Asia

Night markets in Southeast Asia are a feast for the senses. The chatter of the crowd and the smell of sizzling meat fills the air as you wander through a row of stalls packed with silver jewelry, pirated DVDs, souvenir t-shirts, charm bracelets, key chains and brightly patterned sarongs. You are sipping on a cold freshly squeezed papaya and banana …

It’s hard to spend much money in Vietnam – by ‘normal’ standards at least. But when you’re backpacking, it’s amazing how quickly $1.30 suddenly becomes too expensive for a big meal and you find yourself nearly passing out with heat and hunger as you traipse around in search of something $0.40 cheaper. I’ve been travelling around Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam …

Westerners often find Japanese culture a little strange – in a good way. It’s different and intriguing, which is what makes it so much fun to explore. When you visit Tokyo, dive straight into the weirdness and embrace it and you’ll have an exciting and memorable trip. You’ll never struggle to find something to do, whether strange or relatively ordinary. Tokyo …

Bukit Lawang is a small village in Northern Sumatra, a popular destination for travellers who want to immerse themselves in the wild green jungle. The separation between jungle and village is blurry here – monkeys run across the roofs of the houses and you can hear the cicadas droning on at night. This is a peaceful and laid back place, …

We booked the cheapest accommodation we could find in Hong Kong. It ended up being one of the strangest buildings we have ever encountered. In fact, it’s not one building at all. Chungking Mansions consists of five 17 story buildings linked together via a shared base. This labyrinthine complex started out as an upmarket residential estate in the 1960s. Since …

Bustling and colourful Hanoi is a lot of fun. However, during your stay you might want a change of pace. Why not take one of these exciting day trips from Hanoi? If you feel like venturing beyond the city and exploring somewhere different, there is a lot of choice in the surrounding area. Here are five of the best options …

Myanmar was like nowhere else I have ever been. Exploring this country felt like stepping back in time. The locals strolled the streets in traditional longyi and chewed betel nut, their teeth stained bright red. People still made their way around in horse and cart and picked up their daily haul of fruits and vegetables at the open air marketplace. …

Bangkok is famous for its rooftop bars. They offer a chance to take a break from the bustling streets and admire the city from a sky-high vantage point while sipping a drink. While I love the Thai capital – I know it can be a little bit intense at street level. Scruffy stray dogs trot past street noodle stalls, rats …

Emerald green tea plantations, juicy ripe strawberries, misty mountain tops, overgrown jungle trails, rolling hills and tiny villages – sound like your kind of place? The Cameron Highlands of Malaysia were one of my favourite places we visited during 10 months in Southeast Asia. The high altitude and cool temperatures were a refreshing treat after the sweltering heat of the …

My thigh muscles ached as I pushed the pedals of my bicycle slowly, the tires crunching along the dirt road. Sweat poured down my forehead and collected at my chin, dripping off my face in fat drops. My t-shirt was soaked through between my backpack and my lower back, sweat pooling at the base of my spine. The long road …

We arrived in Delhi early afternoon. I had worked out the metro in advance and our hotel was only a 10 minute walk from the station. We emerged from the metro station, avoided the insistent tuk tuk drivers and stopped for a moment to work out the general direction we should be heading. A helpful man pointed us in the …

The second largest city in Myanmar, Mandalay was the last location of the royal capital before the country was under British rule. Throughout the colonial period it was the centre of Burmese culture and Buddhist learning. When Burma gained independence from Britain in 1948 the city remained the main cultural and economic centrepoint of the country. Some tourists skip right …

The Songkran Festival represents the Thai New Year, transformation, washing away the old year and getting a clean start. Thai people also clean their houses, visit their relatives and give offerings to monks. However, the main action you’ll see in the streets is people throwing water at each other. Here on Kai Bae Beach on Koh Chang the Main Street was busy …

When I first started travel writing, I never thought I would be so keen to write a blog about what is essentially a food court. However, this is no ordinary food court. Siam Paragon Gourmet Food Hall is so much more than that.  The food court within the Siam Paragon shopping mall in Bangkok is an international food paradise featuring …

Overnight sleeper buses are not as uncomfortable as you might think. Sure, they might not give you the best night of sleep – but they offer a couple of other advantages. First of all, they will save you from having to spend money on accommodation that night which is great if you are on a tight travel budget. Plus, you …

We just visited Bangkok for the 4th time since 2011, you might wonder why we spend so much time in one city when there are so many other places we could visit. Below are the reasons we tend to use Bangkok as our base while we travel in Asia. 1. Cost and quality of living The cost of living in Thailand is very …

India is a bit of an intimidating destination, even for the seasoned traveller. It’s chaotic, intense, busy and overwhelming at times, but it’s also beautiful and fascinating. Arriving in India for the first time is a steep learning curve and it takes some time to get used to this bewildering country. Lee and I spent a month travelling around India …

When I realised that Lee and I would be travelling in India during the Holi Festival, I was thrilled. It had been a festival I had known about for many years and now I would finally get to experience it first-hand. Holi takes place in March and it is one of the most important festivals in the Hindu calendar. It …

One of the most stressful things for many people when planning a big trip is working out which countries require a visa, which don’t, how much they cost, where to apply, when to apply and a million other visa related questions. I will try, as best I can, to answer these questions in this blog post but as visa requirements …

There’s no better way to get a real taste of Asia, Vietnam in particular, than by hitting the streets for some of the country’s best foods. Whether you’re in the country for the weekend, an entire month or longer, one of best experiences to complete your getaway is a taste of Vietnam’s popular street foods. Some of these dishes have …