China 2012: Xi'an Terracotta Army

It's the second time I've been here and the second time I've come away feeling a bit uninspired. I feel it shows in my photography. Looking online at other peoples images, the best take a very low angle with an ultrawide in courtyards and either a closed venue or a hell of a lot of digital erasure of other visitors. Of both my times in Morocco, this is the place I've struggled to capture.

A late afternoon walk around the Estonian city of Tartu.

The description of Aït Benhaddou and in particular it's ksar features many words that are magic to my ears; "UNESCO World Heritage Site", "Indiana Jones shooting location"

Another of those places where it felt surreal to walk the pathways of a place I'd seen in everything from Asterix graphic novels as a kid, to movies via many history books. Every footstep, a connection to the past. I visited on a bright but changeable February morning and the queues were still deep. I cannot imagine how busy it must be at the height of summer.

Late afternoon we arrived in the city of Rabat and our destination The Mausoleum of Mohammed V, which shares the ground with Hassan Tower. The changing colours of the polished surfaces due to the reflected light from the overhead clouds and a sun that was now lowering in the sky brought to mind the Taj Mahal in Agra where I had watched the same phenomena

A night in luxury aboard the RMS Queen Mary. A once proud jewel of the oceans reduced to a floating hotel. She may have been grubby and crumbling in places, but the charm and beauty remained.

By day the Jemaa el-Fnaa is a bustling market with traders, and entertainers seeing a coin or two from the visitors. By night it transforms into a huge open air food court. Brightly lit against the night, with a myriad of scents from the cooking meats and spices.

A true spur of the moment trip. I grabbed my bike and my camera. The next day I wandered the streets as darkness fell and the light and decoration of the intra muros came to prominence.