A Wild Ride to Discover the Best Lake Toba Has to Offer
Spur-of-the-moment jaunts during big holidays are doomed to have hitches. My husband and I realized this last Christmas as we traveled to Sumatra’s Lake Toba, the largest volcanic lake in the world....
View ArticleA Tale of Two Indias Told Through Food and Dance
India, the second most populous country in the world, is as colorful as Indonesia in terms of its ethnicities, dialects, food, culture and natural landscapes. Having had the chance to visit two...
View Article50 Years On, Quirky Guide to London Still Shows the Way
London. Arguably the best guide to London published this season was written nearly 50 years ago. “Nairn’s London” by Ian Nairn first appeared in 1966 and has been reprinted after fans of the...
View ArticleIn Yangon, a Railway Runs Through It
Yangon Central Railway Station is situated in the downtown of Myanmar’s former capital, Yangon. The city’s largest railway station wasn’t crowded when I arrived on a recent sunny morning; the parking...
View ArticleHow Armenia Shaped the Southeast Asian Skyline
As long as there has been cross-border trade there have been expats. Be they Chinese from poor coastal villages in search of a better life, or unskilled laborers from India dragooned by colonial...
View ArticleEaster Island’s Carnival Magic Seduces Tourists
Far from home on Chile’s Easter Island for Carnival festivities, one middle-aged American woman throws caution to the wind. Stripped down to a thong, she lets a local reveler paint her chest. “If...
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Leave the Kids, Take the Bikini
Club Med Finolhu offers couples and weary city travelers a luxurious holiday gateway on the azure blue waters of the stunning Maldives islands. (Photo courtesy of Club Med Finolhu) It was every shade...
View ArticleFast Visas and Dim Sum: Spain Seeks to Attract Chinese Tourists
Madrid. Spanish five-star hotels are serving up white rice for breakfast as Spain offers quicker visas and seeks more direct flights from China to tap into the surging wave of Chinese tourists. When...
View ArticleA Melting Pot in Malacca City Chinatown
“You chose the right location for staying in Malacca,” my guide Firdaus said as he started to pedal his trishaw through Jl. Tun Tan Cheng Lok, formerly known as Heeren Street, the location of my...
View ArticleTraveling and Giving Back With GoArchipelago
Henry Vienayoko is unlike the stereotypical 20-something startup founder with dreams of overnight success. Having reached his 40s and worked his way for years through multinational companies, he felt...
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Malaysia Still Top Choice For Muslim Travelers: Report
Singapore. Malaysia is the most preferred global destination in the fast-growing Muslim travel market, despite two catastrophic air disasters that hit the country’s flag-carrier in 2014, a survey...
View ArticleSavor Bangkok’s Sights and Sounds at Street Level
For so many years the idea that Bangkok would have a mass transit system was pie in the sky. Grandiose plans were drawn up amid great hoopla before being quietly shelved, so most Bangkokians were...
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Expats Chill with Dubai Desert Off-Roading
Swaihan, United Arab Emirates. Mohammed Iqsaan runs a real estate company in Dubai but off-roading over desert dunes on weekends is his escape from the hustle and bustle of the city. The glitzy Gulf...
View ArticleFor an Inland Adventure on Bali, Only Big Bikes Will Do
” Freedom,” was how Duncan MacRae, the ponytailed head of BMW Motorrad Indonesia described it to me. When I met MacRae a couple of months earlier as he launched the first Jakarta outlet of BMW’s...
View ArticleImagining Singapore’s Writers
” Rudyard Kipling damned us,” Rosemary Lim says ruefully. “He disliked Singapore so much, that he wouldn’t write about us.” It’s tempting to disagree with Lim, my literary tour guide — after all,...
View ArticleHK Goes Halal to Tap Tourists
With ubiquitous skyscrapers, stunning skylines, endless shopping strips and beautiful seafront vistas, Hong Kong has been one of the favorite holiday destinations for Indonesian tourists for the past...
View ArticleChinese Descend on Remote Palau as Wanderlust Deepens
Koror, Palau. Chinese tourists are flocking to the remote Palau islands as China’s growing number of rich seek new frontiers abroad, but not everyone in the Micronesian paradise is happy about it....
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In Yazd, an Eternal Flame Burns Bright
The Towers of Silence in the desert outside Yazd served as funerary structures for the ancient Zoroastrian faith, which is still practiced in Yazd. (JG Photos/Wahyuni Kamah) I arrived at the main bus...
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Where the Zambezi Thunders
A signage welcoming visitors to Zambia at the Victoria Falls Bridge, which connects the country with neighboring Zimbabwe. (JG Photo/Christabelle Palar) Fresh off the election boat in January, traces...
View ArticleSingapore Precincts Evoke Historic Ties to Indonesia
A round the world, the names of streets illustrate a city’s history. This is particularly true in Singapore. As I strolled through the eastern part of downtown Singapore, wandering between North Bridge...
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