Somewhere Must Be Doing It Better

Every country has an army, right? Incorrect. Most countries have an army, but there are a few notable exceptions. Costa Rica is a rare example of a country that is neither a microstate nor an island but has nevertheless completely dispensed with its armed forces. It became one of the first countries in the world…

Mexico City, Ciudad de México in Spanish and CDMX for short, is the world’s fifth-largest city. You will never run out of things to do in this sprawling, busy but welcoming metropolis. Grandiose squares, lively markets and around 150 museums are found in the centre. Ancient canals and houses of famous artists lie in the…

In 1860 French explorer Henri Mouhot hacked his way through the humid jungles of what is nowadays Cambodia, intrigued by tales of a vast, ruined city that had been reclaimed by nature. He discovered an ancient metropolis covered in vines and creepers, attacked by carnivorous banyan trees and forgotten by time. Today, we know this…

There are few places on earth that remain untouched by the technological advances of the last 150 years. Bichhya, a remote village in northern Nepal that lacks roads, plumbing, internet or mains electricity, is one of them. As part of a round-the-world trip I wanted to spend some time volunteering in a medical capacity. Despite…

For millennia, central Asia sat at the most important crossroads on the planet. Spices, silks, precious stones and a myriad of other exotic cargos flowed between east and west on the backs of trusty camels and donkeys. Even more importantly, ideas, technologies, religions and cultures flowed alongside, in the mouths and minds of traders. The…