Vietnam
Nam Du Archipelago
Twenty-one raw volcanic islands where coconut palms lean over coral shallows and fishing nets dry.
The boat pulls up to a wooden dock and the captain waves vaguely at the island. Twenty-one islands, a few fishing villages, and the rest is coconut palms, coral shallows and fishing nets drying on rocks.
Nam Du scatters twenty-one islands across the Gulf of Thailand in Kien Giang Province, some sixty-five kilometres offshore, and only a few are inhabited — the rest are outcrops fringed with palms and coral. The crossing from Rach Gia lands at Hon Lon, the largest island, whose lighthouse road climbs to a lookout over the whole chain; beyond it, the smaller islands answer to fishing boats and weather. The shallows off Hon Mau are a wade-in snorkel, and the archipelago runs at a fisherman's pace.
Couple
Island evenings of grilled fish, lamplight and sea sound — the tropical fantasy at a fisherman's pace.
Friends
Snorkelling off uninhabited islets, lighthouse panoramas and grilled seafood at sunset — the archipelago rewards a group that follows the weather.
- Most of the twenty-one islands are uninhabited outcrops of palm and coral — people live on only a few.
- The sea holds the timetable — island-to-island travel moves with the fishing boats and the weather.
- Hon Mau's coral shallows are snorkelled straight from the beach, no boat required.
- Hon Lon's lighthouse road ends at a panorama over the whole chain and open gulf.
Blue-bone fish, grilled until the skin chars while its naturally blue-green bones stay hidden beneath.
Sea-urchin porridge, a warm island bowl made when the day's catch allows.
Las Coloradas
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Salt, microbes and sharp sunlight can turn working evaporation ponds vivid pink.
Diamond Beach
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Giant, glass-clear icebergs washing ashore on jet-black sand like discarded crown jewels.
Freycinet
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Wineglass Bay; a crescent of white sand framed by pink granite peaks and Tasman blue.
Wilsons Promontory
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After dark, wombats take over the campground where mainland Australia runs out in granite.
Phong Nam Valley
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A jade river snaking through harvest-gold paddies beneath sheer karst monoliths.
Sa Pa
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Mist-choked valleys where Hmong women dye hemp fabric deep indigo in the clouds.
Mui Ne
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Desert dunes of red and white sand advancing on a coast that smells of fermented fish.
Tra Su Cajuput Forest
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Wooden boats sliding silently across a swamp carpeted completely in neon-green duckweed.