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...
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...
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...
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....
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....
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...
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...
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...
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....
23-24/9/2020. 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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
17/9/2018. 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...
15-16/9/2020. 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...
13/9/2020. 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...
12-14/9/2028. 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...
10/9/2018. 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...
8-9/9/2018. 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...
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...
23/3/2018. 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,...
21-22/3/2018. 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....
17-19/3/2018. 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...
17-19/3/2018. 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...
14-16/3/2018. 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...
10-13/3/2018. 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....
10/3/2018. 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...
9-10/3/2018. 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...
8-9/3/2018. 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...
I came to this country on business, but squeezed in some time to take a peek. Venezuela is no stranger to making international news in the past few decades. From the time of its former...
30/4/2017-7/5/2017. I came to this Ipanema beach just before the sun set, to squeeze in one more beach for the day. This was another famous beach in Rio. The sun was about to retire for...
30/4/-7/5/2017. I left São Paulo behind and boarded a bus for a six-hour ride to Rio. Yes, this was the city of the last Olympics. Waking up in the morning, stepping out of my residence,...
28-29/4/2017. I touched down in São Paulo, Brazil’s largest city, in no time. The flight took an hour, but the taxi ride from the airport to my accommodation took about two hours, bogged down by...
26/4/2017 I broke my own record yet again, this time leaving Buenos Aires on a 20-hour bus ride. The rain had been dripping naggingly through the night, with thick vegetation starting to appear outside the...
24-25/4/2017. From Buenos Aires, the next logical stop should be Iguazú in Argentina before moving into Brazil. But I had mistakenly booked the accommodation for Iguaçu in Brazil instead. So here I am in Iguaçu,...
21-23/4/2017. Last night I was treated like a king in this bus from Mendoza to Buenos Aires, at a price of USD 120. I was served red wine, champagne, and a hot dinner. I watched...
19-20/4/2017. I left the coast toward Argentina. The scenery on this stretch was yet another feast for the eyes. Today, the sun put on quite a show, flashing its glory with its utmost might in...
18/4/2017. One and a half hours away from Santiago on the Pacific coast was the port city of Valparaiso, made famous by its street art, a euphemism for graffiti. A few cable car stations connected...
