Readers' travel photography competition: December – the winners

Work, rest and play feature heavily in this month’s selection of readers’ images. Scroll down to see the entries, and winners, judged by Mick Ryan of fotovue.com. Monthly winners will be displayed at a year-end exhibition at the Guardian’s London office; the overall prize is a fantastic Secret Fjords’ self-drive holiday to Iceland for two people with Discover the World

Sylvie Bosse

I perched on a terrace of an isolated temple on Bagan, Myanmar, and the scenery in front of me was magical, with the sunset projecting this incredible light

Chloe Beale

Evening chaos in Bangkok’s Chinatown, where food vendors fill the pavements and customers compete with traffic for road space. The food is worth risking your life for!

Tariq Benson

My wife and I looking towards Mount Fitz Roy at Laguna de los Tres at the end of a five-hour trek in the Patagonian wilderness. On arriving at the highest point of the path, we were rewarded with unforgettable views of the majestic ‘smoking mountain’. We spotted this boulder in the azure glacier melt water and had to jump on to it for a photo.

Zoey Barton

The Wagah border ceremony between Amritsar, India, and Lahore, Pakistan. It was clear that woman and men were to be separated when celebrating the ‘lowering of the flags’ ceremony, which takes every evening before sunset. The colours and the excitement of the women gathered together joyfully reflected their strength.

James Bridle

A race to the treasure: horses are pulling excited tourists and workers to the bottom of the Siq, the main entrance to the ancient city of Petra in southern Jordan, where the famous Treasury is carved into the rock face.

Hamish Scott-Brown

Early morning in Mandawa, rural Rajasthan: it was the morning of Diwali and the streets were swept by smiling women in brightly coloured sarees as I took an early morning cup of chai. Celebrations started later, when darkness fell.

Photograph: GuardianWitness

Rita Long

I had just walked down from St Georges Castle, overlooking the historic centre of Lisbon, to have a coffee in the square, when this dance troop turned up for an impromptu practice. I was drawn in by their passion and tried to capture their pure joy in that moment. The feet off the ground, and the abandonment from the ordinary, made me and everyone else feel their joy too.

Photograph: Rita Long/GuardianWitness

David G Coomber

Locked in a 1950s bubble, Havana is probably the most unique living museum of modern times. A living heaven or hell – depending on your views about consumerism.

Claire Majury

I spotted this Mayan woman walking home up the hill with her shopping in Honduras. I felt the backdrop of the houses and colours captured the essence of the town.

Justin Saunders

Snowdonia. After a 5am start on Saturday morning, I was hoping for sunrise, but the forecast was for fog. I decided to try something different, using the fog to create atmosphere and tranquility from this scenic spot. We made a short trip through a small wooded area, then to our delight the landscape opened up and we were stunned by this landscape before us. At 7am it was truly magnificent

Emma Keogh

Sunset over Crosby Beach, near Liverpool, with Antony Gormley’s art installation Another Place. The life-size cast iron sculptures attempt to replicate the the ebb and flow of the tide to discover people’s relationship with nature.

Jonathan Stevenson, runner-up

Japanese macaques posing for the cameras at Jigokudani Monkey Park, Japan MICK RYAN, JUDGE: This image sums up what travel photography is like sometimes. As the world becomes more crowded and photogenic subjects become more popular, we sometimes have to be happy sharing space with others talking photographs and, sometimes, turn the lens on those taking the photograph as a reflection of ourselves.

Keith Britton, runner-up

This was taken above loch Garry in the Scottish Highlands. I loved how the low sun lit up the steamy breath of the highland cattle, making jewels from the dewdrops on the grass. MICK RYAN, JUDGE: Away from the urban attractions we visit are vast tracts of semi-wilderness where we can find solitude. Not many people like to walk to far from a road. It is when we stretch our legs - and our comfort zone - that moments like this appear.

Ben Moore, winner

The gorgeous little children of the Hamar tribe in southern Ethiopia were only too happy to make this circle of feet for me, laughing their heads off all the time. MICK RYAN, JUDGE: Maybe a set-up shot, but many are. The most poignant memories of a trip often aren’t the grand vistas or the glorious sunrises and sunsets, but the smallest details. These children sitting in a circle and this lovely composition of just their toes, feet and legs, says so much. You decide what