10-11, October 2023, Jodhpur, India From Udaipur, I headed north to Jodhpur, another city in the Indian state of Rajasthan. At my guesthouse, which was at a foothill, the towering Mehrangarh Fort rose in the sky, like a monstrous structure.…
13-15, October 2023, Jaisalmer, India I continued my adventure in the Indian state of Rajasthan. From Jodhpur, I took a bus ride for 5 hours to Jaisalmer, near the Western border with Pakistan. It looked yellow, right in the center…
16-19th October 2023, Day 1 Jaipur, India From Jaisalmer, I now went eastward for 13 hours to Jaipur on an overnight train. It was not pleasant as I slept in a 6 bunk-bed compartment on a bed I had to…
20-21st, October 2023 Agra, India From Jaipur I now rode the train to Agra, arriving the evening of Thursday. Everyone comes to India to see the Taj Mahal. I was rubbing my hands with great anticipation. Of all days, I…
22-23th, October 2023 New Delhi, India From Agra I now took the train to New Delhi, the capital of India, to see what has become of India. First, a look at her past – the Red Fort of New Delhi,…
24-26th, October 2023 Varanasi, India From New Delhi, I took the train to Varanasi, the holy city of the Hindus. As I walked toward the guesthouse at about 6 am, people were already on the streets, holding little jugs and…
26th October – 1 November 2023 Pokhara, Nepal It was hard to emerge from Varanasi after the incense, the orange robes, tilak, rituals, and the drumbeats. That is a fitting clomax to my discovery of India, though barely scratching the…
2-3 November, 2023 Katmandu, Nepal. During the 5 days in Pokhara I did try to rise as high and as early as I could, to get a closer look at the Himalaya peaks, and to see Nepal from high up.…
4th November, 2023 Katmandu, Nepal. There are 3 main squares around Kathmandu. I have visited the Durbar Square. One in the bag, 2 more awaited. So, the next day I set out for more. These Katmandu squares have the penchant…
From Casablanca, I took a train to go south to Marrakech, one of the top tourist destinations in the world. It was only a two-and-a-half-hour ride. As the train approached Marrakech, the landscape outside the widows appeared undulating and pinkish.…
5-6 July 2023 From inland Marakech, I now took a bus westward toward the coast to Essaouira, about 2 hours away. In Marrakech, the heat was scorching. Just 2 hours away, Essaouira was semi-arid and sunny but chilly; the wind…
7-8 July 2023 From Essaouira in the south, I finally made it to Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Unlike the names of Marrakech and Casablanca, Rabat did not sound so familiar to me before I planned to come. A distance of…
3-4 March 2023 From Luang Prabang, I continued south to Vang Vieng in a new Chinese-built train, arriving in 2 hours. I rented a motorbike and went looking for the famed blue water lagoons. I rode mostly on dusty dirt…
8-9 July 2023 From Rabat, I then explored the northern part of the country, starting with Fez. Every major city in Morocco seems to have an old market or old souk, where they have been buying and selling from ancestral…
8-11 March 2023 I was eager to get to Siem Reap to see Angkor Wat. Don’t ask, Angkor what? It is the world’s largest temple complex, made up of many temples, of Hindu but later became Buddhist. When it comes…
12-15 March 2023 An estimated 2 million died in Cambodia in 1975-1979 under the Khmer Rouge, about a quarter of the Cambodian population. I was a young man then. It happened in my lifetime, in my neighborhood. A barbarity beyond…
10 July 2023 While at Fes, I made a side trip to Meknes, just an hour away. Some of the well-known attractions were Lahdim Square, Bab Mansour, Medina, the Royal Palaces, the Mausoleum of Moulay Ismail, and numerous old city…
12 July 2023 From Fes, I rode in a bus to go further north, to Chefchaouen. I headed straight to the medina. If blue is your favorite color, this will be your dream world. After days of the earthy red-hot…
13-14 July 2023 Africa sounds like a different and remote world. Yet, my next Moroccan destination Tangier, in North Africa, can see Spain, which is in Europe, on a clear day. I sat down to dinner at a small restaurant…
8 New York is such a melting pot. It is easy to feel out of place if you come from a homogeneous country. Whatever shades or colors you come in, you can find your place here. Most speak one common…
26/6/2014 – 2 I have not seen a sky so blue, deep and intense as the one I saw in Portugal. Indeed, much of Portugal is intimately courted by the sea. The sun at this time was glorious and equally…
