List of Favorites...
I'm trying to keep a running list of some of my favorite along the way. I am trying to be as accurate as possible on these but it is really tough to compare certain things on the
same scale. For example, I put the Maldives first in terms of an 'Overall Favorite Place' simply because every single thing about my trip there was perfect. Hong Kong is high
because I was fortunate to stay with people that made my time there incredible...
List of Favorites

Favorite Big City:  Cape Town
(Honorable Mention: Hong Kong, Santiago, Beirut, Tel Aviv, Saigon (aka District 1 of Ho Chi Minh
City), Shanghai, Kuala Lumpur, Dubai, London)

Favorite Small Towns:  San Pedro de Atacama (Chile); Zermatt (Switzerland); Cesky
Krumlov (Czech Republic)
(Honorable Mention: Pushkar, India)

Favorite Islands: Gili Trawangan (Indonesia); Morro de Sao Paulo (Brazil); Easter Island
(Chile); Rottnest Island (Australia); Tioman Island (Malaysia); Djerba (Tunisia)

Favorite Unexpected Places: Merzouga (Morocco); Salar de Uyuni (Bolivia); Pinnacles
National Park (Western Australia); Mui Ne (Vietnam)

Seaside Town: Rovinj (Croatia); Budva (Montenegro); Sidi Bou Said (Tunisia)
(Honorable Mention: Dahab)

Favorite Scenery: Antarctica
(Honorable Mention: Cappadocia, Seychelles, Whitehaven Beach, Croatian Coastline, Pushkar,
Ranakphur)

Favorite Food Item: Alfajor with raspberry and dulce de leche covered with dark chocolate (in
Puerto Varas, Chile)
(Honorable Mention: fresh yogurt at gelato-type stands in OZ, dosas, momos, 'white roses', fresh
mango juice)

Favorite Hotel Room Bathrooms: InterContinental (Jo'Burg); Park Hyatt Jo'Burg
(Honorable Mention: De Waterkant Village in Cape Town, Tibet Hotel in Chengdu)

Favorite Budget Hotel: Nam Hai 2 (Hanoi, Vietnam)

Favorite Restaurant: Jemima's (South Africa); Bobby Chinn's (Hanoi); 3 Nagas (Luang
Prabang, Laos); Xu (Ho Chi Minh City)
(Honorable Mention: Capella (Cape Town), Green Tangerine (Hanoi), On The Rocks (Phuket);
Wrap 'n Roll (Ho Chi Minh City) )

Favorite Place to Wine Taste: Eger, Hungary
(Honorable Mention: Martinborough, New Zealand; McLaren Vale and Barossa Valley, Australia;
Robertson Valley, South Africa; Swan Valley, near Perth, Australia)

Favorite Drive: Great Ocean Road (Australia)
(Honorable Mention: New Zealand's South Island, Cape Peninsula in Cape Town, driving through
Cappadocia)

Favorite Beach: Anse Source d'Argent (La Digue, Seychelles)
(Honorable Mention: Whitehaven Beach, Australia; Bol on Brac, Croatia; 90 Mile Beach, New
Zealand; Coral Bay and Turquoise Bay in Western Australia; Rottnest Island, Western Australia)

Favorite Candy Bar: 'Night' Cadberry Picnic Bar; Tiramisu Kit Kat
(Honorable Mention: Honeycomb Kit Kat; Cadberry Lunch Bar and Crunchie Bar; dark chocolate
mint Twix)

Favorite Bus Ride: Croatia

Favorite Boat Ride: 'Ice cruises' in Antarctica; from Siem Reap to Phnom Penh

Favorite Airline: Singapore and Emirates
(Honorable Mention: Kingfisher in India)

Favorite Hotel Gym: JW Marriott (Mumbai)

Favorite Hotel Room (Western): Hilton Maldives
(Honorable Mention: InterContinental and Park Hyatt, Jo'Burg)

