A Journal of Travel Tales Across 72 Countries
The mountains seemed to have been lit up with a string of festive fairy lights, all bobbing up and down and snaking their way up the steep slopes in the inky darkness of a moonless night. The effect was magical, as though we were witnessing …
Authentic Italian cappuccino, draft beer, German bakes, Swiss confectionary and a Finnish sauna at 3,300 metres above sea level? No, I am not in the Swiss or Austrian Alps where these can be hoisted up on aerial ropeways or cable cars. I am at a …
No artist’s palette could have reproduced the colour scheme as strikingly. On the one side are the emerald mountains – majestic and so steep that they appear to rise almost vertically. On the other, the dazzling white beaches with their fine powdery sand interrupted by …
His beady eyes seem to size me up as he weaves circles around us, each circle nudging closer and closer until his body brushes against my hand. He seems friendly enough. I put out my hand gingerly and pat his slippery back. There is a …
As the first rays of the rising sun caress its smooth flanks, Uluru glows red-hot against the surrounding flat scrubland. From this height, it seems every bit as iconic and seductive as the posters make it out to be. But there is no time to …
The Clipper ferry from Seattle splices the mist and shoots through the bay like an arrow. We’re headed towards Victoria in Vancouver Island, which can well seem like the edge of the earth! After all, it is the last inhabited island in the Pacific Northwest …
For those of us who’ve glimpsed the cavernous, dust-filled and eerie crater of Mt.Vesuvius, Bali’s volcanoes come as a delightful surprise. They are as green as they come, their slopes, once overrun by molten lava, are now robed in chequered emerald rice paddies swaying gently …
Zanzibar sounds more exotic than it actually is, especially for those of us hailing from the Indian subcontinent with its rich tapestry of cultures and ethnicity. This island off the coast of east Africa has been a melting pot of many cultures for centuries – …
You’re on cloud nine, literally, as your vehicle teeters precariously on the hairpin bends that dot the 171 kilometer-long road from Phuentsholing to Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. On one side is the lush green valley polka-dotted with red rhododendron blossoms and on the other, …
1200 km Return – 5 Days What do you do when you’re stuck in Singapore during a long weekend? Why, what most Singaporeans do – drive to Malaysia. This was a family trip with husband, two sons and daughter-in-law. We left Singapore early in the …