Letter from Tokyo: So who wants to be a Disaster Chef or a Super Chicken?
Last night, I was having dinner at one of the many hole-in-the-wall Japanese restaurants in Tokyo that every traveller likes to boast about discovering when I had a culinary epiphany of sorts.
Based on a recommendation from a local (the best kind there is), this one was called Hanawasabi, serving [...]
Through The Looking Glass: How travel and home helped Hugh Oliveiro find his voice as an artist
In this first series of articles around our WIT Singapore Conference theme of “Through The Looking Glass”, where we look outside travel in search of different stories and lessons, we feature Singapore-Australian artist Hugh Oliveiro and how his journey, from Singapore to Australia, has influence [...]
Letter from Seoul: Fasten your seatbelts and brace yourself for another golden era in low cost travel
I know it sounds like I am starved for recognition but it always gives me a small buzz when I hand over my Malaysian passport to the immigration officer at Incheon, Seoul and the little machine in front of her greets me in my native language – definitely warmer than the welcomes you get from human [...]
I can see clearly now, but the future is still blurred
As I go through my life without glasses, for the first time in a long, long, long time, I find myself feeling liberated, yet strangely vulnerable.
For the most part of my considerable adult life, I have been shielded by a visible barrier which helped me see the world better yet protected me from [...]
Letter from Amsterdam: Scale Infinity War and Local Avengers
The promise of summer is in the air as I walk through the streets of Amsterdam. The smells from both the canals and coffee shops waft through the air as I stroll aimlessly in a city made for walking and cycling, although these days, bicycles seem to have taken over.
I find crossing the streets in [...]
Wegogo takes a long shot at the long tail – can outsiders to travel and China make a go of it?
They are not your usual travel tech startups. First, they are hardly in the first blush of youth. They had successful corporate careers in blue chip companies in Singapore before they took the plunge into their first travel startup in 2014.
Second, their office is not in some cool co-working space [...]
Hail the future drone-based society – Kotaro Chiba bets big on drones and inbound tourism
Drones will be to society what the mobile phone is now – they will connect us, they will do all kinds of stuff for us, they will be everywhere and they will be invisible.
That’s the vision of Kotaro Chiba, founder of the newly set-up 1 billion yen (US$16m) DroneFund in Japan. The co-found [...]
At last, I am flavour of the month
I was having lunch with a friend in executive search recently when she told me that I am the new black – meaning someone with my profile is currently in fashion.
Having waited my whole life to hear this, my ears perked up over quinoa salad and chicken breast. This kind of food is also the new b [...]
In Amsterdam, lessons from noodles to mobiles, and Palma to privacy
Three more weeks before I head to Amsterdam to run WIT Europe as part of Phocuswright and I am looking forward to shared experiences and lessons between our two continents.
I’ve always seen Europe as more similar to Asia than any other region – it is multi-lingual, multi-cultural and steeped [...]
On the circle of life, scale and experience chase each other’s tails
In many ways I feel the industry is coming full circle – on one hand, you have the giants of scale talking about local experiences and community and on the other, independents and creatives talking about scale, each knowing you need the other to thrive in a digitally-driven world.
At the recent [...]
