At the hottest time of year, any excuse to get wet is a good one, and in Myanmar there’s no better reason than to celebrate Thingyan. Traditionally a new year’s festival to herald the rainy season and ensure a good harvest, Thingyan brings dancing and typical festivities, but the main event is the countrywide water fight. While it’s a joyous tradition, be warned – the Burmese are ruthless when it comes to the ritual dousing, and they take no prisoners, unless you happen to be pregnant or a monk. Even then, there are no guarantees.
Think of animal migration and the great beasts of Africa thunder to mind, but one of the world’s most curious journeys is that of the humble monarch butterfly. Fleeing the paralysing winters of Canada and the United States each January, these delicate bugs travel up to 4,500 kilometres, fluttering into the depths of Mexico’s forests in the state of Michoacan, where they cling to oyamel firs, forming a layer of moving colour that coats the branches and bristles.
Grab your camera and snap them in whirling clouds at El Rosario Sanctuary, ride horses and hike mountainous terrain to see them at Chincua Sanctuary and make a final butterfly stop in dense vegetation at Piedra Herrada Sanctuary. Thriving in the warmth, these butterflies surpass their usual six-week lifespan, surviving until spring, when they return north. The following year their distant relatives will migrate to Michoacan to smother the same trees chosen by their ancestors.
When you’re not marvelling at fluttering insects, visit waterfalls, ruins and vibrant markets and discover the local culture, which is rooted in the Aztec belief that the souls of the dead are reborn as butterflies. This migration may lack thundering hooves, but the pulse of billions of beating wings is equally captivating.
Set sail on a traditional wooden boat and revel in the tranquility of island life off the northern coast of Sabah. You can explore the massive caves of Balamabangan Island, where the remains of human civilisation date back 20,000 years, or jump on a bike and visit the beaches, villages and jungles of Banggi Island, before trekking to the tree houses of the Dusun people.
There’s plenty of time to chill out or snorkel on pristine reefs with brightly coloured fish – and, if you’re lucky, a dugong – at Maliangin Besar Island, before rounding out the day with a feast of local seafood by the bonfire.
When you travel to most parts of Borneo to observe the always-entertaining orangutans, you’ll mostly be watching groups of rehabilitated apes coming in to feed on platforms. There’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s not quite the same as heading out into the rainforest to spot the glorious great apes in their natural habitat. The Danum Valley Conservation Area is one of the few patches of forest in Sabah that hasn’t been inhabited by humans or pillaged for its natural resources (although it’s completely surrounded by commercial logging) and, as a result, is home to an estimated 500 orangutans.
Trek through the jungle looking up into the canopies to spot the ’rangas, who tend not to pay very much attention to the strange creatures gawping and pointing beneath them. When the weather is dry and warm, there’s also plenty of other wildlife to spy, including pygmy elephants, sun bears and perhaps even the critically endangered Sumatran rhino.
Need an antidote for all those lovely germs you’ve inhaled over the past 10 hours courtesy of your fellow passengers? Slip into the JUKO Oxygen Lounge at Tokyo’s Narita Airport and get yourself a high-grade oxygen hit. Use an oxygenator headset, or a nasal cannula to pump flavoured oxygen into your lungs; try eucalyptus-menthol or cinnamon for a particularly zingy hit.
A 10-minute session will set you back about US$6, and not only helps fight jet lag, but will ease headaches and increase alertness. Sleep it off in one of the airport’s private day rooms, complete with beds and showers.
Go jump off a cliff, if you dare. Need a shot of Dutch courage first? You’re in luck, because this popular Jamaican jumping spot is conveniently located alongside a cliff-top bar. Hang out at Rick’s Cafe in Negril while you steel your nerves – just don’t ask for a drink “on the rocks” unless you want to tempt fate…
Step onto the highest jumping point to encouraging cheers and pin-drop 35 metres into the warm, albeit splintering, embrace of the Caribbean Sea. Feeling rather proud of yourself? Now watch how the locals do it, as they climb high into the branches of a tree on the cliff’s edge and slip into the water headfirst with the grace of an Olympic platform diver.
Seriously, who hasn’t thought themselves capable of fighting a tiger while dressed in a miniskirt? If this sounds like you, consider a) getting some professional help, or b) travelling immediately to the Italian capital and enrolling in Scuola Gladiatori di Roma, otherwise known as Gladiator School.
Here, in the rough-and-ready surrounds of a re-created Roman barracks somewhere on the ancient Appian Way in the heart of the Eternal City, you’ll be taught such useful things as basic hand-to-hand combat, the essential techniques of gladiatorial sword fighting and how to use a large net and an oversized fork to really ruin someone’s day. For those who like to get a bit of education with their ancient ultimate fighting classes, a guided tour of the Gladiator Museum and a horrible history lesson is included in the price. Gladiator School can also be arranged through the Rome Cavalieri, a luxury resort, two miles from the Vatican.
Free falling with cables and parachutes is for wimps. Take the 24-metre plunge into the icy Neretva River with nothing but your Speedos for comfort. Leaping off Stari Most (it translates to Old Bridge) in the city of Mostar gives thrill-seekers the ultimate chance to prove what they’re really made of.
And there’s a lot more at stake than your average adrenaline rush. Your life – not to mention your ego – is on the line as you plummet head or feet first into the teal-blue water with bone-shattering force. The dive has been a rite of passage for young local boys seeking to impress the ladies for generations, and every July the bravest – or stupidest – face off in the Ikari bridge-jumping competition. Tourists can take part, but be warned, deaths do happen.
Kayak through villages and navigate caverns lit only by your headlamp, then explore ancient Mayan ruins and clamber through tropical jungle to the song of howler monkeys and squawking macaws. On your Belize Adventure Week, you’ll do all this and more, like examining shaman offerings in the Che Chem Ha Mayan cave – a ceremonial centre used for blood-letting rituals – then taking a boat to Long Caye, a private Caribbean island.
Continuing with the aquatic them, you’ll snorkel and dive through reefs before testing your windsurfing skills. Finish off they day by fishing for your dinner and retiring to your beachside cabana, where the sounds of the sea will lull you to sleep.
There’s no better place to indulge in a pint than the Belgian countryside. Begin in Brussels then journey by train and bike to Rochefort’s Abbey Saint-Remy, the first of many breweries on this tour. You’ll work for your liquid reward, cycling 400 kilometres through quaint towns and lush forests of the Ardennes.
Tackle rolling hills and scenic paths, enjoying a goblet of rich amber ale to quench your thirst at each stop along the way. Get stuck into the unique table beer, Orval Vert, at L’Arge Gardien and settle in for mass with the monks at Chimay monastery. Spend your evenings nourishing your weary body with a delicious meal and a beer, of course.
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