9-13 This trip I want to talk turkey. What I see is what you get. I want to go to Egypt, but I also want to see Turkey. These are two very big countries to take in during one trip.…
11-13 From Istanbul, I headed to Ephesus, a place in the Bible and the name of one of its books, to see what was left of it. Sadly, much of it has been reduced to rubble, in many cases, only…
14-17 Egypt is synonymous with pyramids. Raised on the vast and harsh ground of the desert, these were built to loom large and to reach for the sky. Under the blue sky, the triangle clearly points to the heavens, perhaps…
18 I barely recovered from being awestruck by the pyramids and sphinx before taking the train to Luxor. This was indeed where the ancient Egyptians of power thought about their mortality, dreamed of immortality. One after another, they kept coming—tombs,…
19 Not many things are still standing after more than 3,000 years. Here in Luxor, sure, some are headless, without an arm and a leg, dismembered, disfigured, others in tatters, even pulverized. Notwithstanding the odd missing pieces of the jigsaw…
23-24 For the past nine days, I was stuck back in time, more than 3,000 years ago. I witnessed antique coffins of dignitaries from time immemorial, ancient tombs hidden deep in the desert ground, wall inscriptions few today understand, temples…
2020 We were going about our daily chores, just like any other day, and the days before them. About 12 months ago, we were still partying in the streets to usher in the New Year. Two months later, the Chinese…
16-18 I wanted to cover as much ground as possible on this trip. Two weeks ago, I flew into Almaty, Kazakhstan, from Kuala Lumpur, then moved onto Uzbekistan, before flying over to Kyiv, Ukraine, to see the Baltic part of…
20-21 The plan was to continue north to see some of the Baltic and ex-Soviet states. I was curious to see the transformation of these former communistic realms. So, after Kyiv, I am taking the train eastward, toward Lviv, seven…
22-23 From Ukraine, I actually wanted to next go to Belarus, but I read online that the Belarusian border control insists I come in through the airport. That cramps my style. So I headed next to Warsaw instead. There was…
24-25/5/2018, The plan was to cross Poland and go north to see how the Baltic states were faring after leaving the former Soviet Union. After Warsaw, I took the 8 a.m. bus heading for Poznan. It was almost farmland all…
26-27 After two days pampered and cuddled by Poznan, I headed next to Torun, three hours away. I was informed that Torun is famous for three things: Gothic churches, Copernicus (never heard of him), and gingerbread. My interest was in…
27-30 From Torun, I now headed toward Gdansk on the coast. This was a city filled with history. I stayed in the old town, with my airbnb apartment opening onto the busy square, swarming with tourists. Groups of little kiddies…
29 While in Gdansk, I made a day trip to Malbork, a medieval fortress 40 minutes away, now a United Nations World Cultural Heritage. It was indeed one of the most impressive of its kind, a castle that was self-sufficient,…
31 I have been on the road for a month, through four countries, from Central Asia to Eastern Europe. There is so much history, such diverse cultures, so much to see, such touching friendliness. From Gdansk, I took the night…
2 I wanted to see more than the capital Vilnius, to get the true flavor of Lithuania. I read Trakai has a fairy-tale island castle and is only 40 minutes from Vilnius. When I arrived in the morning, I was…
3-4 After Lithuania, I continued north to Riga, the capital of Latvia, another country along the Baltic Sea. Latvia is a small country like Lithuania, with a population of barely 2 million. Throughout the past several hundred years of its…
5 From Riga, I took a bus to Sigulda, only 53 kilometers away, for a day trip. Though sunny, the temperature plummeted, and the wind blew. Painted in lush greens, Sigulda felt like a small town in an enormous park,…
7-9 I started this trip on the 1st of May and was now into my fifth week on the road. The bright idea was to kill two birds with one stone—to see Central Asia and, ultimately, the Baltic States. I…
10-12 I was coming to the end of my trip, after savoring Central Asia and relishing the Baltics. It had been a fusion of contrasting and complementary flavors; it had been sumptuous, not a morsel wasted. I felt like having…
