The Silk Road was one of the roads most legendary in the history of mankind. The term coined by Ferdinand von Richtofen in 1877, Thomas O. Hollmann was the one who placed the entire region into nine zones: the valley of the Wei, the corridor Hexe, the Gobi, the Makler Takla, the mountains of the Pamir Knot, turiana depression, the Iranian plateau, Mesopotamia and the Syrian desert.

However, many centuries earlier in the year 138 AD Zhang Qian who was informed of the 36 kingdoms that made up that road, even then only cultural, discovering in his writings as a Samarkand their nerve centers and one of the most 2.500 years old for their existence.

The use of silk has been awarded, historically nobles and emperors who fought to keep secret the design of it. In Ancient China was so important to its economy even came to enact the death penalty for those who reveal their secret. When a princess betrayed the Empire, and selling it years later in the year 536, two monks succeeded at last bring silkworm eggs Hidden in bamboo from China to Byzantium, the one route that centuries before discovery Zhang Qian was became a crossroads not only cultural but also economic and trade, making all those kingdoms flourish and Samarkand was one of those.

Afrasiab Samarkand stood on a hill north of the present site in what is now Uzbekistan. From there grew to occupy it fully, but the invasion of Mughal kill much of the older works of this beautiful city. The year was 1218, both Bukhara and Samarkand were razed and looted and massacred its people harshly.

The city had to get up again in an almost full, and began to create Afrasiab the Shaji-Zinda necropolis. Tamerlane, the founder of the Timurid Empire, was the most important character in the recent history of Samarkand. Cemetery mausoleums that hosted some of the relatives of Tamerlane, and then began to be built within the other great architectural works.

From the time of Ulug-Bek, early fifteenth century, dating back to a simple home in the vicinity of the hill, and another mausoleum. The whole of this mausoleum, along with those of Tamerlane, was a beautiful view of portico and polychrome buildings, covered in mosaics and Escayola. The passageway that connects leads to another beautiful patio surrounded the Mausoleum of Tuman-aka and other tombs from the time of Timur Lenk is Reguistan Square.

The most famous gate of Samarkand, was built in the years 1404-05 carved in wood and ivory, and she enters the mosque in the fifteenth century and the Mausoleum of Kusama ibn-Abbas, the oldest of all, the first all future road construction.

The third side of the famous yard is made up of the Gur-Emir Mausoleum, one of the last built in the era Tamerlan precisely where the tomb of Timur the Lame. Although in the following period, the Ulug-Bek, other buildings were built, were of the era that gave Tamerlan the brightness necessary to Samarkand to know as we know it today despite the passage of years.

The new town was built during the era of Russian domination, and has no more charm than that of seeing tall buildings and wide avenues, hotels and shopping malls …

But against that modernity is always Samarkand, the city of legends, tales of the East, its history linked to Genghis Khan and Tamerlane to Major, to trade in the East and the Silk Road …

Today a holiday in Kathmandu is not as difficult as before, and that with this legendary city has traditionally been one of the most inaccessible parts of the world. The capital of Nepal is the best place to start a series of trips around the country, traveling intensive traditions, unique architecture and a fascinating Hindu and Buddhist culture.

The best times to visit Kathmandu are the months of October and November and March and April when the weather is warm and sunny. Winters, from November to February are extremely cold while summer is very humid and hot. The rain soaked the region between June and September.

Kathmandu, with its snow-capped mountains, green hills and traditional villages with whitewashed houses, their rich temples and sacred sites.

Visits in Kathmandu:
Be a tour of first-degree crime cannot begin our visit to Kathmandu Durbar Square, World Heritage Site by UNESCO. This plaza is the social and religious center of the ancient city of Kathmandu, is a complex of palaces, temples, shrines, statues and courtyards built between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries by the ancient kings of Nepal.

The square mixing modern and ancient. Temples with curved roofs, and wandering priests of Brahma doing their rituals, vendors of souvenirs among the crowd, and one other cow, not just tourism. The lions guard the gates of the Palacio Real, which contains a large number of courtyards and museums. Across the plaza is the Temple Kasthamandap, with its pyramidal tower, the oldest building in the valley, and making the city of Kathmandu derives its name.

