The Caodaism - Dai Dao Tam Ky Pho Do, or Third Great Universal Religious Amnesty, is a special belief practised in the city Tay Ninh located 100 kilometers northwest of Ho Chi Minh City - Saigon in Vietnam. I looked into the devine eye, which is the religion`s official symbol, and hoped for a vision. Some people in the sect preyed around me, other played on instruments and song. It was a relaxed, but strange atmosphere. The extravagant interior of the Caodai Great Temple gave me a feeling of being in another world. In the four daily ceremonies the intention was to create a harmonic synthesis of world religions. It is a mix of religions as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam, Confucianism, Hinduism, Geniism, and Taoism. So by looking into the Divine Eye of Caodai...

It`s called the biggest party in the world. The Rio Carnival 2006 starts on 25 February and ends 4 days later, so be ready for the big show! During this time the city will explode in joy and music. There are hundreds of street festivities and bands everywhere. Especially be aware of the gigantic party at the sambodrome parade. Nothing compares!

Finally the snow has come and the Christmas atmosphere in the Norwegian capital Oslo raise to great heights. What would a Christmas be in Oslo without snow? Few capitals have longer winter than Oslo. It's surrounded by forest, mountains and the fjord. Some of Norway's great winter sites are Voss, Beitostølen, Gålå, Wadahl, Geilo, Hemsedal, Kvitfjell, Hafjell, Lillehammer, Lofoten and Tromsø, but in the outskirts of Oslo city centre there are great opportunities for skiing too. Our photos today show the winter wonderland of Oslo in the Christmas preseason. Famous sites and building as Akershus Fortress, Aker Brygge waterfront, the City Council, the main street Karl Johans Gate, the Nobel Peace Prize Institute and the Royal Palace, look all mysterious in the magic sun light.

In Iceland Santa Claus has several nicknames. In addition to Santa - Santas, he or they are called Yulemen, Yule Lads or Christmas Boys. Nobody knows exactly the origin of these names, but anyway the Christmas celebration in Iceland goes on. In the middle of May 2002 I was lucky to the get a glimpse of some Santas at the Blue Lagoon. I thought the Icelandic Santas were seasonal too, but here I could observe him and she enjoyed themselves in the hot pool in the summertime. The Blue Lagoon looks "frosty blue", but it's really hot. The temperature is about 40 Celsius (104F), and the soothing, mineral-rich water is believed to have curative powers. It seemed to me that the Santas really got their extra power from the magic water, and it will make them in better shape for their hard work in Christmas!

The Norwegians have started their Christmas celebration with their fullest enjoyment. It`s very popular to take danskebåtene across the ocean from Norway to Denmark. Shop'o'hoi! For combining partying and shopping on tax free, the Norwegians go with the shiplines DFDS Seaways to Copenhagen, Color Line to Hirtshals, and Stena Line to Fredrikshavn.

Christmas is party time. For many Norwegians, celebrating Christmas is real rock`n roll, and the biggest rocker of them all is Santa Claus. Santa is the world's best traveller, but he is also the world's best dancer.

The bartender just brought me a huge whisky (November 2005). I am at '10 Downing Street', a pub on the second floor of a shopping mall in Pune, Maharashtra - India, the happening university city to the east of Bombay.

It's popular world wide for children to tell Santa what they would like for Christmas, but where do he live? Shall your wishlist be sent to the North Pole, the South Pole, Rovaniemi in Finland - Soumi, or to Savalen or Drobak, Drøbak in Norway, or somewhere else?

Eager tourists who would like to visit Santa Claus! The Santa Claus Air Plains to Rovaniemi, Lapland, in Soumi - Finland, has become a big business. Norwegian media report about heavy traffic in the air across Norway. 90 % of the tourists who across Norway on their way to Rovaniemi are British.

I was in Khajuraho, Madhya Pradesh, city of 1000-year-old temples adorned with all the erotic positions of the Kama Sutra. The temples were rediscovered by a British explorer in the early 19th century after languishing forgotten in the jungle for centuries, and now tourists flock here.

From 17th - 28th February next year you can enjoy hundreds of entertainment opportunities at the traditional Venice Carnival. It's a party with no barriers or borders, and it's arranged in one of the most amazing and famous historic city in the world. For more than 200 years, Venice has been a wonderful place for fancy-dress parties, jokes and sneers. And for over 20 years, Venice has been welcoming masqueraders, visitors and tourists who want to join the carnival and have fun in the late winter.

So this morning on Oct 8th (2005) I wake up and I notice my bed is moving. Weird, I check and it's moving alright. I think neighbours shagging, but the vibration is not coming from the wall so then I think large mammal under the bed. I jump up and shout 'what the fuck'. I get off bed, cross the room and look beneath gingerly, nothing there. After a few minutes it stops.....

The next year is the Peer Gynt Year. Then it`s hundred year after the famous Norwegian author Henrik Ibsen died. Announced in a press release on 14 October this year (2005), the Ministry of Culture and Church Affairs, informed that it has suggested for the National commitee to give 12,7 million Norwegian kroner extra in grant for celebrating Norway's big son. All together this Ministry intend to contribute with 19 million kroner. It`s also proposed to spend 8 millions kroner from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs` budget dedicated to the finale big show in Egypt.

The celebration will be marked with over 300 arrangements around the world. The finale arrangement will as mentioned be in Cairo, Egypt, at the Great Pyramid of Giza. The scene play will be accompanied by music from another famous Norwegian, Edvard Grieg. It will be dance, theatre and music based on Ibsen`s poem about the great adventurer Peer Gynt, inspired from a true person from Vinstra. As dramatically told about in the poem, Peer Gynt talks to the Sphinx in Cairo. It's a travel tale beyond all imaginations.

Ten o'clock Thursday night (20 October 2005), Kath my Aussie travelling companion has gone to bed. I walk toward the bridge over to Hanuman Ghat on Lake Pichola in Udaipur. This is the Venice of Rajasthan, an alluring, seductive city built by the Maharajas.

I am not ready for bed and I want some hard liquor to help me kill my cold. I wait for the first auto rickshaw to come along and I hail it.

In Iceland, not only the sun stays up late, but pub crawls start when punters in England are already being thrown on to the street after last orders.