2-3 Although I live most of my life in Asia, Central Asia is as remote to me as any other continent. I flew into Almaty from Kuala Lumpur. Pardon my ignorance, but I had never heard of Almaty before now,…
4 After a brief stay in Almaty, I was looking forward to seeing more of Kazakhstan. I took an MPV taxi heading west to Taraz with a few other fellow passengers. The car was loaded to the hilt for the…
6-8 From Shymkent in Kazakhstan, I took a taxi to go west toward Tashkent, Uzbekistan. An hour later, the taxi dropped me at the border. I then walked into Uzbekistan and straight into Tashkent, which is conveniently just next to…
8-9 After two days in Tashkent, I was on the evening train bound for Samarkand. When I got on the train, I walked into a carriage packed with locals piercing me with their curious eyes. I felt out of place,…
10-11 From Samarkand, I then took the train to Bukhara, just three hours away. As soon as I disembarked, a ball of fire engulfed me. It sure was hot as hell. I hastened to the nearest air-conditioned burger joint; I…
12-14/5/2018, I shared a taxi with a young Spanish doctor, each of us paying USD 20, to drive to Khiva, which was 400 kilometers away and would take about seven hours. The car often drove into the oncoming lane to…
9-11 When the virus came calling, we all took cover at home. Going overseas was still off-limits, but domestic travel was free to go. I started from Kuala Lumpur, heading northward first, to try to cover as many states as…
12-13 After two days in Ipoh, I drove on to Kuala Kangsar. Kangsar is the royal town of Perak. The Sultan of Perak state lives here. There is, of course, a thick royal air in the town. The golden dome…
14-15 The outbreak of Covid cases stopped me from going farther north to the next state, Kedah. So, I instead went eastward to Kota Bharu, the capital of the Kelantan state. I literally drove into a thick tropical forest, slicing…
16-22 From Kelantan, I proceeded southward into Terengganu state, blessed with beaches and beautiful islands. I stayed overnight at Besut. The next morning, I took a speedboat to Perhentian Island. My luxurious accommodation was a tent up on the hill,…
23-24 I spent some brief time in Kuantan when small. This is the town where many of my relatives still live. But the city has morphed into something unrecognizable. The Kuantan River still flows through it. The old part of…
19-21 Penang is special. I had been there in my early teens. This recent visit was simultaneously nostalgic and refreshing. I fell in love with it, kind of head to toes. It did not charm me with its glamour, just…
30 The Balkans have always intrigued me. The good, the bad, and the ugly—it has it all. Its history is both beautiful and painful. I look forward to feeling the vibes in the region. So from Kuala Lumpur, I flew…
2 What a blast to start off my visit to the Balkans in Prague. I then eased into my explorations with a move south to Pilsen, a small town with a big name, made big by its beer. I am…
3 I was planning to go next to Ceske Krumlov, but the hotels had no respect for my money. This being the weekend, they could not accommodate my wishes for accommodation. They had no wriggle room for one more room…
4 From Ceske Budejovice, I took an early bus, and after 40 minutes, I arrived in Ceske Krumlov. This was a little beauty with a big reputation, tucked away, coy, and perhaps scared, withdrawn into her own little world, seeking…
5-7 My plan was to go southward to go around the Balkans. That was my masterful master travel plan. After the Czech Republic, I discovered Salzburg was just next door. Oh, why don’t I just hop by? On the spur…
8-9 I left Salzburg this morning for Vienna, the capital of Austria. The train was packed full. I did not buy an allotted seat, so I sat on the floor, beneath everyone, though not beneath myself. Two and a half…
10-11 After two days in Vienna, I sped down the Danube in a flying catamaran to Bratislava, the capital of Slovakia. It took only 75 minutes; the damage inflicted was 35 euros. It was a sheer simple pleasure. A breeze,…
12-13 After leaving Bratislava, I took a six-hour bus to Ljubljana. I could have dropped by Budapest, which was really the next natural destination on the route, but since I had been there, though many years ago, I gave it…
14-16 I was already salivating for my next destination: Croatia, part of the old Yugoslavia. It’s not a big country, but it comes with quite a reputation. The bus ride from Ljubljana was enjoyable, farmlands dominating the landscape along the…
