King Power MahaNakhon is one of the most visually distinctive buildings in Southeast Asia. Up close it looks like a jumbled mess with pieces of the building missing. From a distance though it all makes sense. The missing pieces resemble pixels that are spiralling around the building. The building was completed in December 2016, and […]
The remote mountain magic of Mae Hong Son
Mae Hong Son is in the far northwest of Thailand. So far northwest that it’s just a few kilometres from the Myanmar border. There’s no way to get to Myanmar from here, and it’s not on the way to anywhere. It is though on the way through to somewhere via the Mae Hong Son Loop. […]
Pai – The Shire of Thailand
Pai is in the mountainous northwest of Thailand, about 140KM from Chiang Mai. As a frequent visitor to Chiang Mai I’ve heard all about Pai, yet I had never been. I can trace my reluctance to visit down to the arduous road journey by minivan, and by hippies. On one of my early visits to […]
Chiang Mai trip report – the provincial powerhouse of Southeast Asia
Every time I return to Chiang Mai (which has been often) I marvel at how hard this inland provincial city punches above its weight. After thinking about this I looked at a map of Asia, and I can’t think of a non-capital city (and not a port/coastal city) that has as much to offer as […]
Notes on Macau – Where US casinos and Portuguese heritage meet
When I was in Hong Kong I visited the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, which meant a trip to Macau. I was in Macau unexpectedly last December so I didn’t expect to be back again the following December. I like visiting Macau, even though I’m not into casinos. The UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Historic Centre […]
Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge – 3 bridges and an undersea tunnel on the world’s longest sea bridge
The Hong Kong–Zhuhai–Macao Bridge opened in October 2018, making it possible to travel directly by car or bus from Hong Kong to Macau. The HKZM bridge is an overseas highway with three cable-stayed bridges and an undersea tunnel, so it’s not technically a continuous bridge. However you classify it, at 55-kilometres long it’s the longest […]
Solomon Islands – Reefs and war wrecks in a tropical island paradise
Solomon Islands was my first trip to a pacific island nation, which I was invited to visit as a guest of Solomon Islands Tourism. I must admit that I had to Google where Solomon Islands are, and if they are even an independent country (the Oceania region is my weakest link on travel trivia nights). […]
Notes on Da Nang, 2018 edition – Maybe I will retire here
My latest trip to Da Nang marked a flippening of sorts in my Da Nang / Hoi An travels. Usually I have come to Da Nang on the way to Hoi An (Da Nang being the airport city for Hoi An). I noted in my 2017 trip report how Da Nang is becoming a destination […]
Visiting the Golden Bridge in Vietnam – the bridge held by giant hands in the mountains
If you follow any travel-related news sites you’ve probably seen a photo of a bridge held by giant hands in the mountains. This is the Golden Bridge at Ba Na Hills, near Da Nang in Vietnam. The Golden Bridge opened in June 2018, and it wasn’t long before it starting making the news. The first […]
The Shenzhentrification of Johor Bahru
If you had asked me where the tallest residential building in Southeast Asia is as of 2018 I would have guessed Bangkok or KL. Having got those two wrong, I’m not sure that Johor Bahru would have figured into my top 10 guesses. Indeed, Johor Bahru doesn’t figure much in people’s thoughts in general, but […]
