Travel

Travel to me is people. The faces you meet, the lives you touch and those whose lives touch yours. It’s never just food or places or the buildings and the scenery but people. It’s always the people. Travel is you. It’s only a matter of time before I put on my hiking boots, take up my backpack again and travel… to meet you.

 
CHINA  •  Beijing, Hong Kong & Macau
JAPAN  •  Tokyo & Hakone
MALAYSIA  •  Sabah & Sarawak
TAIWAN  •  Taipei & Hualien
UNITED KINGDOM  •  London, Edinburgh, Lake District & Bath
VIETNAM  •  Hanoi & Hạ Long Bay

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Tokyo, Tokyo

Japan: Tokyo & Hakone

We have seen so much — from giant lanterns in Asakusa to giant sculp­tures in Hakone to giant spi­ders at Rop­pongi Hills, from the march­ing hordes cross­ing Shibuya to the lines of manga fanat­ics at Akihabara, from almost-shirtless Aber­crom­bie & Fitch hunks in Ginza to the best sushi in the world.

And the sakura. The mag­i­cal gar­dens and parks, brim­ming with fresh blooms of cherry blos­soms, the petals falling from the branches like snow, like fairy wishes…

 
      Prologue • Bye Bye Sakura
      Part 1 • All You Can Eat Ameyoko
      Part 2 • Uniquely Ueno
      Part 3 • Okachimachi: The Best Sushi in Tokyo
      Part 4 • Tsukiji: The Biggest Fish Market in the World
      Part 5 • The Giant Lanterns of Asakusa, or The Girl Called Spring
      Part 6 • Yanaka Cemetery: A Picnic with the Departed
      Part 7 • Leonardo DiCaprio & the Gangs of Ginza
      Part 8 • A Match Made in Meiji
      Part 9 • Harajuku Girls in Love
      Part 10 • Heavenly Hakone
      Part 11 • Where Did Mt. Fuji Go?
      Part 12 • Beautiful Boy Ramen
      Part 13 • Ghibli Museum: Spirited Away by Princess Mononoke
      Part 14 • How We Got Beaten Up by Bruce Lee at Roppongi Hills
      Part 15 • Shinjuku Gyoen
      Epilogue • The Last Meal in Tokyo

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I ♥ Taipei

Taiwan: Taipei and Hualien

And what street food crawl in Taipei could be complete without a piece of their famous Taiwanese fried chicken or zhá jīpá (炸鸡扒)? Is it the batter? The chicken? The fiery red and brown spice powders that’s shaken over the fried chicken before serving? Maybe it’s a bit of everything and some extra that’s simply Taiwan.

 
      Part 1  •  The Bounciest (Fish) Balls in Taiwan!  (佳興魚丸)
      Part 2  •  Shilin Night Market  (士林夜市)
      Part 3  •  Raise the Red Lanterns  (慈諴宮 | 士林媽祖廟)
      Part 4  •  Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall  (國立中正紀念堂)
      Part 5  •  Delicious Danshui, Authentic Ah Gei  (淡水阿給)
      Part 6  •  Flower Power! The Taipei International Flora Exposition
                     (臺北國際花卉博覽會)
      Part 7  •  Hot & Spicy Ma La Hot Pot  (麻辣火鍋)
      Part 8  •  Tale of a Taiwanese Breakfast Shop  (早餐店 | 蛋餅 + 豆浆)
      Part 9  •  Ay-Chung Rice-Flour Noodles & Lattea  (阿宗麵線 | 綠蓋茶• 館)
      Part 10  •  The Red House Theatre  (紅樓劇場)
      Part 11  •  Three Times  (法式焦糖蘋果派 | 鼎泰豐 | 豬血糕)

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Sto­ries from the City, Sto­ries from the Sea

Vietnam: Vịnh Hạ Long & Hà Nội

The lotus flower opens and greets us; we are vis­i­tors and we are here. The gates open to the gar­den. Here where lanterns glow in grave lament, for lost souls and for­got­ten gen­er­als of wars long past. His­tory is buried here, and the dead walk in pairs so they won’t be with­out another hand upon their own. It is a beau­ti­ful day. All the ghosts in the gar­den of lanterns of grave lament begin to sing. All the ghosts, every sacred host. This song, our song, the song of every being.

 
      Part 1 • The Communist Merman
      Part 2 • These Pages They Dream
      Part 3 • The Streets of Long Goodbyes
      Part 4 • The Garden of Lanterns of Grave Lament

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The Great British Invasion!

United Kingdom: England & Scotland

The gloves and the jack­ets and the double-triple-layers of clothes aren’t enough. We are almost frozen when we aban­don the trees and the lakes and the boats and the cries of wild geese and start seek­ing sustenance. There is noth­ing quite like the feel­ing of trekking through mud and stone and beach for half a day and finally catch­ing sight of a restau­rant, a glo­ri­fied Eng­lish pub in the mid­dle of nowhere and grate­fully sink­ing down into com­fort­able chairs and putting away wild mush­room soup and hot lamb stew and copi­ous cups of black cof­fee and feel­ing that feel­ing of “Ahhh…”

 
      Part 1 • London
      Part 2 • The Cotswolds
      Part 3 • The Lady of Bath
      Part 4 • Lake District
      Part 5 • Edinburgh
      Part 6 • Return to Bath

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Macau and Hong Kong and Back Again

China: Hong Kong & Macau

Macau is a cat­a­comb above ground, alleys mate and marry, mag­i­cally repro­duce, their off­spring more tiny lanes that seem to lead you fur­ther down an impos­si­ble maze. You can get lost here…

 
      Part 1 • Welcome to Macau
      Part 2 • Nanyang Delights
      Part 3 • The Streets of Hong Kong
      Part 4 • Let’s Meet at the Park
      Part 5 • Little Tokyo
      Part 6 • The Flame in Your Heart

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Borneo: Tales, Trails and Trav­els in Sabah & Sarawak

Malaysia: Sabah & Sarawak

You put on your coat, against the chill. You’re not wear­ing any­thing beneath but the sheen of your lover’s kisses, the warmth of embry­onic embraces in the night, the dried sweat and slip­per­i­ness that attached you both together, like eels, like tigers in the dark of the night, the sweet dark­ness of the night. Never let­ting go, not even when you know you even­tu­ally have to, never let­ting go. Now the sun is com­ing up, dawn is break­ing, and some­thing else as well, you reckon. It’s almost time to leave.

 
      Part 1 • Sabah I: Merman
      Part 2 • Sabah II: From Dusk Till Dawn
      Part 3 • Sabah III: Kinabalu
      Part 4 • Sarawak I: Kuching
      Part 5 • Sarawak II: Tua Pek Kong
      Part 6 • Sabah IV: Mamutik Island
      Part 7 • Sabah V: A Town Called Tuaran

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Travelogues from more countries will be archived in time to come. Look out for them!

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