5-7/9/2018. 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...
4/9/2018. 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...
2-3/9/2018. 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...
29/8/2018 -1/9/2018. 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...
27-28/8/2018. 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...
26/8/2018. 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...
24-25/8/2018. 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...
22-23/8/2018. 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,...
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...
18-20/8/2018. 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...
17/8/2018. 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...
14-16/8/2018. 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...
12-13/8/2018. 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...
10-11/8/2020. 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...
8-9/8/2018. 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...
5-7/8/2018. 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...
4/8/2018. 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...
3/8/2018. 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...
2/8/2018. 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...
30/7-1/8/2018. 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...
19-21/1/2020. 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...
23-24/9/2020. 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...
16-22/9/2020. 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...
14-15/9/2020. 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...
12-13/9/2020. 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...
9-11/9/2020. 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...
2-3/5/2018. 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...
4/5/2018. 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...
6-8/5/2018. 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...
8-9/5/2018. 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....
10-11/5/2018. 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...
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...
16-18/5/2018. 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...
20-21/5/2018. 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...
22-23/5/2018. 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...
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....
26-27/5/2018. 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...
27-30/2018. 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...
29/5/2018. 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,...
31/5-2/6/2018. 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...
2/6/2018. 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...
3-4/6/2018. 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...
5/6/2018. 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...
7-9/6/2018. 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,...
10-12/6/2018. 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...
2020/2021. 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....
23-24/1/2016. 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...
19/1/2016. 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...
18/1/2016. 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...
14-17/1/2016. 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...
11-13/1/2016. 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...
9-13/1/2016. 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...
26/6/2014 – 2/7/2014. 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...
8/2014. 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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
8-9, October 2023, Udaipur, India From Ahmedabad, I continued northward by train. 6 hours later, I reached Udaipur. This part of India was getting into late summer and becoming cooler. I did not realize I...
6 October 2023 AhmedabadAfter 2 days in Mumbai, I took a night train to arrive in Ahmedabad at 6.30 a.m. Stepping into the arrival hall, many were still sleeping snugly on the floor, like on...
2-3 October 2023 Mumbai So, on this trip, I first flew to Malé in The Maldives, from Kuala Lumpur on 13 September 2023, then onward to Sri Lanka, on the 18th of September, and now...
29-30 September 2023 Merissa From Ella in central Sri Lanka, I headed south towards the southern coast, to Mirissa. Many foreigners came to rendezvous with the beaches and whale watching. Along the way, some rivers...
26 September 2023 Train ride from Kandy to Ella From Trincomalee on the east coast, I took the local buses towards Dambulla, in central Sri Lanka. After staying a night, I boarded another bus for...
23 September 2023 Trincomalee From Anuradhapura, it was a 3-hour bus ride to Trincomalee on the east coast of the island. All along the way was the jungle, with houses nestled in it. Some coconut...
21 September 2023 After seeing Sigiriya, I rode a tuk-tuk for 18 km to Dambulla, then a bus to Anuradhapura which was a further hour away. Anuradhapura was once the old capital of Sri Lanka...
19th September 2023 Colombo 3 days of in the sun and sea, my nose burned red and my lips cracked. This was the world where I chased the fish, giant turtles, sharks and nearly dolphins....
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...
27 Feb – 1 March 2023 It was fun and therapeutic sailing down the Mekong for 2 days, through the scenic mountainous north of Laos. In the end, another reward awaited – Luang Prabang, a...
25-26 Feb 2023 I have by now traveled the entire length of Thailand from south to north. From the northern tip, I want to see Laos by boat up the Mekong. At Huay Xai, the...
21-24 Feb 2023 From Bangkok, I was continuing to head north, Ayutthaya, Sukhothai, and toward Chiang Mai. Away from the beaches of the south, the north landscape became greener, hilly and cooler. Ancient Buddhist temples...
18-20 Feb 2023 Before there was Bangkok, there was Ayutthaya, the capital of the old Kingdom of Siam. After 3 days in Bangkok, I was heading north. I had to go back to go forward....
Caption: Itinerary on this trip through The Maldives, Sri Lanka, India and Nepal: 12 Sept 2023 I flew to the middle of the Indian Ocean, trying to land on the Maldives, made up of many...
30 June – 1 July 2023 After more than a week’s European holiday in Cyprus, I flew to Casablanca, Morocco, a city that became well-known for a classic war and romantic movie of the same...
15-17 Feb 2023 After a few days in laidback Koh Samui, I would now go to Bangkok, Thailand’s capital. It promises to be mouth-watering. Thai cuisine is popular the world over. It stings, it sets...
24-29 June 2023 After Jordan and Lebanon, I am ready for the 3rd country on this trip. Larnaca At midnight, after a 40-minute flight, I landed in Larnaca, Cyprus. I did not realize I was...
From Beirut, I would make a second-day trip, this time to Baalbek, 85 km away. Having gone through the stomach-churning ride in the local mini bus yesterday, I decided to hire a taxi this time....
I want no bloodshed, but we should learn lessons from the past. I wanted to see bullet holes, not blood. After Jordan, my next destination was Lebanon. Going via Syria would have been the shortest...
An hour away from Wadi Rum is the Red Sea. I have read about Moses parting the Red Sea, so I wanted to see it. I mean the sea, not the parting. I drove past...
I soon left Petra in the rear-view mirror and drove south toward Wadi Rum. The enjoyment continued, the roads wound around the hillsides and hilltops, surrounded by rocky mountains and valleys, shaped by the elements...
11 June 2023 After staying a night at Madaba, I drove to Petra the next morning. The land turned browner and more hostile. Even the sky looks unhappy; covering the sky from end to end...
6-10 June 2023 I have been looking for places that are exotic and exciting to visit, but not too far away. Many places are still trouble spots. These hot spots are still too hot –...
9-12 Feb 2023 2 hours boat ride away from Krabi was another well-known island, Phuket, my next island-hopping destination. Many came for the beaches, others, to be wild. Patong Beach was the most famous of...
7-8 Feb 2023 From Krabi, the next destination was another island group, the largest of which was Koh Phi Phi, 2 hours boat ride away. I climbed to the top of a hill to see...
4 Feb – 6 Feb 2023 It’s time to visit Thailand properly, our famous neighbor to the north. I mean, go the whole length of the country. So, I snuck into Thailand from the south....
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...
1- 4th April 2024 After seeing the Mayan ruins in Tikal, my next move was to go across the border to San Ignacio in Belize. I arrived at a town shut down for the public...