Inside the Palace of the Hanuman Dhoka Durbar Square is the Tribhuvan Museum, where the figure of this king (1906-1955), who helped liberate the country from the Rana regime in 1951. Their galleries showed photographs, paintings and portraits of other Shah rulers and members of the royal family. You cannot take pictures inside.

From there we go now to Swayambhunath Stupa … better than trying to pronounce it, let’s contemplate the wonderful golden needle century V. The building crowns a hill overlooking the Kathmandu Valley and offers magnificent views of the city. This building is a symbol of Nepal and is also considered as a World Heritage Site. This is one of the most sacred places for Buddhists in Nepal.

The multitude of other temples makes up the city of Kathmandu. One is Kumari Bahal, the Temple of the Goddess of Life. Another of the great temples of the sacred is Pasupathinath, God of all living beings in the universe. Is in the midst of an open courtyard in the form of a pagoda. Shivalinga Temple is a temple dedicated to Shiva, but different from any Shiva temple you can see anywhere in the world.

Nightlife:
In fact, the early morning hours are the best times to enjoy Kathmandu. Still, many restaurants are closed even at 21.30, and the bars do not sell alcohol from 22.00 hours. However, if we go to the outskirts of the city, the Guest House, its alleys if we provide some nocturnal activity.

Bars like the streets of Thamel and Freak Street, or the restaurants in the area are ideal in the early hours of the night. However, eye, ever alert to our hotel if we go a little later in the account. We must also bear in mind that the bars in this area are an ideal place for young Nepalese, who were eager to meet with Western women. It also recommends some bars and restaurants offering traditional dance music and live entertainment.

How to get there?
Nepal International Airport is five miles east of downtown. To get from Kathmandu to the airport you can take a taxi from there on the edge of the terminal. There are also buses that leave from the airport and take us to the center, Ratna Park and the old bus station.
Transportation in Kathmandu:

The first thing we see in Kathmandu is that the streets have no name, except for major roads such as Tri Devi and Ring Road. Often, the signs that will give us the proximity of a temple, a building or a notable restaurant. The city can travel on foot, though not always a pleasant walk.

The historical center, we can ride, and which are prohibited entry of motor vehicle, to stop pollution. Taxis are easy to find, as they are in the main streets and parks. Make sure that every taxi meter is well specified, because we can play a bad pass. As of 2300 hours is more difficult to find taxis.

The bus system in Kathmandu is very cheap, but often very congested. The routes are marked in English. Most of them depart from the old bus station to the plaza de Tundikhel. Buses operate from 05.30 to 21.00.

Good luck!

The Mekong River in Thailand
The Cultural Center of the Philippines
Disneyland in Hong Kong
Fiji Islands

Tired, sweaty, drowsy, facing the steep slope of the Via Sacra, which runs along the wall of the Convent of San Paio Antealtares. Raise our view. There it is! Our goal, the magic moment for which we have struggled in recent days. Quite a few days walking, the foot injury, the body slumped in the marches exhausting. But at last our eyes are closed the culmination of our dream: the Cathedral, the epilogue of our Camino de Santiago.

Because nothing better to contemplate Santiago to climb the Monte do Gozo, where medieval pilgrims chanting the Te Deum in view of the skyline of the city. From there, five miles separate us from the porch. From there, the president of St. Peter will take us until the best known of Santiago: the Porta do Caminho, one of the seven entries that had the ancient wall. So cross surprised that a city changes over the streets, because Santiago is clearly divided in two: the new part of the former. A vital, and youthful atmosphere of authentic historical virtually taken over by the pilgrims.
 

Rua das Casas Reais, Rua das mood, and finally Azabachería of the Via Sacra to meet the magical ritual visit to the Apostle. And there, in the Plaza de Quintana, rejuvenates heart, forget the weariness, smiles again, because a stone’s throw away is the Plaza del Obradoiro, the cloak that gives access to the most beautiful baroque facade can imagine that being humans.

