[A review of my stay at Capsule Inn Akihabara from my 2007 visit to Tokyo.] Tokyo offers a wide range of accommodation options, but nothing is as quirky as a capsule hotel. The first capsule hotel opened in Osaka in 1979 and they can now be found in major cities across Japan. I stayed at […]
Notes on Tokyo: Godzilla, hi-tech toilets, packed subways, fugu fish
Notes from my visit to Tokyo in April, 2007. Godzilla and I On my city map of Tokyo I noticed a dot marked “Godzilla Statue”. In my mind’s eye I pictured a statue at least one storey high of the lizard, perhaps eating a car, with life size people statues fleeing the scene in terror. […]
Singapore Airport Budget Terminal
[Edit: This is a review from my visit in February, 2008. The Budget Terminal has now closed to make way for Terminal 4.] Singapore Changi Airport is world renown for its award-winning facilities. It is the home of Singapore Airlines and it’s a major air travel hub in Asia. Budget airlines though are not interested […]
Orangutans of Sumatra – Gunung Leuser National Park
Orangutans are the worlds largest living arboreal animal and can only be found in the rainforests of Borneo and Sumatra, Indonesia. These two islands have been logged extensively which has endangered the orangutan population. The North of Sumatra has seen less logging and palm oil/rubber plantation development thus has a the largest orangutan population in […]
Flight Review: AirAsia X – Melbourne to Kuala Lumpur
Flight: AirAsiaX D7 2723 Date: 13 March 2009 From: Melbourne (MEL) To: Kuala Lumpur LCCT (KUL) AirAsia X – Long-haul low cost flying AirAsia X is the long haul brand of Malaysian low cost airline AirAsia. They fly from Kuala Lumpur to the Gold Coast, Perth and Melbourne. They also fly to London Stansted, making […]
Flight Review: easyJet – Gatwick to Gibraltar
Flight: easyJet EZY8901 Date: 13 Nov 2008 From: London Gatwick (LGW) To: Gibraltar (GIB) In October 2007 easyJet bought fellow UK carrier GB Airways. Most of the flights operated by GB Airways have since been integrated into the easyjet network. The acquisition meant that easyJet now has rights to fly to Gibraltar. I was travelling […]
Long Neck Women – Chiang Mai
The long neck women are from Burma/Myanmar, and many live as refugees in Thailand. The long neck women are known as Padaung, a sub-group of the Karen tribe. The Karen tribe villages are near the Thai-Myanmar border, but there are also “villages” near Chiang Mai. I say “villages” as they are really just market stalls […]
Notes on Goa: Matt Damon, hippies, and Portuguese ruins
[Palolem – Goa] Goa is a small state on the west coast of India. It is often referred to as if it’s a town. This former Portuguese colony was once one of the happening places on the overland hippy trail in the 1970’s, and ever since then every hippy worth their salt will tell you […]
A tour of the slums of Mumbai
At every book stall on the streets of Mumbai there are always the same travel books on sale. The one you see the most here is Shantaram, by Gregory David Roberts. The book is a fictionalised retelling of the authors true-life escape from an Australian prison and flight to India, where he ends up living […]
Notes on Mumbai: Bollywood, World Cup Cricket, Shantaram
Welcome to Bombay, Sir Arriving at Mumbai International the terminal looked like it hadn’t changed since the 1950’s. I love it. It’s like a glimpse back in time which you are not afforded in todays modern hub airports of Southeast Asia. I turned on my mobile phone and I received a welcome message from a […]
