Geo: 10.7592, 106.662Swarms of locust decimating a field of crops, or throngs of army ants overrunning their prey - those are visuals that come to mind when visiting Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's most populous centre. What exactly could swarms of insects have to do with HCMC? Because that's what Vietnam's Xe Oms, or motorbike taxis, remind me of! The roads of HCMC are complete chaos, with hordes of motorbikes and scooters owning every square centimetre of pavement. We'd heard harrowing stories of crossing the street in Vietnam, but we simply weren't prepared for the motorbike madness!The first time crossing the road in HCMC quite literally takes your breath away, as you gasp in shock at the site of so many scooters. Viewing traffic from a helicopter would be an incredible experience, as the mass of ... read more

Geo: 24.247, 121.402Taipei isn't the prettiest of places - it's a veritable concrete jungle, and strolling around here, particularly on a sunny day with high heat and humidity, isn't an overly pleasant experience for those unaccustomed to it. However, a wander around town does reveal some beautiful and creative spots, providing you are willing to do a little research in advance. One of the coolest spots we've seen anywhere in the world is the Huashan 1914 Creative Park, a former rice wine factory turned performance venue and entertainment complex, housing bars, cafes, shops, and restaurants.Looking for ambiance? Huashan has it in oodles. Innovation and creativity? Both permeate every square inch of the sprawling complex, and Huashan almost cries out to its visitors "Taiwan isn't just about the food, we have some other cool things, too!" Quite ... read more

Geo: 35.4893, 138.688There may not be a more prime example of the Japanese proclivity for converting the simple into the complex than sake production, the art of turning rice into rice wine. As far as staples go, it doesn't get any simpler than rice, which comprises the bulk of the diets of nearly 50% of the world's population. It's a simple carbohydrate with a simple and plain taste - it's rarely the star of the show, but more a supporting character that accentuates what might be served along with it. But look at what the Japanese can do with the stuff - I'll take a bowl of sticky Japanese rice over all others, any day. And sushi? In Japan, they say that the taste is 80% the rice, and only 20% the fish, which is contrary ... read more

Geo: 36.7801, 138.968Visiting an onsen, a Japanese hot spring, is an activity that we missed on our first Japanese trip, one that became a goal for this visit. While we harboured fears that it could be another disappointing forced Japanese experience, it turned out to be rather memorable.  The difference between onsen and the Robot Show or Sushi Dai is that those two were not traditional Japanese experiences, but ones that were seemingly either created by, or produced for, foreign tourists. Onsen is about as Japanese as it gets, and isn't so much an experience, as it is a ritual, one that goes as far back as the eighth century. Being a volcanically-active country, Japan's landscape is dotted with onsens, so the choice is difficult.  We wound up selecting Takaragawa for a few reasons - a ... read more

Geo: 35.6314, 139.773The alarm rang at the ungodly hour of 4:15 AM, stirring us from the most superficial of slumbers, the kind of mediocre sleep you often get stuck with after a long travel day across more than a dozen time zones. It leaves you exhausted, as it simply isn't possible to have a proper rest under these circumstances. Dazed and confused, something just didn't seem right, as we lay in bed, staring at the ceiling ... did last night actually occur, or was it the most horrific of nightmares? Surely, it must have been a dreadful dream, because what we experienced is simply impossible in Japan ... however, we slowly pieced things together, and to our combined dismay, realized that the tragic events of last night were in fact real, when we descended into the ... read more