Since the appearance of the apostle and 1200 years ago, the flood of pilgrims was such that the clergy did take advantage of such beliefs, and at the same time, the city to deliver a profound transformation. It was the eighteenth century which was the last one, which encouraged the Church to build a facade to match the popular fervor. Such is the grandeur of its facade, as big and beautiful and the piazza Obradoiro who really do not know what was built to expand to the other.

Obradoiro Plaza is the noble, beautiful, great, and the tails of waiting pilgrims perform the ritual no less long enduring under the sky of the square is uncovered sun or rain. To the west of them, Raxoi Palace, a huge neoclassical building built in 1767 for placing children in the choir of the Cathedral, and today, home of the City Council and the Xunta de Galicia, whose capital is Santiago. To the south lies the San Xerome gothic stately home, where the Rector of the University, and in front of him, the Royal Hospital, built in the year 1501, granted by the Catholic Kings, and today, Parade of Tourism.

But what really fills the soul are those steps that every pilgrim boasts having risen once in their life. With each step Restall silence of the steps. With each step, silent heartbeat, rises out of sight and the wonderful stone Portico de la Gloria whisper in our ears the nostalgic sounds of the centuries of history.

It was in 1100 when Bishop Xelmírez commissioned a mason, Matthew, a new door for the church of Compostela. And one of his workshop was wonderful Romanesque arch-shaped with 24 figures, the Apocalypse of the elders of the cut and wrapped him in a Christ and his apostles in relief. Under it, the figure of an apostle of the cozy Santiago pilgrims.

There are still many things to see in Santiago de Compostela, Xelmírez as the Palace, in Romanesque style, or the Monastery of Saint Martin Pinario or Hostal de los Reyes Catholics, and many adventures to live on the night of Compostela, in the old town where there are many places with a special decoration and quiet music, or in the famous widening area, the march to Santiago …

Teotihuacan Anabella Squiripa 4 is the largest city of pre-Columbian Mesoamerican culture. It is located in the homonymous valley, which forms part of the Basin of Mexico, about 40 km northeast of Mexico City. Designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, the ceremonial center is one of the most important through their monumental architecture, master planning and its strong religious and political influence exerted on the cultures before.

The Aztecs were the ones who came to Teotihuacan during a pilgrimage and found abandoned. Fascinated by the magnificent pyramids, found that such buildings could only have been built for gods, so they decided named the City of the Gods.

It is estimated that the Teotihuacan civilization existed between the year 200 BC and 800 A.D. in the Classical period. Were farmers and traders who stood out in the art of architecture, mural painting, sculpture, pottery and polychrome frescoes representing mythological or religious themes with geometric and naturalistic scenes of gods, priests, warriors, hieroglyphics, animals and plants. Urbanism Teotihuacan is patented in the palaces, plazas and ceremonial centers, like the Pyramid of the Sun and the Moon, the Temple of Quetzalcoatl and the Avenue of the Dead.

There have been several hypotheses about the mysterious disappearance of this culture, trying to explain its decline and subsequent abandonment with internal strife, climate change, and invasions of peoples from the north.

* The Avenue of the Dead, the backbone is based on drawing the city. It has an area of four kilometers and will line up more than 800 bases that are tombs.

* The Pyramid of the Sun is the oldest structure and one of the larger buildings of pre-Columbian Mexico. Although now only 64 meters, its height was greater than 75 mts.

* The Pyramid of the Moon marks the end of the Avenue of the Dead. A curious fact is that although it is smaller than the Sun, both are the same height as it is built on higher ground.

* The Palace of the Jaguars, which owns both sides of the door images of two cats. In the back and tail are inlaid sea shells. On the banks of the upper wall may be symbols belonging to the god of rain and a glyph are a few feathers as decoration representing the solar year Teotihuacan.

* The Building of the feathered shells, the most ancient and beautiful of all Teotihuacan. Accessed through a tunnel and apparently belonged to a temple that was highly decorated. There may be some symbolic images of musical instruments in the form of a snail having nozzles and elegant feathers.

