Copenhagen

By StanleySobari

PACKED with museums, galleries and monuments, the compact Danish capital is perfect for short breaks. Despite the city’s pricey reputation, the savvy travelers can get the best of history and culture on the cheap

Highland Castles

By StanleySobari

#Eilean Donant is named after a Celtic saint martyred in 617

Scotland’s history has left a legacy of military strongholds scattered across the highlands, from looming stone fortresses to majestic castles towering over historic towns, each with a story to tell

Classic Paris

By StanleySobari

GET to the heart of the allure of Paris with a tour of five of its star sights, from the heights of the Eiffel Tower to the depth of the catacombs, and a day trip to the splendor of Versailles

Views from Another Paradise

By StanleySobari

# Wondrous views from the top at Chela-La Pass, one of Bhutan’s highest points

TUCKED between valleys and soaring mountains, it’s not difficult to find high points in admiring Bhutan’s natural splendor. A must-visit attraction in Bhutan and plastered across postcards countrywide, the Tiger’s Nest perches precariously 10,000 feet above sea level in Paro, where legend has it that around th eighth century, the reverend Guru Rimpoche flew across the mountains on the back of a tigress, and made the Taktsang Lhakhang home.

However, the best views go to Chele-La Pass, one of the highest points in Bhutan at 3.988 metres. The 90-minute ride up requires a driver’s experience and extreme skill across sharp pins and narrow paths, the air getting progressively thinner but the views achingly gorgeous. Spot the scenic Haa valley along the way, letting your guides regale you with Bhutan’s colourful past, as you gape at your driver from afar, who’ll make a jaw-dropping three-point-turn along the cliff’s edge to take the bus back to Paro town.

Pizzas, Bazaars and Chortens

By StanleySobari

# The whitewashed National Memorial Chorten

AS unusual a combination as this might sound, these were the top draws on a short day-trip to capital Thimphu. One of the most visited religious sites, the National Memorial Chorten was built in 1974 in memory of “Bhutan’s late third king, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck. The young and old alike come to spin the large prayer wheels for hours on end, devotees encircling the whitewashed chorten, adorned with elaborate statues and mandalas. A short walk behind the five-stars Taj Tashi is the Craft Bazaar, selling Bhutan-made souvenirs, textiles, masks and more, this the best place for getting souvenirs. Finish off with dinner at The Zone, located along Hong Kong street. Sogyal’s mixed special pizzas, expertly cooked yak burgers, and thick butterscotch milkshakes slurped down amidst a cosy café-pub setting was the perfect way to end the night.

SEVEROBANIKALSK to TYNDA

By StanleySobari

LONG before 1984, things had started to go wrong on the BAM. The free cars didn’t turn up (they still haven’t) and some volunteers were disillusioned. There were reports of BAM officials disappearing with funds on ‘business trips’ to the Philippines. Some history books paint a bleak picture of the later days of BAM construction – a dangerous cocktail of daredevil engineering and bathtub-brewed booze.

Meanwhile, the track itself was in a bad state. In some parts the permafrost had warped the rails until they looked like roller-coaster tracks; on others, train drivers instead on hanging out the doors so they could jump if their engine crashed off the rails.

Contrary to propaganda, BAM was only completed (with exquisite tragicomic timing ) in 1991, right after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The mineral wealth it promised to untap has yet to materialize. Some utopian cities along the route are now little more than ghost towns. BAM is seen by many today as a railway to nowhere – the punch line to jokes about the USSR.

But for all the jokes, BAM remains a lifeline for those still resident along the railway.

From Severobaikalsk, I join passengers bundling aboard a lunchtime train eastwards; supply teachers and dentists commuting to isolated villages, engineers on missions to set wonky rails straight. Everyone gathers in the corridors as se skirt the shore of Lake Baikal-a vast inland sea, capped by a six-foot-thick crust of ice during the winter months. In one doomed episode, long ago, rails were laid on this ice-resulting in at least one steam engine currently rusting in Baikal’s-mile deep waters. We pass fishing villages of rickety timber cabins and frozen wharfs. In the distance are the pincprick figures of fisherman drilling holes in the ice beside their cars.

Life on board quickly lapses into a lazy rhythm. The engineers potter off to play cards in their compartment. A carriage attendant knits a red scarf in her office. Day turns to night, cabin seats are converted into bunks and clock hands are adjusted as we enter another time zone.

Living in a country of almighty distance, Russians are accustomed to spending time on two rails. Trotsky plotted battle tactics in his armoured train; tsars ate caviar in their palatial carriages (which housed libraries, bathtubs and room for a cow to supply fresh milk). Space rockets, mobile hospitals and even chapel carriages have all rattled along Russian rails.