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Kazakhstan's glimmering new capital, Astana, with its other-worldly buildings and the Baiterek Tower, golden egg and all.

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Kazakhstan's glimmering new capital, Astana, with its other-worldly buildings and the Baiterek Tower, golden egg and all.

Kazakhstan today and tomorrow

A slow buzz escalated to a sharp wail as the mammoth Russian-made helicopter prepared for liftoff from the edge of a dusty two-lane highway outside of leafy Almaty. A very gentle uplifting thud signalled the start of our journey over the vast landscape of the Central Asian country of Kazakhstan.

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  • A local fisherman and a bed of coral in the Gill Islands.

    Idyllic Indonesia

    The scene is rusty, dusky, another early evening haze. Outside the airport gates, there’s a procession of broke locals eagerly waving Taksi signs and offering to carry my bag.

  • Elephants guided by mahouts at the Pong Youeng Elephant Camp. The camp operates in an area home to hill tribes from ethnic Karen, Akha, Lahu, Mien, Lisu and Hmong groups.

    THAILAND: Head for the Hills

    It's dawn and the mountain mists are shifting, mixing with my cold-cloud breaths as I huddle near the fire and clutch a cup of steaming tea in a bamboo-pole cup. Below me, down a steep hill, weak sunlight glints off the tin roofs of the bamboo-pole houses. A gibbon calls. Roosters crow.

  • Cycling in high pass before Danba, in China's Sichuan province.

    CHINA'S SOUTHWEST leaves the familiar behind

    I reluctantly agreed to spend the better part of a month this past fall cycling through western Sichuan and Yunnan in China.

  • More than 4,000 kilograms of fruits and vegetables were offered to monkeys to help promote tourism in the area.

    Monkey on your snack

    We have so much to be thankful to monkeys for: They're the butts of our jokes, the typists on our theoretical typewriters and the subjects of our medical experiments (not that they have a choice in that last one). Monkeys help us feel as if we've made some evolutionary progress over the last couple of million years. Yet seldom do we say thank you.

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March 14, 2010

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East End Community Club Winter Carnival & Tournament

Tournament for the 6 & under and 7 & 8 year old hockey teams and the children in the area. ...

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