Things to Do in The Whitsundays & Hamilton Island

One of the oldest, largest and most revered temple complexes in Bangkok, the Temple of the Reclining Buddha (Wat Pho) is a must-see for all visitors to the Thai capital. The central attraction of the temple complex is its namesake statue, the gold-leaf-covered reclining Buddha, but don't let it distract you from the site's other treasures, including its 95 pagodas, carved narrative panels, and opulent main altar.

This market in Kowloon’s Jordan district is best known for selling men’s clothing and accessories. The market starts at 2pm and really gets going around dusk, when the street is closed to vehicles and shoppers swarm into the street. The activity continues well into the evening.

More than a hundred stalls hung with colorful lights make up the main section of the market, offering jeans, shirts, pants, shoes, phones and watches. There are also some secondhand goods and antiques to be found. Like other street markets in Hong Kong, you’ll get better prices by bargaining.

The Temple Street market is particularly well known for its snacks and stand-up eateries, representing Hong Kong’s unique food culture. You’ll also find quite a few clinics near the market using traditional Chinese medicine for treating illnesses.

The state of Oaxaca is famous for the rugs and blankets of Teotitlán del Valle, a small town 24 km southeast of the capital. Weaving is chiefly a cottage industry in Teotitlán del Valle; you can buy rugs and blankets from street vendors, from hole-in-the-wall shops, or even from private homes.

If you’re lucky, you’ll get to see the artists in action. Although the modern weavers of Teotitlán del Valle work on a style of treadle loom introduced to the area in the 1500s by Dominican friars, Zapotec weaving traditions date back to at least 500 BC. If you visit the Zapotec ruins of nearby Mitla and Monte Albán , you’ll spot consistencies between the geometric wall frescos and the rug patterns of Teotitlán del Valle. Traditional motifs include fleches (arrows), a zig-zag pattern called relampago (lightening) and a floral shape known as the sol Zapoteca (Zapotec sun). Traditionally, these designs are woven from handspun wool colored with natural dyes made from cactus fruits, walnut husks, pecan bark, indigo, and the larvae of cochineal, an insect that lives in the nopal cactus.

If you want to continue your weaving education, check out the interesting little community museum across from Teotitlán del Valle’s mercado de artesanias (craft market).

The famous Terrace of the Lions is a signature image of Delos, as key to the island as the whitewashed windmills of Mykonos.

The Terrace of the Lions was dedicated to Apollo in around 600 BC. Originally, there were up to a dozen big squatting guardian cats lining the Sacred Way; today, only seven remain. The lions have grown weathered with time and the elements, and only their tapering feline shapes suggest their original appearance. Lined up in a row, they sit atop pillars of brick and rubble, looking over the site.

The lions are replicas, with the originals preserved in the site’s museum, a short walk east of the terrace near the visitor pavilion.
You can also see one of the lions in Venice, guarding the entrance to the Arsenale shipyards. The terrace is part of the sprawling archaeological site of Ancient Delos, on the island’s northwest coast. It sits in front of the rectangular Agora of the Italians, south of the Sacred Lake where Leto gave birth to Apollo. Between the terrace and the sea lies the temple of Poseidon.