Visit Tagaytay and Matabungkay, Philippines

March 6, 2010
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There are two great places to visit a couple of hours’ drive South-West of Manila: Tagaytay (about an hour’s drive) and Matabungkay (about 2 hours’ drive) Tagaytay is easily doable in a day from Manila. It sits on the Northern edge of Lake Taal, and inside the lake sits the Taal Volcano. The volcano is [...]

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A Quick Video Tour of Stanley, Hong Kong

March 4, 2010
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Trip to 100 Islands, Philippines

February 25, 2010
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One of the disappointing things about Philippines is that many of the really beautiful places are not within easy reach. Back here I talked about Baguio. It’s a 7 hour drive North of Manila, but at least there are hotels you can stay at up there, so an overnight stay is easy. Not so with [...]

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Temples and Poverty in Bangkok

February 23, 2010
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The opening of Suvarnabhumi Airport in Thailand a few years ago has hugely improved the experience of travelling in and out of Bangkok – except when political protests close it down. Today it’s an efficient airport – meaning that the environment is nice, the immigration process is efficient and your bags come through quickly. Transportation [...]

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Trip to Baguio, Philippines

February 18, 2010
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About 7 or so hours drive North of Manila is Baguio. It’s located nearly 5,000 feet above sea level in the middle of the mountainous part of Northern Luzon. And it’s spectacular. At least the countryside around it and some of the developments are. The city itself is like many other Philippine cities – colourful, [...]

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Lunch on Cheung Chau, Hong Kong

February 15, 2010
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Cheung Chau Island is about a 1-hour ferry trip West from Hong Kong Island (towards Macau). It’s primarily a residential island and much smaller than Lamma. It has a different feel to Lamma (at least to Yung Shu Wan on Lamma), because it’s a lot less cosmopolitan. Lots of shops too, but mostly catering to [...]

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Lunch on Lamma Island, Hong Kong

February 11, 2010
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Hong Kong equals shopping. And it’s true that a large feature of Hong Kong is its shopping. It’s often why people travel to Hong Kong, and it’s largely what many of the local tours focus on. But Hong Kong has some absolutely spectacular countryside, which you’ll only see if you take a ferry out to [...]

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Macau: Vegas in the East, and then some

February 9, 2010
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I was in Macau two weekends ago for a 50th birthday party. It was held at a restaurant in the Venetian – an amazing development that contains an entire shopping complex complete with a real live canal and Gondolas you can punt around in. And lots of restaurants. And Casinos. And a major hotel. Without [...]

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Delhi to Chandigarh By Train

February 6, 2010
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I’d arrived in Delhi from Hong Kong at 1:00 am, grabbed a couple of hours sleep and was standing on the platform at Delhi Railway station by 6:30, when the train was supposed to leave. Only to be listening to announcement after announcement explaining that trains from various locations were delayed. By several hours, in [...]

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6 Months in Myanmar

February 3, 2010
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I quickly learnt not to take my mobile phone to Myanmar (Burma) when it was confiscated at the airport on the way in. Actually, there wasn’t much point in me taking it in the first place because there wasn’t a mobile network there at that time. The reason I was there was to plan and [...]

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Welcome to Best Family Vacations in Asia

February 1, 2010
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Welcome to Best Family Vacations in Asia! This is the first in what will be a series of articles recalling the experiences I’ve had over the past 15 years travelling and working in Asia. It’s been a lot of fun and there’ve been some tough times too.  But I wouldn’t have missed it for the [...]

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