Singapore
To Singapore With Love, Oh Singapore. A utopia is what you are to me. I have nothing but good things to say about you. Some people might call you dull, maybe even sterile, but what do they know? Yes, you’re predictable – everyone knows you have some rather...
Cameron Highlands, Malaysia
One hundred forty-one kilometres per hour. No wait… one hundred forty-three…. no, no… one hundred thirty-nine…. yep… yep, holding steady at one hundred thirty-nine. That, according to the on-screen speedometer in front of me, is the speed...
Penang, Malaysia
Penang in Malaysia is a 3-hour ferry ride south through the Andaman Sea from the duty-free island of Langkawi. Ceded to the British in 1791, today Penang’s UNESCO-listed capital of George Town is a bustling city of contrasts – wide, modern streets run parallel...
Langkawi, Malaysia
It’s 5 p.m. on… on… just checking… on Thursday. It’s my second day on this my second trip to Malaysia. I’m on Pentai Cenang, a 2 kilometre beach on the west coast of the Malaysian duty-free island of Palau Langkawi, which itself is just off the...
Railay Beach, Krabi, Thailand
A beautiful isolated series of beaches & a perennial backpacker favourite whose karst cliffs also make it popular with the rock climbing community.
Chiang Mai, Thailand
Thailand’s second city, the largest city & capital of the north, a photogenic cultural hotbed & jumping-off point for many northern attractions.
Tiger Kingdom, Chiang Mai, Thailand
Tigers. Stunningly beautiful creatures. And in Tiger Kingdom, Chiang Mai, northern Thailand, you get to spend time in an enclosure with them.
Golden Triangle, northern Thailand
As I type I’m in the Akha Hill guesthouse situated in the mountains 23 kilometres outside Chiang Rai, itself a 3-hour bus ride north of Chiang Mai. I’m in extreme northern Thailand, in the so-called Golden Triangle region not too far from the border with...
Chiang Rai, Northern Thailand
I’ve spent the last while in Chiang Rai, northern Thailand, taking a look around. This is (almost) extreme northern Thailand, not too far from the border with Burma (some call it Myanmar). Having a look around didn’t take long. There’s not a whole...
Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok is the the capital, largest city and chief port of Thailand, the city that has dominated the country’s urban hierarchy, as well as its political, commercial and cultural life, since the late 18th century. It’s also one of the leading cities in...
KLIA Layover
One thousand three hundred eighty-eight days. That’s a long time & that is how long it has been since I last travelled in earnest, meaning the last time I lived out of a backpack, used a guidebook & lived to a daily budget. It has been that many days since I...
Gwanghwamun Gate, Seoul, South Korea
Gwanghwamun is the main and largest gate of Gyeongbokgung Palace, the largest & most important of the Five Grand Palaces of the Korean Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897). The gate, marking the southern entrance to the palace grounds, is located at the top of Sejongno,...
Boracay Island, Philippines
Still somehow the king of the Philippines’ many beautiful islands, little Boracay (9 kilometres long by 1 kilometre wide), right in the epicentre of the Filipino island party scene, attracts hordes each & every year but yet somehow still manages to re-build itself...
Jeju-do (Island), South Korea
“Visiting the tube is a cold (very cold), wet &, sporadic colourful lighting aside, dark experience. But the reward for walking/stumbling that aforementioned 1 kilometre in cold darkness? You get to feast your eyes on a 7.6 metre lava column, the largest known lava column in the world.”