Letter from Delhi & Shanghai: Meet the two giants shaking up travel & Asia
As I stood at the immigration queue at Delhi airport, just two days after I had departed Shanghai, I was mindful that I had just gone from one mega city to another, two giants that are leading what experts are calling the Asia Decade, or maybe the next two Decades.
In terms of population, both ar [...]
WIT Specials: Airbnb reimagines a new breed of OTA with its venture into Trips
Even as regulations are being placed on alternative accommodation around the world, Airbnb is entering a second travel vertical – tours and activities – with its November 2016 launch of Trips.
And as with the accommodation space, it raises many questions – what kind of impact will it have o [...]
WIT Specials: “Regulations around alternative accommodation overdue”
The big news to hit the newstands in past weeks was of Singapore being the latest city to crackdown on alternative accommodation, leaving a noticeable fissure in Airbnb’s global profile. Singapore follows suit behind New York, Los Angeles, London and Barcelona.
While consumers are up in arms ab [...]
HARDTalk with Stephen Sackur on role of media, the craft of interviews and succession
It was an invitation hard to resist – an opportunity to listen to Stephen Sackur of BBC HARDTalk share his knowledge and experience with the Foreign Correspondents Association of Singapore.
After all, how often does one get a chance to turn the tables on the man who’s grilled politicians, cel [...]
Alexa, more A than I right now but I know she’ll get smarter than me
I’m always intrigued by new technology and given how Amazon’s Echo Dot was all the rage at last year’s CES trade show in Las Vegas, I simply had to get my hands on one.
As it turned out, I ended up with two – long story – and now I have Alexa 1 and Alexa 2 as my new friends at home. [...]
Letter from Kuala Lumpur: A day in the life of AirAsia’s RedQ
Sometime in 2026, if I am still around, I’ll be able to travel from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur by high speed train and I will be able to do it in 90 minutes as opposed to four hours by car.
For now, though, while the ambitious rail link project conceived in 2013 and formally signed last Decemb [...]
Give me the God of Wealth anytime over the God of Wrath
I am feeling particularly good about this Lunar New Year. That’s because I was given an “ang pow” (red packet with money) by the God of Wealth personally.
I ran into him at a new year’s party hosted by George Town Heritage + Hotels in Penang and that red packet he gave me, I will keep [...]
The Millennial Traveller: The Customer Strikes Back
Donald Trump made another vile move over the last few days. Shocker!
Trump’s political moves are so extreme; it’s beginning to almost feel predictable… comical, in the same way some try to laugh through gritted teeth when in agony.
Gag rule on abortion? Sounds about right. Weaken Obamaca [...]
The Millennial Traveller: Be familiar, but never the same
Setting up an entire operation like St. Jerome’s Laneway Festival bears surprisingly many similarities to the travel industry, as I discovered after a brief chat with the festival’s operations director, Matthew Lazarus-Hall (managing director, Uncommon Cord).
It involves the conversion of a s [...]
Letter from KK and Penang: A new world of travel, a new class of accommodation
I hardly recognise Kota Kinabalu (KK) these days. It’s been just over a year since I’ve visited this East Malaysian state on the island of Borneo, and the developments blew me away.
KK is an example of a destination transformed by low cost airlines and the rise of the middle class traveller a [...]
