Makassar is the gateway to Sulawesi and is considered as a major culinary destination of Indonesia. Even if you are a frequent traveller to Indonesia you may be surprised to find cuisine here that is not found anywhere else in the Indonesian archipelago. During my visit I sampled a selection of local dishes as well […]
Bus Review: Eurolines from London to Amsterdam
I’ve previously travelled from London to Amsterdam by air and rail+ferry but I had never taken the bus, so for this trip I thought I would try Eurolines. They are always advertising great deals to Paris and Amsterdam and I found a ticket for £18.00 all up (the ticket was £13.00 plus a £5.00 booking […]
A monolith and a meerkat – camping at Namibia’s highest mountain
Brandberg Mountain is Namibia’s highest peak, standing at 2,606 metres. It is also a monolith, so when you cross the northwestern Namib Desert you will know when you see it. I was in Namibia visiting the Mad Max filming locations, which was mostly shot near Swakopmund (this was a press trip on behalf of the […]
On the trail of Mad Max in Namibia
Visiting the filming locations of Mad Max: Fury Road in the Namib Desert Mad Max: Fury Road heralds the return of the Mad Max franchise thirty years after the third film was released. While the Mad Max world is still set in a post-apocalypse Australia, there is a new Max (Tom Hardy replacing Mel Gibson) […]
Notes on Galle: The fort city of Sri Lanka
Galle is a city on the coast of southwest Sri Lanka and is most famous for its fort. The Galle fort is the largest remaining European-built fortress in Asia and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The old colonial buildings and little lanes are utterly charming, even if it has calcified into a full-blown tourist […]
Propaganda posters and a parade – the 40th Anniversary of the reunification of Vietnam
April 30, 2015 marks the 40th anniversary of the day the North Vietnamese Army arrived in Saigon and ended the war. The day is known in Vietnam as liberation day, in the US as the fall of Saigon, and to overseas Vietnamese as Black April. In Ho Chi Minh City (or Saigon) there are hardly […]
Notes on Phu Quoc Island – Southeast Asia’s next big thing
Phu Quoc is an island of Vietnam in the deep south of the country, off the coast of Cambodia. I had never heard of it until I came to Vietnam, and having been in Vietnam for much of the past two years I’ve since heard varying opinions about it. For my first visit, I combined […]
Telok Ayer Market – The historic hawker centre in downtown Singapore
One of my favourite hawker centres in Singapore is the Telok Ayer Market. This food court – also known as Lau Pa Sat – is in a heritage building that is worth a visit in its own right. While a Singapore foodie might tell you there are a dozen other hawker centres that are better, […]
Notes on Colombo: Colonial remnants, cricket, and crows
Reading up on Sri Lanka’s capital city I kept seeing the words “hectic”, “chaotic”, and “bustling” to describe the city, followed tips on how to get out of the city as soon as possible. They write that like it’s a bad thing. To me that sounds like a place I want to visit. I’m drawn […]
My best ever airport immigration experience
There are so many stories online of horror airport immigration experiences that you could start a Tumblr and never run out material (http://shittyairportexperiences.tumblr.com/ is free if you want to be the person to start that Tumblr). In my years of international travel I’ve had some memorably bad border control experiences (some of which were my […]
