Psst, here’s a prompt – want to be an AI Whisperer?
If only I had known then what I know now
Doing my Marie Kondo bit the other day – but instead of saying, “thank you for the joy”, I said, “good riddance” – I came across a letter written by my secondary school teacher. I must have been around 16 and I wanted to apply for a scholarship [...]
Letter from Kuching: Want to get uncomfortable? This is the place
From the unexpected to its crafts and cuisine, Sarawak is an undiscovered jewel
When I told an American friend I was in Kuching, Sarawak, last week, she asked me, what do you do in Kuching?
It was a question that made me pause. Instead of firing off the usual quick responses we do these days on [...]
MATTA Fair 2023: A microcosm of Malaysian tourism and its appetite for international travel
The expo estimated 250,000 visitors and RM400million in sales.
I need to make a couple of things clear before getting to the heart of this article. The only times I’ve been to a MATTA (Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel Agents) Fair were when I was a kid, with my dad. This was back in the 9 [...]
I dream of Finland, happiness, “onnellisuus” and everything, everywhere all at once
I once had a penpal from Finland. His name was Jukka Touvinen. He wrote to me about snow and ice, I told him about sun and sand. That correspondence sustained me until I reached my teens when I overcame my shyness to communicate with real boys and I supposed the same thing happened to Jukka, when he [...]
Letter from Berlin: It’s a marvel – in “The Blip” of an eye, travel is reunited
From warnings of climate change and war to celebration in the halls, first ITB Berlin in four years packs it all in
Stuck in traffic amid a light dusting of snow, I gaze up at the familiar walls of Messe Berlin. A big sign proclaims, “Welcome back, world”. Another smaller sign, with arrows poin [...]
In the wink of an eye, tech brings Van Gogh back to life for the masses
As I was “immersing” myself in the Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience at Resorts World Sentosa this week, I couldn’t help but wonder, what would the artist think of his work being turned into an almost-theme-park-like experience, complete with a Virtual Reality tour of his world?
Would he g [...]
Offices, from Disneyland to ghost towns – will they ever be the same again?
Having not worked in an office for two decades and more, a visit to one, for me, used to be like a visit to Disneyland. I’d gape and gawk at the cool spaces, quirky pods and booths for meetings and calls, even snooze corners and always, always, the pantry which by 2019 had blossomed into full-blow [...]
Travel allows you to do whatever makes your heart sing
That’s why travel brands are dancing all the way to the bank
In a clear sign that travel is back, I’ve been getting a lot of visitors lately and it’s such a pleasure to be playing tour guide again at home instead of having to play domestic tourist as we all had to do these past couple of ye [...]
From Jumbo crabs to jumbo jet: The aircraft that changed travel and shrank the world
Last night, I headed to Jumbo at the East Coast Seafood Centre to have chilli crabs. It’s not a place I frequent often because well, as locals, we usually avoid places that are popular with tourists and having not had many visitors the last couple of years, I had almost forgotten it was there.
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The dance of the golden lion: We’re all experts by now
As I watched the golden lion perform its dance last night at the Lunar New Year celebration hosted by Sentosa Development Corporation last night, I couldn’t help but relate it to the very similar stunts and manoeuvres we in travel have had to make to survive the pandemic and come out the other sid [...]