Favorite Hotel Room (non-Western): Amet Haveli (Udaipur); Dar Seffarine (Fes, Morocco)
(Honorable Mention: Fateh Bagh in Ranakpur, India)

Favorite Television Station: Star World (to get my fix of Seinfeld, Friends, Oprah, etc.)
(Honorable Mention: CNN World News)

Favorite Guilty Pleasure on Star World: Rockstar Supernova

Favorite Hostel: YHA Hostel in Adelaide and Noosa
(Honorable Mention: Almost all of the YHAs in Australia; International Youth Hostel in
Hangzhou, China; Captain Hostel in Shanghai)

Favorite Bakery: JW Marriott in Mumbai; Hyatt Regency in New Delhi; just about everywhere
in Japan; Hoi An Patisserie (Vietnam)

Favorite Dessert: 'Chocolate Louver' at the Hoi An Patisserie in Hoi An (Vietnam); the cream
puff I had with built-in creme brulee at Chocolat Republic in Kobe (Japan)

Best Spa Scenery: Hilton Maldives
(Honorable Mention: JW Marriott, Mumbai)

Best Spa/Gym Facilities: JW Marriott, Mumbai; Hyatt Regency, New Delhi; Hilton, Maldives

Most Expensive Places to Eat at Restaurants: Moscow
(Honorable Mention: Seychelles, Australia, Ireland, London, Greece)

Most Expensive Tea Outing: Beijing ($85)

Favorite Food Court: The food halls in the department stores in Japan; downstairs part of the
Oriental Plaza Mall at Wanfujing (Beijing)

Favorite Sandwich: Caramelized onion, spinach, mashed pumpkin and goat cheese on lavash
(at the Lime Tree Cafe in Dubai)
(Honorable Mention: Eggplants, roasted peppers, onions and hummus on focaccia at Cafe Fresco
(Phnom Penh) )

Best Variety of Things to Buy Under One Roof: 'Silk Street' in Beijing

Best Place to Bargain With People: China; Vietnam; Laos

Best Bathrooms at a Tourist Attraction: Angkor complex
(Honorable Mention: Abu Simbel)

Best Snorkeling: Maldives; Tioman Island (Malaysia); Coral Bay (Australia)
(Honorable Mention: Whitsunday Islands; Fiji)

Favorite Type of Food: Vietnamese
(Honorable Mention: Laotian, Balinese, Thai, Indian)

Favorite Temples: Khajuraho (India); Temple of the Emerald Buddha (Bangkok); Borobudur
(Java, Indonesia)

Favorite Shopping Centers: Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur

Favorite Hotel Bed: Baan Orapin (Chiang Mai, Thailand)

Best Form of Public Transportation: Cyclos in Vietnam
(Honorable Mention: motorbikes in Vietnam, trishaws in Malaysia)
Favorite Scenery

  1. Antarctica
  2. Cappadocia
  3. Seychelles beaches
  4. Galapagos Islands
  5. On the Ganges River in Varanasi
  6. The Matterhorn in Zermatt, Switzerland
  7. Maldives atolls
  8. Salt flats of Uyuni (Bolivia)
  9. Moai of Easter Island
  10. Great Wall (Jinshanling to Simatai section)
  11. New Zealand (South Island)
  12. Great Ocean Road (Australia)
  13. The different shades of blue/green in the
    water in Fiji
  14. Hong Kong skyline from the Peak
  15. Whitehaven Beach/Whitsundays (Australia)
  16. Hoi An (Vietnam)
  17. Petra
  18. Kerala backwaters
  19. Patagonia
  20. Pushkar (India)
  21. Rovinj (Croatia)
  22. Victoria Falls
  23. Cape Peninsula
  24. Halong Bay (Vietnam)
  25. Dahab
  26. West Lake, Hangzhou (China)
  27. Sea Caves (Southern Thailand)
  28. Old Quarter (Hanoi, Vietnam)
  29. Munnar (India)
  30. Lake Bled
  31. Mongolian countryside
  32. The Li River near Yangshuo
  33. Going down the Nile River
  34. Wadi Rum
  35. The hills above Beirut
  36. The Dead Sea
  37. The Lebanon coastline
  38. Hiking alongside Lake Baikal
  39. Along the river during the Water Festival in
    Phnom Penh
My Overall Favorite Places

