15 Mar 09 -
MY GOD, Ryanair's Michael O'Leary would have a heart attack if he saw this. I'm standing in the check-in queue for Britain's first long-haul, no-frills flight to Asia, and they are handing out free booze. Okay, it's just a comically small...
15 Mar 09 -
I SHOULD have known better when the guide said that I could keep any gold I was to discover. Of course, after an hour of fruitless panning there was no gold and I am sure if anyone should discover any, the area would be sealed off and gold...
8 Mar 09 -
MENTION the word cheddar, and most people will think of cheese. Wherever in the world you find cheese, you will find a variety of cheddar. It has been copied the world over, but the original variety comes from an English village called...
8 Mar 09 -
I'M NOT sure when it happened but I've noticed that my travels have gone from the general to the specific. It's like I am now viewing the world through a macro lense rather than wide angle. Take my most recent trip to Hanoi, the...
1 Mar 09 -
AT BEST, we read about zoos in are inthe travel pages and get excited when an endangered species has been successfully reared in captivity in some remote zoo and we make a mental note to drop on by when we are next there. Zoos exist for...
1 Mar 09 -
TRENDY, contemporary, great character and personality and affordable. These are the traits of the modern-day budget hotel non-star-rated establishments labelled budget for their lack of certain posh qualities and fancy facilities as found...
22 Feb 09 -
IPOH became famous for tin which was discovered in the 19th century. Another feature of the capital of Perak is the rounded limestone outcrops, often covered in low-lying cloud, that make the surrounding landscape look like a scene from a...
22 Feb 09 -
CHUNG KENG KWEE Street is a street name familiar to many true-blooded Penangites, but who was the real Chung Keng Kwee? The answer can be found at the ornate Peranakan Mansion along Church Street. The Peranakan Mansion's unique marriage of...
15 Feb 09 -
YES, there were a few people with flowers in their hair but most of the tens of thousands of spectators lining the streets of Chiang Mai last weekend were focused on the millions of colourful flowers that were paraded past them during the...
15 Feb 09 -
WHENEVER anyone asks me why I still travel on a shoestring at the ripe old age of 38, I usually tell them about the time I learned how to play the bagpipes in Havana. Granted, I could probably relate a more typical story about the joys...