17 After Zagreb, my next destination was Plitvice Lakes National Park, a two-hour bus ride to the south. There, I took another two hours to secure the entrance ticket and part with USD 40. Traffic bottlenecks after the entrance soon…
18-20 I continued my bus ride southward along the coast, four hours later arriving in Split, a must-see beach town in Croatia. The bus stopped at the city center facing the sea. While I came by bus, others arrived in…
21-22/8/2018 From Split, I took a large ferry to go to the popular island of Brac. Passengers fully loaded the ferry. I was eager, my spirit soaring. I felt like I was in my big yacht and my fans invited…
22-23 I continued island-hopping. From Brac, I sailed for an hour to Hvar, another enchanting island. It was fun to be traveling to Croatia at this time. The days were long, the sun was warm, the foliage was green, the…
24-25 You can’t come to Croatia and not visit Dubrovnik. So from Hvar, I took a ferry, arriving at Dubrovnik about three hours later. The first impression was: How crowded this place was! China and Korea also sent many representatives…
26 Time to tear myself away from Croatia. After a three-hour bus ride, I arrived in Mostar of Bosnia, one of only a few countries in Europe with a significant Muslim population. I expected the color tone, the style, even…
27-28 After a night at Mostar, I was on my way to Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia. Green mountains and beautiful turquoise waters accompanied me almost the whole way. My wishful thinking was that life’s journey would be as beautiful.…
29/8/2018 -1 After Bosnia, I set my sights on Montenegro. The first stop was Kotor. Google said it would take about five hours, but my bus took more than nine hours. We left at 9 a.m., arriving past 6 p.m.…
2-3 By now I had visited about seven countries, and countless towns and cities on this journey through the Balkans and surroundings. I had been almost at full throttle, always on the go, therefore sometimes feeling I swallowed more than…
4 Hiking in the Albanian mountains was too much hard work, so I went the easy way, to visit Komani Lake with other tourists instead. We started off by bus at 6 a.m, and one and a half hours later…
5-7 I can understand why there were many kebab eateries here. However, I scratched my head about why the pizzerias were so ubiquitous. I finally put two and two together. I did not know that Italy once occupied Albania. I…
8-9 After Tirana, I next went to Berat on my way to other Balkan destinations. Berat was only three hours away by bus. I arrived at about 4 p.m., but the day was long, so I headed straight to the…
10 I was still heading south, en route to discover and uncover more of the Balkan countries. Some were not there when I was growing up, but have since emerged, each trying to take their own fate into their own…
12-14 After Kosovo, I headed to Macedonia (now North Macedonia). This was part of the old Yugoslavia. The bus weaved through mountains and valleys, finally entering the capital of Skopje. I dragged my luggage from the bus station to the…
13 After hanging around Skopje for a day, I ventured out on a day trip to Ohrid, a lakeside town about three hours away. This was not just another pretty postcard face. It had crystal clear water, friendly hills at…
15-16 After a five-plus hours bus ride from Skopje, I arrived at Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Bulgaria seems to be a country of few words. It is seldom heard of and from in the international arena. I don’t know…
17 From Sofia, I took a day trip to the town of Rila. Along the way, fields of bright yellow dominated the color scheme. Bowing to the command of the sun, sunflowers opened up unreservedly and bloomed in unison. Finally,…
21-22/9/2018 and 25-27/9/2018 From Varna in Bulgaria, I would take the train, for a change, to get to Bucharest, the capital of Romania, about 6 hours away. It was a Friday when I arrived. The old town was abuzz with…
23/9/2018 I took the train early in the morning, departing Bucharest for Brasov, a city about a couple of hours away. This was not a big city, but it was the ideal place to take in more of Romania. The…
24/9/2018 After a night at Brasov, I proceeded to another old town, Sibiu, about 140 km away. It sure lived up to its tag as an old town. The signs of age were all over the buildings. Some of them…
I returned to Shanghai again after the Chinese New Year.
