Stephen Brooker Profile

As well as the obvious interests, ie. travel and history, I also enjoy reading, walking, horse riding and vintage aircraft.

Visited Sites Stephen Brooker

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Legend

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Recent Reviews Stephen Brooker


Ha Long Bay – Cat Ba Archipelago

Stephen Brooker UK - 22-Sep-12

We did Ha Long Bay as a one night cruise.

The shear natural beauty of the place is bordering on indescribable, and when coupled with a comfortable junk and excellent seafood, this beomes one of the worlds most romantic places. Loved it znd would go back in an instant.

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Arequipa

Stephen Brooker UK - 10-Sep-08

A beautiful colonial city and an ideal place to spend a day acclimatizing to altitude. Don't miss either the main square or the Santa Catalina Convent both of which are stunning.

As an aside I dinned in an Argentinian restraunt here - enjoying steak, salad and 'chips of the day,' which were made from three different sorts of potato one yellow, one bight orange and one pinky mauve!

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Taj Mahal

Stephen Brooker UK - 10-Sep-08

Some sites Machu Pichu, The Pyramids, Petra are hard to review because they are so icconic, that there seems to be nothing more one can add.

The Taj Mahal is another such WHS, which like the afore mentioned places, really does take one's breath away; such is the power of it's radiant marble symetry.

However it does not function just upon a grandiose scale, up close the exquisite workmanship stuns, the gardens are seductive, and the ancillery buildings shield you from what by comparrison is the vulgar and mundane of the outside world.

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Khajuraho Group of Monuments

Stephen Brooker UK - 10-Sep-08

I have to admit that this is one site I have wanted to visit since first reading about it in a copy of Punch that I found on a train! - And it did not disapoint. The temples themselves are exquisite, this would be enough in itself to justify their inclusuion. But they are set in what can only be described as heavenly gardens.

Sitting there in the late afternoon sun was a sublime experience, which I would recomend to anyone and everyone.

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Fatehpur Sikri

Stephen Brooker UK - 09-Sep-08

I visited this site way back in about 1990, with a rather roguish Indian tour guide - We arrived a full two hours before it officailly opened and he bribed our way in.The result was that we had the entire site to ourselves, which is a huge privellage in a 'deserted' city which is also a tourist Mecca.

We were leaving just as the crowds arrived to replace the birdsong which had accompanied our tour with the din of modern tourism.

That said even when crowded this is a large fascinating, atractive, site, with plenty to see. It is also close enough to the Taj Mahal that you could do both in one day.

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Profile Data

Name
Stephen Brooker
Country
UK
Most Impressive
Petra by Candlelight, all time favourite Avebury, most underated Ait Ben Haddouu which should by up there with the Taj & Machu Pichu.
Proposal
My Flat! & Orcha - India, stunning especially the frescos in the Jahangir Mahal.

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