Weekly travel reads: Overland from Bali to Leeds

[The Travel Wire #87] Australia’s famous Twelve Apostles, Songkhla’s hidden charm, Tashkent’s extraordinary metro stations, and more travel reads.

Travel reads

• Bali to Leeds Day 1: Bye Bye Bali [Couchfish]
Stuart McDonald from Travelfish took a (mostly) overland trip from Bali to Leeds in 2025. His newsletter (Couchfish) is now posting a daily travelogue of that trip for the next 64 days (here is Day 2, Day 3, and Day 4).

• It took millions of years for Australia’s famous Twelve Apostles landmark to rise out of the sea [Smithsonian Magazine]
“The iconic tourist destination provides a beautiful view, but also represents a physical record of Earth’s climate history.”

• Songkhla’s hidden charm: the town poised to put southern Thailand on the tourist map [South China Morning Post]
“In southern Thailand, the erstwhile Sultanate of Singora existed as a melting pot of Thai, Malay and Hokkien cultures. Its successor carries this idiosyncratic fusion into the present day.”

• The people’s palaces: Tashkent’s extraordinary metro stations [Eastside]
“From above ground, there’s nothing to signal that the metro station is anything but ordinary. A bold “M” in red and blue marks the location, with the stop’s name spelled out in a plain font. A flight of stairs descends into the earth.”

• Chasing the rare ‘lunar rainbow’ at Victoria Falls (archive) [BBC Travel]
“A “moonbow” is one of nature’s rarest sights – and Victoria Falls is one of the few places on Earth where travellers might catch it.”

• Marseille [The Unplugged Traveler]
“Or: France for beginners.”

• Why I keep going back to Taiwan (as a digital nomad) [Stories of Milo]
“I just ended my 4th visit to Taiwan in 2 years… and this one was 6 months long! Here are the many reasons why I keep returning:”

• Why Athens is having its most compelling moment in decades [Escape Artist]
“The Greek capital emerging from its difficult decade with remarkable energy and renewed appeal.”

• Blame it on the spirits [Marklands]
“A white English male sets out to write a straightforward travel blog about Chile and instead gets mixed up with singers, poets, generals and ghosts.”

• How I make anywhere feel like home [Steeped in Travel]
“The small rituals that turn unfamiliar places into somewhere I belong.”

• A love letter to Hawaii (and Japan) [Dreaming in Japanese]

• Dolphin paparazzi in Zanzibar [Travelling Troubadour]
“Walking away from a cauldron of chaos off of Zanzibar’s Mnemba Island.”