Sabah shows off one of the world’s last vintage steam locomotives
Every time I go to Sabah, I inevitably end up either savouring the rich cultures and cuisine of the local people in remote villages or hanging out on one of the beautiful islands in the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park, just a few kilometres off the state capital Kota Kinabalu.On my next visit to the [...]
Sexy Sixties are here
No, not for me, but for my dear friend Sandra, who just turned 60.Sandra is a free-flower so there was no point in really organizing a structured birthday party. Although initially we were going to go to Yogyakarta to visit the Borobudur temples, Mount Merapi decided to blow his top off and cast a [...]
Shock. Horror. Scandal. Death of a Tabloid.
I am leaving the UK today with the final edition of News of The World. I bought it on Sunday at a local co-op in Splott Road, Cardiff.There were just three copies of Edition number 8,674 left. The Indian proprietor told me it had been selling like hot cakes since start of business. In all, an extra [...]
Sleepy Luang Prabang wakes up to a mega dilemma
One of Southeast Asia's most charming cultural heritage destinations, Luang Prabang in Laos, is fast approaching a tipping point and facing a dilemma as huge projects invade its space.According to the new Luang Prabang Hotel Market Update (download full report here) by leading hospitality consulti [...]
Stories in the air, Bali on the ground and hey presto, I am in Scandinavia
I landed at Frankfurt airport last night, after a 12-hour flight in which I watched three movies, a television drama, two episodes of British nursing comedy “Getting On” and still managed to get some work done.
Amazing what you can squeeze into a tube of time when you are stuck with nowhe [...]
Survey tips big hunger for travel in new year
One in four consumers across Asia Pacific are looking to get their passports stamped to leave for a vacation in the coming six months, according to the findings from a recent MasterCard survey.The survey, conducted from 13 September to 11 November, covered 10,502 consumers from 24 markets across Asi [...]
The angry customer wins?
As the plane landed, a ball of fire lit the sky. Paris on an early summer morning. Glorious. The promise of a beautiful day ahead in the French capital.Unfortunately, I won’t be enjoying it because I am in transit at Charles de Gaulle to Rabat, Morocco, for a couple of days.Getting here wasn’t e [...]
The moment I transformed from monster to dreamer
It was on the buggy to my suite at Indigo Pearl, Phuket when I realised I was still on WIT mode. The first question I asked of the staff who was driving us was, do you have free Internet in the room?She said no but there’s free Internet in the lobby whereupon my fellow travellers and I (they too [...]
The New World of Google’s New Brave Ali Yilmaz
When I met Ali Yilmaz, the new Head of Travel for Google in South-east Asia, he had just been in his new role five and a half weeks. “That’s four weeks short of the movie,” I said. “So if you were making a movie about those five and a half weeks, what would it be called?”Pausing a moment [...]
Meet the man who changed Singapore’s nightlife
I’ve been meeting a lot of entrepreneurs of late and one of them is Dennis Foo, who was recently given the award for Lifetime Achievement for Outstanding Contribution to Tourism by the Singapore Tourism Board.His journalist friend Ken Jalleh Jr said in the personal tribute he read out on awards ni [...]