* The Temple of Quetzalcoatl, the Plumed Serpent, perhaps the most important building in terms of Teotihuacan architectural sculpture. Each of the parameters in which the body is divided pyramid comprises a broad vertical panel strips or limited by large cornices. In the interior of these reliefs were built emerging. Slopes and undulating boards traveled by snakes with large and schematized eartag, accompanied by marine elements, combining naturalism with abstraction. Against this background emerge snakeheads that arise from a kind of open flower. Also head out to represent a deity that can be Tlaloc, the god of rain, or the god of corn. This uncertainty is due to the fact that, on the one hand these figures show the typical large round eyes of Tlaloc, the other faces appear closer to the shape of an ear of corn. Many researchers suggest that this god is only defined iconography from the Toltec era, therefore after Teotihuacan.

Within this area you will also find museums and archaeological research centers like the Center for Studies Teotihuacan, dedicated to the study of the Teotihuacan culture and the promotion of tourism services.

Hours: Monday to Sunday from 7:00 to 18:00 hours.
Admission Price: $ 45.00    
Which includes entry to the archaeological site and museums. Are exempt from paying those under 13 years, students, teachers and seniors with valid ID presented at the entrance. On Sundays and public holidays Admission is free for the national audience, presenting IFE credential.
The site offers a library, cafeteria, toilets, guided tours, summer courses and educational services department of the archaeological zone.

How to get there?
By car: from the Federal District, for the output to Pachuca, located at Avenue Insurgentes North. After the stand a few minutes there is a point of diversion to the Pyramids.  By bus: Metro Indios Verdes has three of the line runs to the site, or you can take the bus from the Northern bus station, which also has a direct route to Teotihuacan. At any point, the journey is less than an hour.

Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam share a history as old as the recent wars and French colonial influences, but the Mekong River, which joins and separates them in many places geographically, and that runs through much of Laos’s border with Myanmar, the former Burma, and Thailand, followed by Cambodia and Vietnam to lead the South China Sea. Can you imagine a little cruise down the river?.

The VAT on the barge Phou Mekong
One day, the Mekong River was the main artery of the Angkor Empire and remains a ubiquitous symbol of the whole Indochina, along which emerged and flourished the most important cities and places. At present, temples, bustling market towns and forgotten their flank Eternas Riveras are full and green lands.

We do our little cruise on VAT Phou, a barge and renovated with great taste with only 12 cabins. There is a three day cruise on the river Mekong, which include land excursions with a full pension, for 300 euros per person. It’sa fascinating journey for the stretch of river that includes part of Laos, is spellbinding and very little known, where you can observe from the deck of the barge varnished wood, a huge gallery full of charm.

Land excursions are interesting. Visit some of the most important places in Laos, especially the VAT Phou Temple, a succession of small churches built between the VI and XIV centuries, high in the hills. The climbing up the stairs to the hill to the ruins of one of the temples of the eleventh century, dedicated to Hindu god Shiva, which are spectacular. This magnificent setting framed by the majestic mountain Parvata Linga is a privileged viewpoint from which one can admire the wonderful landscape, which includes Vietnam and Cambodia on a clear day, because when it rains it is torrential … It is idyllic to contemplate the skyline of the Mekong River and its small fishing boats meandering along the fertile lowland villages filled.

Falls of Phapheng:
Downstream is Moungar Oum. This is the Khmer temple, which was one of the least developed probably used as a station for pilgrims on their way. Oum Moungar is little more than a romantic ruins, with sizes smaller and less spectacular than the VAT Phou. The most interesting is the tour to be given through the jungle to get to there, beginning at a settlement on the banks of the river in which life seems to have stopped in the XIII and XIV, when it was the temple.

Oum Moungar visit after meeting with the falls roaring from Phapheng, the largest in the South-Eastern Asia, and a succession of small islands, almost 4000, around the Lower Mekong, near the border with Cambodia. The outputs of these cruises are run from the city of Pakxe Thursdays and Saturdays, from July to April.

How to get there?
We need to get to the airport in Bangkok, and from here the only way to link it with Pakxe via another flight that takes us to the local airport in the city.

Here you can find a flight to Bangkok. Then you’re ready to start your cruise!

Themes
Burma of tourism
The Cultural Center of the Philippines
Yokohama to visit and nice for tourists
Bangkok a world full of mystery and fun
The ancient culture of India