A friend who is far away is sometimes much nearer than one who is at hand. Is not the mountain far more awe-inspiring and more clearly visible to one passing through the valley than to those who inhabit the mountain? Khalil Gibran

Escarpments viewed from Ubirr rock, in the east of Australia's Kakadu National Park. Turn 180 degrees, and the views of flat, floodplains full of magpie geese.

Although Australia's Kakadu National Park is largely flat, occasional hills like these around Yurmikmik in the south west of the park, are found.

A guard tower and a minaret, two common sites in Muscat, capital of Oman. Rugged mountains hem the city in to the coast.

Nizwa, in central Oman, is a historic town of forts, mosques and suoqs. The surrounding area is ringed with mountains to explore.

The southern coast of Oman, from Salalah to Yemen features dramatic hills and cliffs plunging into the Arabian Sea.

Ethnic Tajik and Uzbek families graze livestock and grow fruit in the fertile valleys of the Uzbekistan's Nuratau mountains.

The curtain of clouds are pulled back to reveal the Tianxiang temple clinging to the mountains in Taroko.

Some of Taiwan's best hiking and biggest trees are in the Alishan Forest Recreation Area. Some of those monsters are more than 500 years old.

Several small village on Route 169 can be accessed from Alishan's towns like Fenchihu. The aboriginal villages are culturally and linguistically different to the main ethnic groups of Taiwan. And the hiking is good!

Between Taiwan's famous Sun Moon Lake and not so famous town of Jiji, Pinglai Liuliguang Suspension Bridge's glass bottom puts it on the insta-map, but the mountain views are their own reward.

A short distance from a Royal agricultural project ar Doi Ang Khang, some of the beautiful hills along the Thai-Burma border.

A few hours by bike north-west of Chiang Mai, Arunothai is the last town before the loosely closed Burmese border. I found some of the prettiest farms and villages in Thailand.

Long before Pai became the "it" town, further up the road was Mae Hong Son, one of the most pleasant towns in the far north of Thailand.

Villages on the slopes in and around Doi Pha Hom Pok National Park in Thailand's far north cultivate rice in the limited flat land available.

Watching the sun go down behind the mountains of southern Laos, from Chiang Khan, Thailand, on the Mekong.

Namibia is an extremely flat country, with these rare hills stopping the rain and moist coastal fogs from reaching the interior.

A small valley on a hiking route through the dry hills in Namibia's Naukluft region offers a cool dip in the heat of the day.

Climbing up these sand hills is every bit as challenging as a forested green one. One step forward, two steps back.

I did not see anyone carrying these great baskets of produce, in the hills west of Ceb City, Philippines.

Osmena is Cebu highest mountain....except it isn't. There is another one, just a bit higher, but much harder to get to, so everyone just pretends!

One of the Philippines' most famus sights are the Chocolate Hills, which cover the centre of the island of Bohol.

I have no idea how they were formed, but when the forest is dry and brown, the hills resemble chocolate drops.

Still in Bohol, I tried a number of backroads in and out of Lobok, and kept coming across scenes like this.

An expat in Lobok told me the road to the coast down from Sierra Bullones was not to be missed. Good call.

The 900 person village of Batad is nestled into the hills, into which thousands of kilometres of stone rice terraces have been built.

For almost 30 years of travelling, I didn't make it to the Philippines,, but had always wanted to see the ancient rice terraces, and the hanging coffins, which are in the same area.