Searching for Unique: A Traveller's Guide to Extraordinary Experiences

by Nancy O'Hare, Susan Fitzgerald (Editor), Chad O'Hare (Photographer)

Overview

Explore over twenty-five amazing destinations with a focus on hiking and cultural sites away from tourist crowds.

Trek through untouched valleys with more sheep than people in the blustery Faroe Islands. Feel the heat of an ancient Buddhist fire ceremony in the secluded Kingdom of Bhutan. Discover these and more unique places across five continents through bite-sized narratives and on-the-ground travel advice.

Choose from six themes—wilderness treks, little-known hikes, ancient temples, rare festivals, fallen kingdoms and modern metropolises—to find unexpected wonders around our world. Taste the fiery sambal of Brunei’s Gadong Night Market or dance alongside your favourite Malipenga team on Malawi’s Likoma Island.

Peel away your assumptions and get ready to unwrap secluded places and far-off cultures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781775039068
Publisher:	Nancy O'Hare
Publication date:	11/12/2018
Pages:	330
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.74(d)

About the Author

Nancy O'Hare is the author of Dust in My Pack and Searching for Unique. After a twenty-year career living and working around the world, O'Hare now writes about our exciting planet and its most unique places. She has travelled to over seventy countries and lived across five continents alongside her husband whose photography exposes remarkable landscapes and intriguing cultures. Together, they have transitioned from a corporate career to pursue their creative pursuits. Through her writing, she explores our planet, one country at a time.

O'Hare's love for nature and cultures is revealed in narratives pulled from all seven continents. Destinations are structured into themes, such as trekking and ancient sites.

Inspire your inner traveller with her refreshing perspective on little-known destinations.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Introduction

Chapter One: Wilderness Treks

Bhutan—Tackling the Snowman Trek

Bhutan—Treading Mystical Lands along the Merak to Sakteng Cultural Trek

Iceland—Finding Solitude in Eastern Iceland

Chapter Two: Little-Known Hikes

Colombia—Entering the Home of the Sun God in the Páramo de Ocetá

Cuba—Uniting Sierra, Cigars and Solitude in Parque Nacional Viñales

Faroe Islands—Dodging Wind and Rain across Vágar and Gjógv

Portugal—Capturing the Milky Way in Madeira

Chapter Three: Ancient Temples

Bhutan—Chasing Demons in Chimi Lhakhang

Myanmar—Biking through Bagan’s Four Thousand Temples

Myanmar—Meeting Monks in Nyaungshwe

Myanmar—Behold Gold and Treasure at Yangon’s Shwedagon Paya

Sri Lanka—Walking with Pilgrims at Mihintale

Sri Lanka—Scrambling Up the Boulder Temple of Pidurangala

Chapter Four: Rare Festivals

Bhutan—Unmasking the Yak Cham

Bhutan—Glimpsing Sakteng’s Secluded Ceremonies

Bhutan—Burning Arches and Masked Dancers at the Tamshing Phala Choepa

Bhutan—Translating Sutras inside Thimphu’s Buddha Dordenma

China—Unrolling Tibet’s Oldest Thangka at the Gyantse Festival

Malawi—Dancing the Malipenga on the Shores of Lake Malawi

Chapter Five: Fallen Kingdoms

Estonia—Unravelling Tragedy and Myth at Kuressaare Castle

Latvia—Finding Rugged Simplicity at Cēsis Castle

Lithuania—Mingling with the Old and New in Refined Vilnius

Sri Lanka—Delving into the Spiritual Past of Anuradhapura

Sri Lanka—Shifting Waters at the Kingdom of Polonnaruwa

Chapter Six: Modern Metropolises

Bhutan—A Trickle of Change Enters the Secluded Capital of Thimphu

Brunei Darussalam—Discover Bandar Seri Begawan’s Pulse beneath its Formal Facade

Cuba—Losing Yourself in Havana’s Tangle of Art, History and Authority

Myanmar—Mandalay’s Shimmer and Serenity

About the Author

Other Books by the Author

Bibliography

Editorial Reviews

Certainly a keeper…Searching for Unique, O’Hare’s second book is a sincere effort at creating a well-informed travel to remote, challenging places. The matter-of-fact narrative takes readers to heartwarming journey across exotic lands while exploring different social causes: affordable housing, cost of living, and children’s education in developing countries among others.

The Prairies Book Review

Once again Nancy O’Hare transports you to destinations you may not even dream of. It is gratifying that these adventures invoking treks, festivals and fallen kingdoms to name a few are so thoughtfully recounted. To quote from a chapter in Rare Festivals: “ I felt like I had fallen into another world, a valley where arts, tradition and a little bit of modern technology blended together.” Nancy’s unique stories will take you chapter by chapter through these communities and landscapes and will give you a different perspective to your interactions in your next travels. Searching for Unique was just that, a compilation that threads together Nancy’s travels in a way that allows you to pick up any chapter and immerse yourself in her next adventure. Not only that, Nancy provides invaluable information at the end of each story in hopes that this may be a jumping off point in your own ‘search for unique’.

Nancy McNair, travel lover and marketing enthusiast

From the Publisher