To escape my destiny (aging and birthdays, you know…), I made a quick getaway from Hong Kong to try and find a place in the region I’ve never been to before, Busan in the southern part of South Korea. As

Visions of Suzhou : China
It’s been almost 6 years since I last visited Suzhou and the city of Suzhou has changed dramatically. Sure, you have the old areas with the canals (unjustifiably promoted as “Venice of the east”) which we all know of, but

Visions of Kandy : Sri Lanka
Unexpectedly, Sri Lanka was my last official stop in Sri Lanka. As I was exiting the botanical gardens ~3 hours walk my driver pointed to what seemed like a mass army presence and announced that a curfew was to take

Visions of Shuhe ancient town : Yunnan China
Roaming around Yunnan I visited most of the obvious tourist destinations, starting from Kunming, then Dali, and finally Lijiang. What I didn’t plan, but found a delightful surprise, was an ancient water town about 30 minutes north-west of Lijiang called

Visions of Dambulla and Sigiriya : Sri Lanka
Following a short stay getting my bearings in Colombo, I decided to head to the mountains. I had very limited time and public transport is time consuming, and so the visitor’s center made a good argument for renting a car

Shilin Stone Forest : Yunnan China
In my recent visit to Yunnan province in China I spent a few days roaming around, from Kunming, to Dali, to Lijiang and Shuhe, and then back for a final day near Kunming to fly back to Hong Kong. In

Visions of Colombo : Sri Lanka
Back to exploring Asia, and so been looking for a new exotic destination. I’ve been eyeing Sri Lanka for many years, but have not had the chance to go. A “reading week” at uni combined with low airfare resulted in

Riding around the Penghu islands : Taiwan
More that a year later, I realized I have not summed up my wonderful summer trip to the magical Penghu islands in Taiwan. That trip reminded me of everything I loved about Taiwan. Crazy temples, gorgeous beaches, breathtaking scenic views, Taiwanese village

Hokkaido Shrine & Government Office: Sapporo
Wrapping up my long stay at Sapporo in Hokkaido last summer, there are two places I left unmentioned in Sapporo the Former Hokkaido Government Office near the train station and the Maruyama Park and Hokkaido Shrine I visited on the way to

Bagan Day 2 Temple Run Part 2 : Burma
While touring Burma I made my way to Bagan to do a two-days temple run. The first day I spent walking on foot around the temples in the old Bagan area (see temple run day 1 Part 1 and Part 2), . On