landof1000smiles

I was literally driving around Bali, on the main road which makes a ring around the island. Near the northern tip, around Campuan, I practically wrecked my motorbike while instinctively pulling over when

I had never really treated myself for my birthday. In fact, throughout my teens and twenties I was usually working on this annual time of reflection and celebration of myself, but towards the end of my

Speaking purely from the subjective perspective of a 30-s something western traveler of Southeast Asia, there are several areas I’ve noticed in which we may enact the axiom “when in Rome, do as the Romans

I was at the farm a few more days before getting down to the last allowed by my visa. Wresting myself from its bucolic environs, I hitched up to Luang Prabang. I would remaining three days of my Laos visa

It was a more or less clear day on the island of Gili Trawangan as my girlfriend and I enjoyed our English breakfast on the beach and waited for our boat to begin to take passengers. We were heading off

With the exception perhaps of the recently departed Nelson Mandela, there are no other political leaders in modern history I can think of who command as much auspice and importance to a country as Ho Chi

Bali has historically been known as a picture-perfect postcard island ever since Westerners began strolling over its pristine beaches nearly a century ago. To a large extent this reputation is well earned-

Beijing offers countless engaging sights for those interested in history, culture and art. Less often mentioned are the many amazing contemporary destinations in the city which beckon to travelers. When

I had spent a week in Beijing, and had soaked up the Great Wall, the Forbidden City, all the palaces and hutongs and markets and museums that I could really handle in that amount of time. Wanting to see

My experience travelling in places usually involves exposing myself to a great many examples of local cultural interests. When I arrive in a new place, one of my favorite things to do is to go to the important

For the past year I have lived in the peaceful, small, traditional and slow town of Ubud in central Bali. Ubud is a place where everyone smiles, where the sidewalks are covered with small offering plates

The drive itself is pretty straightforward. From Jogjakarta you head to Solo, the other capital of Javanese culture, and drive through the city and keep going northeasterly. Traffic tapers off, it begins

Prior to my trip there, I had studied a bit of the history of Timor Leste, one of the youngest countries in the world. Before it gained its independence in 2002, it bore the tragic brunt of a brutal,

I had had enough. I was completely driven to the tether of my threshold of pain. This malignant force in my mouth, which initially was only a problem when I ate ice cream or drank ice-cold water, had now,

As the afternoon lingered on I started to hear more cacophony from outside my bungalow window in Ubud, hunched over my laptop, pecking out more of my manuscript. As the peal of bells, gongs, and wooden

In the past several years I have learned some of the basic things that are essential for travelling well and being baptized by the divine folly of the universe I have seen and experienced enough instances

I was hunting for something interesting to do in Shanghai and came across the Propaganda Poster Art Centre on the always-wonderful traveler’s almanac Atlas Obscura. The PPAC is a private collection-cum-museum

We all have our odd ways of exploring new places. I like to traipse through alleyways and ride around on public buses. I’m not a big fan of obvious tourist attractions. One thing I do love, however, is

The last time I arrived in Hong Kong, I searched the Internet to find some halfway interesting places in that city of banks, offices and escalators, using the fantastic website Atlas Obscura to find out

One of the most common, boring themes in travel writing is a lament about places being “discovered,” thereby becoming popular, played-out and impure. Travelers love to talk about how they were at this