  1. Maldives
  2. South Africa
  3. Antarctica
  4. Japan
  5. Vietnam
  6. Laos
  7. Indonesia
  8. Malaysia
  9. Chile
  10. Australia
  11. Croatia
  12. Morocco
  13. Hong Kong
  14. Australia
  15. Beirut
  16. Tel Aviv
  17. India
  18. New Zealand (South Island)
  19. Dahab
  20. Cappadocia
  21. Seychelles
  22. Shanghai/Hangzhou
  23. Switzerland
  24. Czech Republic
  25. Russia
  26. Nepal
  27. Hungary
Favorite Beaches

  1. Seychelles
  2. Maldives
  3. Whitehaven Beach, Australia
  4. Turquoise Bay, Australia
  5. Oyster Stacks, Australia
  6. Gili Trawangan, Indonesia
  7. Around Budva, Montenegro
  8. Rottnest Island, Australia
  9. Tioman Island, Malaysia
  10. Brac, Croatia
  11. The Arabian Gulf in Dubai
  12. Matamanoa, Fiji
  13. Beaches along the Great Ocean Road, Australia
  14. Dahab, Egypt
  15. Rmeileh, Lebanon
  16. Tunisian beaches
  17. Hydra, Greece (not really for 'beaches' but for the coastline)
  18. Bako National Park, Borneo
  19. Bondi Beach, Australia
  20. Cape Peninsula, South Africa (I'm sure this would have been even more incredible if I was
    there at a time other than the middle of their winter)
  21. Lake Baikal, Russia (maybe not the most stunning, but how cool is it to drink beers in the sun
    in Siberia???)
  22. Phuket, Thailand (We were lucky as the beach we stayed on had amazing sunsets)
  23. Phi Phi Don, Thailand
  24. Manly Beach, Australia
  25. China Beach, Vietnam (I think part of this is the intrigue of being there)
  26. Eilat, Israel
Favorite Religious Sites
The order of these is not very accurate...

  1. Temple of the Emerald Buddha - Bangkok
  2. Angkor (Angkor Thom, Ta Promh and
    Angkor Wat)
  3. Durbar Square - Kathmandu
  4. Chapel in the Wieliczka Salt Mines - Krakow,
    Poland
  5. Abu Simbel - Egypt
  6. Western Wall - Jerusalem
  7. Blue Mosque - Istanbul
  8. Yonghe Lamasery - Beijing
  9. Jian temple - Ranakpur, India
  10. Temple in Colombo, Sri Lanka
  11. The Great Synagogue - Budapest
  12. Umayyad Mosque - Damascus, Syria
  13. Karnak Temples - Luxor, Egypt
  14. Ossuary in Sedlec - outside of Prague
  15. Holy Church of the Sepulchre - Jerusalem
  16. Gandan Monastery - Ulan Bator
  17. Jama Masjid - Fatehpur Sikri, India
  18. Luxor Temple - Egypt
  19. Mount Sinai - Egypt
  20. Dome of the Rock - Jerusalem
  21. Church of the Holy Sepulchre - Jerusalem
  22. Doi Suthep - Chiang Mai, Thailand
  23. Wat Arun - Bangkok
  24. Chedi Luang - Chiang Mai
Places I Would Visit Again

  1. South Africa
  2. Vietnam
  3. Australia
  4. Chile
  5. Maldives
  6. Israel
  7. Beirut/Lebanon
  8. Nepal
  9. Croatia
  10. Seychelles
  11. India
  12. China
  13. Hong Kong
  14. Thailand
  15. Russia
  16. New Zealand (South Island)
  17. Cesky Krumlov/Prague
  18. Antarctica