December 2016 terror attack on the Berlin Christmas market set into the steps outside the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church. . . . #berlin || @visit_berlin

... Berlin bread. . I had no idea Germany baked such wonderful bread but it turns out this is an easy place for carbohydrate overload. . . . #berlin || @visit_berlin

... an angel on the Berlin Wall. . . . #berlin || @visit_berlin

... the Berlin Wall. . I’m fascinated by the Berlin Wall, and the idea of a divided Germany, so visit what’s left of the notorious 20th-century landmark every time I’m in Berlin. . This is a section of the wall standing near the Nordbahnhof underground station - one of Berlin’s former “ghost stations” - in what is now an extended outdoor memorial park. . The park stretches along several blocks of what was once no-man’s land and not only features story boards telling Berlin Wall stories but the foundations of buildings that stood before and after the dividing fence went up. . This first photo was snapped standing in what was West Germany before the wall came down in November 1989 looking into what was East Berlin with the TV Tower a visible landmark inside the Soviet sector. . The second photo was snapped standing in the shadows of the Berlin Wall and the exact view West Berliners would have had as they walked along Bernauerstrasser during the 28 years the structure stood. . . . #berlin || @visit_berlin

... admiring architecture inside Berlin’s Alte Nationalgalerie, the magnificent art gallery on Museum Island. . . . #berlin || @visit_berlin

... the stately covered walkways on Museum Island. . . . #berlin || @visit_berlin

... admiring architecture on Unter den Linden in the heart of Berlin. . . . #berlin || @visit_berlin

What’s new on Twitter

A “novel” way to do a little pre-travel research on upcoming holiday destinations ... twitter.com/cntraveller/st… 1 week ago
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View from another time ... this is the outlook those living in West Berlin would have had during the 28 years the B… twitter.com/i/web/status/1… 3 weeks ago

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