Letter from Siem Reap: Jolie spotting, Khmer home lunch and elephant playtime
A return to quieter days and richer experiences
I FIRST visited Siem Reap circa 1995 when it had just opened to international tourism. Then, the best way to appreciate the scale and grandeur of the Angkor temples was by aerial view from a military helicopter because going by foot was still hazardou [...]
Stuff it, get out there and travel
Australia yours to explore, Thailand amazes A-Z, Cambodia awaits
I never thought I’d be excited to hear an Australian accent in my living room, telling me “Australia is yours to explore” but the first time I saw the Tourism Australia television commercial, I hopped with joy like a kangaroo.
[...]
See you next Lunar New Year in the metaverse
Three years on, The Great Digitisation of celebrations
AND so out goes the Ox, in comes the Tiger – and it seems the beautiful beast just slipped in on a whisper, rather than a roar, in real life. In the virtual world, well, that’s another story and I am convinced that by next year, with or [...]
Imagine new NFT world: How tech can bridge art, culture and travel to alter spaces and places
OVERHEARD while walking the dogs this week.
“I am an artist and now I can make my own
NFT.”
“So cool ya, can make our own art and
sell.”
Curious to find out the source of this
exchange, I turned around and saw two young boys – probably no more than 12
years old – striding alon [...]
Plight of Cathay Pacific and The Great Talent Crunch That Looms
Scoot, Accor speak of staffing challenges in ramp-up to recovery
WHEN I was a kid, I dreamt of travel and thought the best way to do this would either be a flight attendant or tour guide. In the end, I found another way – I’d have been a disaster as a cabin crew – but millions of kids had [...]
What a journey ahead – buzzwords for 2022
New Normal, Metaverse, “I minted my own NFT”, Connectivity – what’s yours?
WELL, 2021 has been quite the journey and it looks like we could be in for another journey in 2022, the way the year is starting out. And there, I’ve done it – committed the crime of the journalist’s profess [...]
Welcome to a year that requires grit, strength and a leap of faith
CLOSING out the year, battered by news of yet another Greek tragedy unfolding in our world and the travel industry, I was determined to start 2022 on an optimistic note.
So I listened to an interview with Espen Fadnes, one of the world’s most famous base jumpers, who I think is the most optimi [...]
Here’s to more jetlag and more “defiant soldiers” in 2022
THIS is the longest jetlag I've ever had, and I am enjoying every moment of it.
In my youth, or as we would say in Singlish “when young time”, I reveled in my jetlag. Those sleepless hours in the night, when everyone was sleeping, were the best time for writing – no interruptions bar the o [...]
Ready to be a giddy GOAT? Yes, it’s time to go BIG
Yeoh Siew Hoon feels like a kid in a candy store after a marathon trip across the US and Europe
I’VE always fancied myself to be a bit of an eagle (free, fast and flying high) or an owl (wise and nocturnal) – by the way, my new favourite bookstore is now The Learned Owl in Hudson, Ohio [...]
Letter from Paris: Down here, it’s normal. Out there, it’s not
“I HAD forgotten how much I missed this,” said the passenger seated next to me as our aircraft taxied to the gate at Newark Airport.
“This?”, I
asked politely, even though I was anxious as hell to get off the plane given
the flight had been delayed by two hours and I only had 30 minutes [...]