I have gone behind the firewall the past couple of weeks where Instagram, Google, Facebook are not available.
8-9 Curiosity kills a cat. It is part recklessness and part restlessness. I decided to visit Iran to unveil the mysticism of this country. A country that openly chants and taunts “death to America,” and stormed the U.S. embassy, has…
9-10 From Tehran, I traveled to Kashan, about 250 kilometers away, arriving at about 3 p.m. It felt like a small town on the Silk Road. After a quick bite, I started asking for directions to two historical buildings: Borujerdi…
10 From Kashan, I rented a taxi heading for Abyaneh. On the way, nothing but desert, the dry, bland desert. Desert was good; I needed a break from the hustle and bustle, the noise and the crowd. And it was…
10-13 From Kashan, I moved on to Isfahan, my fourth stop in Iran. This was the world’s second largest square and Isfahan’s most famous landmark, the Imam Square. Shops selling local handicrafts surround the square. Some design students were setting…
14-16 From Isfahan, I took a seven-hour night bus to Shiraz. The bus fare was less than USD 8, quite economical for a pretty luxurious bus. I was privileged to stay in a boutique hotel renovated from an old house.…
17-19 After seven hours of an overnight bus ride, I arrived at 7 a.m. in the desert town of Yazd and proceeded to the hotel. The hotel manager invited me for a free breakfast, the best so far, even before…
17-19 This was the place, Chak Chak, where the Zoroastrians still come to do their annual pilgrimage. Zoroastrianism is an ancient Persian religion that may have originated as early as 4,000 years ago and was the state religion of three…
21-22 After two days in Yazd, I took a six-hour train back to Tehran. The train and the station were pretty decent, though the train was a bit slower than what I was used to. It was desert all the…
23 I regretted not having stayed longer in Georgia. But I had to keep going. After two days in Georgia, I took a small public bus from Tbilisi. After five hours, I arrived at Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. There…
3-8 It was going to be like going around the globe to reach South America from Kuala Lumpur. But I did not expect it to take 63 hours either. For some reason, the connection at Tehran was canceled. About 30…
9 From Bogotá, I flew into Medellín instead of taking the bus. It took only 45 minutes instead of 10 hours by bus, due to the mountainous roads. Besides, there was a lot more ground for me to cover in…
10 After Medellín, I made a day trip to see Guatape, a two-hour drive from Medellín. Guatape would prove to be the icing on the cake. The roads there were truly mountainous. Wow! Guatape was truly numbingly picturesque. It was…
5-6th April 2024 It wasn’t my plan to go to Mexico but here I was, on a boat from the island of Caye Caulker in Belize straight to Chetumal, a coastal town just across the border. I then walked for…
12-13 A couple of years ago, I met a super friendly young couple honeymooning in Cancún, Mexico. They told me I must go to Cartagena. I have not forgotten their friendliness down to this day. So, do not underestimate your…
14-17 After nine days in Colombia, I arrived in Lima, Peru. Peru conjures up images of mystique. Lima is a start. Let’s see. I excitedly came to this first landmark, Larcomar, in the Miraflores district. Shops and restaurants lined the…
18-20 I departed Lima on a luxurious bus. A pillow and blanket were provided, also a hot lunch and a dedicated video screen. My little luggage had to be checked in. I went through a security check where they did…