Travelling in southern Laos is a different experience from the tourist comforts of Luang Phabang and Vientiane in the north. Once I headed off to Champasek there were no more VIP express air-con buses. Instead it was time to get used to regular verbal battles with tuk-tuk drivers and crowded […]
Graceful gilded teak rooflines and fading colonial architecture against a lush natural backdrop gives the former royal capital of Luang Prabang a timeless charm alongside its centuries-old reputation as a stronghold of Lao culture. Set at the confluence of the Mekong and Nam Khan rivers, with limestone karst cliffs and […]
A journey through the beautiful People’s Democratic Republic of Laos is all about rivers and my journey on the ‘Slow Boat’ down the Mekong was one of the most memorable experiences of my travel in Laos. I first crossed the Mekong at the northern Thai border from Chiang Khong to Huay-Xai in […]
No US city does such glamorous high life and such charming street life as New York. Here are some new and old reasons to love this magnificent city. I was relaxing with a cold beer on the Circle Line cruise around Manhattan Island when I heard the tour guide saying to the […]
Amritsar is capital of India’s Punjab province and most famous for the Golden Temple, floating in the water and glinting in the sun. This Sikh holy place is serenely beautiful and the thousands of pilgrims lining up to worship and bathe in the tanks provide a colourful atmosphere. You’ll see more […]
My partner is half Belgian and wherever we travel, it’s pretty certain he will never allow me to find a beer that is better than those brewed in this tiny central European country. Fortunately so far I agree with him: Belgian beers are in every way superb. There are so […]
The Anangu traditional owners of Uluru (formerly known as Ayers Rock) in Australia’s magnificent Red Centre hold this unique rock formation sacred and prefer that people don’t climb it. Along with the obvious environmental damage that comes from climbing Uluru, this is an obvious reason to walk around Uluru rather than […]
I love Italian food, have visited many parts of Italy and eaten many delicious meals but eating out in Naples is where I found the absolute apex of Italian dining. Here you’ll find food with real flavour and Naples is a real city. When you wander the streets you see […]
A tour through the coloured cities of Rajasthan, India, is an amazing spectacle of the wars, honour and extravagance of the Rajputs (now bewilderingly reduced to commoners). There’s Udaipur the white city, Jodhpur the blue city, Jaisalmer the golden city and Jaipur the pink city. Udaipur is almost unbearably romantic, […]