Places I’ve Visited in Asia
Here are articles, with pictures or slideshows, on many of the countries I’ve visited in Asia.
Mostly the trips were for projects, usually for at least a couple of weeks, but many times longer.
In each case I’ve recalled the things that stuck in my mind.
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 [...]
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 [...]
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, [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
