Hong Kong welcomes visitors from all over the world with a grin The urban embodiment of the balancing act between Chinese and European cultures, Hong Kong has long been one of the most vibrant business centres on earth

As so often in Australia's history, Melbourne was founded through deception when explorer John Batman, an Australian who spoke in several aboriginal languages, made a "deal" with aborigines to lease land on behalf of investors While offering the Aborigines any compensation at all was progressive in a colonial culture that preferred to simply run them off the land, the fact that the native people had little understanding of rents, leases or indeed, the concept that land was something to be bought, sold and leased at all, made his arrangements no less exploitative

Tehran is currently among the most densely populated capitals on the planet, yet for many centuries Tehran was nothing more than a small, insignificant city on the stage of world history Aga Muhammed Khan, founder of the Qajar dynasty, chose Tehran as the capital of the Persian Empire in 1795, largely because of its location on the cool Elbur hillsides

The cost of flying within Italy is often comparable to the cost of train travel, although be sure to include the expense of getting to and from the airport When flying out of Italian airports, always check with the airport or tourist agency about upcoming strikes, which are frequent in Italy and often affect air travel