It was evening when I shot this picture at Humayun’s Tomb, one of the best monuments standing in Delhi. What inspired me to capture this image was the dramatic correspondence between the lady’s bright-blue-and-floral sari and the marigold flowers that are typical of the autumn season in the north of India. The golden light added an element of warmth to the picture.

By virtue of its Employee Ownership Scheme, the Soria Moria Boutique Hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia, has raised the bar on local travel and hospitality by becoming the country’s first employee-owned hotel. In fact, each member of the staff, from housekeeping to front desk, and from kitchen and restaurant workers to the local management, is an owner.

When Italy native Mario Difra packed his bags and hopped on a plane to southern Laos – his third-place prize in the Mynatour Ecotourism Contest – he knew he was diving into a great adventure, all made possible by Teamworkz and whl.travel. On his seven-day journey on the waters of the Mekong River and through the treetops of the Champasak jungles, however, Difra recorded a parallel journey that takes travellers into the heart of local Lao life.

This week’s video spotlight is a beautiful video portrait of what you find when you look beyond the plain facts about a destination and its major tourist attractions. The little visions are both inspiring and wonderfully revealing about the local life in Hanoi, Vietnam’s political centre and a prime tourist spot.

For a long time I had dreamed of running away from Kiev, but, for many reasons, I was tied to my city life. Then, during one of my annual small trips around Ukraine, I accidentally found the village of Busha. It was then that I knew that I’d soon be living here – and the very next year I began my new life. I have finally found what I was looking for and am eager to share it with visitors, who can stay in my home.

This picture, showing a gondolier during a work break, was taken near St. Mark’s Square, one of the main tourist spots in Venice, Italy. Although the area is always bustling, with people rushing around the place, this picture reflects one of those quiet moments that you can only glimpse when wandering a few corners off the beaten path, in Venice and elsewhere in Italy.