Seen one, seen ’em all?
When Catholic faithful took shelter from the mighty Filipino Mount Mayon volcano in the church, the volcano won.
Korean temples are generally very colourful affairs, the walls covered in multi-specie murals.
Getting dressed up in traditional kit to visit temples and traditional villages is a big thing in South Korea.
Cherry blossoms and lanterns compliment a Buddhist temple in the mountains of South Korea.
Serene calm away from the noise of the streets of Makassar, in the Masjid Raya. Indonesia.
Unmissable on Makassar's waterfront, Asmaul Husna mosque is like none I have seen anywhere before.
Not something you'd expect to see in provincial Indonesia, the interior reminded me of the quirky Yugolsav era monuments found especially in Macedonia.
Another Indonesia mosque which shows outside influence, Solo's simple Agung Mosque would not look out of place in parts of central Asia.
Garuda carving at Indonesia's Candi Sukuh temple. The Pyramid-style temple sits high on a hill outside Solo, Java.
Nearby Candi Sukuh is another Hindu temple, Candi Ceto, reminiscent of Balinese temple style.
Java played host to many kingdoms and empires. Candi Bajang Ratu, not far from Surabaya is a Hindu temple from the Majaphit era.
Close to Yogyakarta, Prambanan is the second largest Hindu temple in south-east Asia, after Angkor.
Almost 3 centuries older than Angkor, the similarities are striking.
The whole temple area is generally called "Prambanan", while the major site is Candi Shiva Mahadeva, where the remains of hundreds of temple structures surround the central structure.
An even older, Buddhist temple on the same grounds, Candi Sewu would be a major attraction in its own right if not for Candi Shiva Mahadeva.
In Indonesia, the only bigger Buddhist temple is Borobodur, and was the major temple of the Medang Mataram Kingdom.
This Buddha image at Candi Plaosan is the only time I have seen him depicted with just one leg crossed.
58 shrines and 116 stupa mark this as a major royal temple, where exquisite carvings of Bodhisattvas divinities enliven the outer walls.
In India, there's lots of people and lots of religion, which means lots of temples. Most you'd pass without even noticing, but others are monumental.
Some, like Karnataka's Channakeshava are delicately ordained with dancers, animals, mythica; beings and kings.
Others, like Gangaikonda Cholapuram are giants festooned with giants.
Others are smaller but superbly located, like the cave and lakeside temples of Badami.
3,500km and two difficult borders from Lhasa, Tibetan monks and monasteries colour the streets of Mundgod.
And from the tightly packed streets of Tamil Nadu's Madurai, glimpses of the famed Meenakshi Amman temple.
One of the first truly impressive temples we saw on this trip was Thanjavur Brihadeeswara, in Thanjavur, Tamil Nadu.
Built 1000 years ago by the Chola empire, it is known colloquially, for obvious reasons, as Thanjavur Big Temple.
It is worth making a couple of trips, to see both the morning and evening light. The scale of the temple and the figures which populate the gates and walls is hard to comprehend.
Nowhere near the scale of Thanjavur, Hoysaleshwara temple, also called Halebidu temple, is a 12th-century Shiva temple, one of the greatest works of the Hoysala empire.
Thousands upon thousands of figures are carved into the exterior walls. Dancers, elephants, animals and mythic creatures, musicians and kings, it is a smorgasbord.
While you could walk around the temple in a few short minutes, it is alos very easy to lose an hour or more taking in all the details.
A short bike ride away, Channakeshava is a Vishnu temple of the same era.
An elephant staircase at Dharasuram Sri Airavatesvara, a Chola temple near Thanjavur.
To my untrained eye, this lion figure at Thanjavur Big Temple shows Tibetan influence.
Architecturally superb and finished to perfection, but nonetheless, Abu Dhabi's Sheik Zayed Grand Mosque struck me as soulless and boring.
Sheki is by far the most interesting place in Azerbaijan, the largest silk road city of the Caucasus. The Khan Mosque is just one remnant of that era.
Abandoned Albanian church in Azerbaijan. The Albanians of Azerbaijan are not the Albanians of Albania. Hope that is clear.
In little known Dumat Al Jandal, Saudi Arabia, the Omar Ibn Al Khattab mosque is the first example of a brick minaret in Arabia, probably the world.
Saudi Arabia only opened Medinah to non-Muslims in 2023. The dazzling Qiblatayan mosque is one of the holiest places in the city.
The Prophet Mohamed established the Quba mosque when he arrived In Medinah, making it the site of the oldest mosque in the world. The original building was continually modified until the 1980s, when it was rebuilt.
The second oldest and largest mosque in the world, Medinah's Masjid al Nawabi (Prophet's Mosque) can accommodate a staggering 1.5m people.