The gargantuan size of Seoul, along with its numerous skyscrapers, creates an awe-inspiring view from the top of Namsan Tower. Mike Beech captures the intensity of this 24-hour city, home to half of South Korea’s population, but also its quieter moments, in this series of photographs
Photograph: Mike Beech
‘Nothing is impossible’ is the unofficial motto for transport in Shanghai, as drivers challenge the laws of physics on a daily basis – sometimes successfully, other times not so.
From: Shanghai: life in the megacity – in pictures
Photograph: Luca Isola
“I fucking hate sand,” he sighed, before settling in with my newspaper and falling asleep. I turned over on to my stomach and returned to the serious business of arse-browning, keeping a wary lookout for any stranger who might stroll up the beach in our direction. My exposed white, dimpled backside was not for public consumption. Unfortunately I, too, must have nodded off.
“Mr Connolly?” A British man in shorts and sunhat was standing over a wary Billy. I woke instantly and twisted round in alarm – then realised too late that although my arse was now covered, my breasts were not. “Sorry to intrude, but could I possibly have… erm…” he looked at me, though not at my face, “both your autographs?”
Billy Connolly: ‘I hate going on holiday’
This is pretty cool, zoom in on Mount Everest in a gigapixel photograph. Click on the image to give it a try. Photograph: GlacierWorks
Straight off the 14-hour bus from Thessalonika. “You staying in Istanbul, man? Wanna share a room? Be buddies for a coupla days?”
He was backpacker Jacques: 6’2”, gelled blond hair, French Canadian. Both of his parents had died six months before and he’d been in therapy since.
“Didn’t work for me, man. Too much thinking. I went to see an Indian shaman instead. He told me, ‘Go live your life. Life is the opposite of death. Go travel. Keep going until you lose your fear’. That’s what I’m doing man. Now where can I get a beer?”
Backpacker Jacques. We could have been twins. Same height, same looks. But he was my polar opposite temperamentally. Me – the stiff, earnest Englishman with my money belt, my guidebook and my fears of being mugged. When the Turkish girls winked, I looked down.
Matt Stanley, a winner in our 2012 readers’ tavel writing competition, meets his alter ego, a free-spirited French Canadian backpacker, and they get up to all sorts. Well, at least Jacques does. Read on here…
Our readers sent in some stunning photographs inspired by an exhibition of work by Ansel Adams that opened this month in London. See a selection of our favourites.
Photograph: Marc Ehrenbold
A new museum charting the history of the Italian gelato opens tomorrow just outside Bologna. Visitors can taste historic flavours and try their hand at making their own, while displays chart the rise of the frozen delicacy in Italy and beyond. Here are a selection of photos from the exhibition
Photograph: Gelato Museum Carpigiani Archive
Clockwise from top left, photographs by: John Lawrence/Getty Images; Fox Photos/Getty Images; Richard Baker/Corbis
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