Exploring the mysterious Mekong
The mighty arterial Mekong River in Vietnam provides a fascinating vein through which the lifeblood of Vietnam flows. As we motor along the Mekong, through small villages, between trading barges and floating markets it can only give us a brief insight into the resources concealed within that influence the daily lives and culture of over 60 million people—people who depend on its water for transportation, fishing, trade, manufacture,...
A slow train to ‘nowhere’
This sleepy ponderous train ride gives us a sense of overall fulfillment when visiting the old British Burma colonial hill-station of Kalaw. Boarding the train at Shwe Nyaung station, near Inle Lake, we’re struck immediately by the Spartan and somewhat grubby nature of the Upper Class carriages we’re to travel in. The curtains look as if they’ve doubled up as cleaning cloths and the seats as footrests, so we’re under no illusion that...
Wat – no Croft or Jones?
The temples of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat complex are a fascinating insight into ancient kingdoms that now appear to owe as much to Indiana Jones and Lara Croft for their fame as any factual history. If we were under any illusion that Angkor Wat would be a quiet exploration through tumbling vine-clad stones in an impenetrable jungle, we were much mistaken. Our visit to Siem Reap, site of the Angkor Wat complex, coincides with a major...
At home in the Muong hills
The Ngoc Son Ngo Luong Nature Reserve in Vietnam not only offers you some of the most stunning scenery you’ll ever see but it also affords some homespun hospitality that’s second to none. We’ve left the lively northern capital of Hanoi and are now driving through lush rice paddy fields on both sides of the road, with coolie hats bobbing up and down as the pickers reap the harvest of this prolific green crop that has now reached...
Do do Vilamendhoo!
If the notion of white-sand barefoot luxury with unparalleled crystal-clear snorkelling turns you on – then Vilamendhoo in the South Ari Atoll of the Maldives is the place for you. Gently lapping water around the stilts of our Jacuzzi Water Villa is the only sound we can hear as we lounge on our deck overlooking the crystal-clear waters of the coral lagoon – a soporific sound broken only by the occasional buzz of a seaplane carrying...
A taste of old Rangoon
Hidden away in corners of Yangon, Myanmar, are memories of the often unwelcome presence of occupying nations. Nevertheless they offer stylish refuges from the modern bustle and clutter of this busy city. Yangon like so many Asian cities is growing faster than it can accommodate in terms of cleanliness, clutter and noise. It’s not one of the most attractive cities we’ve been to, being an amalgam of pagodas, power-lines and pollution...
