Blogs from Asia - page 12986

As I mentioned in my last blog, I've recently gotten into snowboarding. I've been three times this season, and as luck would have it, have managed to organize a fourth! That's right- we've had a bit of a cold spell recently and I'm making the most of it. My friend Matt and I will be heading to Hakuba on Tuesday for three more days of pure bliss. This Wednesday is a national holiday, and seeing as how I have Friday off and an early Tuesday, I decided to take a day off work to go exploring some part of Japan. For the last few weeks I've looked into everywhere from Hokkaido to Okinawa, but when a friend came back last weekend from a snowboarding trip to Gifu (with a great snow report), I made up my ... read more

Our guide, Malik, spent about 90 minutes walking us round a beautiful and very tranquil plantation. I never realised that I could be so interested in different varieties of pepper, how many different spices came from the same trees and why different spices are so expensive. I also hadn’t realised how ignorant I was on the subject, of the few plants I thought I recognised I managed to identify Cocoa as Papaya and Vanilla as Aloa Vera!! Sachi did a bit better but she does have the advantage of coming from a country that actually uses spices in its cuisine. After our brief but surprisingly entertaining tour it was time for our trip’s highlight. We were off to meet our Elephant! ... read more

Finally woke up at 10am and then took the laundry down the road to a guesthouse that does a laundry service. Returned back to the hotel and saw Brendan who said they are going to Penang hill at about 12 noon, he said they got in about 4 this morning. Went with the rest of the group to Penang Hill which involved us getting a bus then the funicular train to the top, unfortunately it was cloudy so the view was not that great. We returned to the hotel by taxi.... read more

Dedicated to Jaspreet Laly - RIP!! Mamallapuram is 60 km south of Chennai, and offers tourist attractions with exotic beaches, as well as the famous historic temples. Navtej's increasing knowledge of Chennai ensures that no attractions will be missed out. The journey on East Coast Road had an aire of tranquility personified throughout. The Bay of Bengal was on our left, thus providing exceptional sights, also the road itself had a gracious presence in this peaceful setting. The journey lasted for 1 hour by car with the fitting music of Moby in the background. Upon arrival, the Pharangees were at large. This location boasts wonderful stone carvings embellished on the granite temples, making this a guaranteed haven for tourists. The Shore Temple is the most impressive artefact and has stood for almost 1400 years. We had ... read more

A taste of Alsace in Hanoi Ha, not the tour leader, but our friend in Hanoi (like we said it is a popular name) had recently been to Paris. While there she had dropped in on my “petit cousin”, Jean who gave her a bottle of his Cremant d’Alsace for us to share. It was one of the last bottles of the vintage we had worked on together when last in France. his was a really special gift, which we decided to drink, together with Ha’s mother, father and brother at their house in Hanoi. It was great to meet them for the first time and discuss various snippets of their family history. Ha’s father is a very interesting man, having been a doctor in the North Vietnamese Army, then having worked in countries such as ... read more