I had the chance to do a walkabout on sentosa island quite a while ago – and if you have a good hat on and a portable fan (and why wouldn’t you, given this infernal heat we’ve been suffering), it actually makes for a decent day out.
hope you’re having a great weekend!
xx
what is traveling without eating? certainly nothing quite so interesting – and we did a fair bit while in yogyakarta (also written, jogjakarta). I think my favorite part about traveling to southeast asian countries is how (relatively) inexpensive their dining options are – things that would cost an arm and a leg in singapore are more accessibly priced there, and the variety of flavors and cooking styles are immense.
it was the same in yogyakarta, which has a nice mix of both local eating as well as what you might call tourist options. indonesian food is spicey – with more than a hint of spicy – but it’s an intriguing, eat-all-you-can cuisine that is remarkably tasty, what with its lavish use of coconut milk and herbs.
I know it’s only the third week of the new year – but I bet you guys are already suffering all sorts of wanderlust, aren’t you? (I know I am).
we traveled to yogyakarta late last year, taking drives out to candi (which translates to temple) burobudur and candi prambanan, a javanese buddhist and hindu temple respectively. both very popular tourist attractions in their own right, they make a majestic picture with their scale and dark-stone facades.
hong kong is incredibly varied – it can be expensive and excessively luxurious, or fiercely local and hometownish. it wears both personas just as easily, and you pick what suits your mood (or more likely, your budget).
just a few photos from the trip – from the mandarin oriental, which is the epitome of elegant chichi;
at the ferry terminal for the tourist experience;
and amidst the colorful bustle of the streets.
can’t wait to be there over christmas!
the holidays are coming (!!), and I bet quite a few of you will be making your way over to hong kong, an asian first world mecca. I was there in april with a girlfriend, and we had resolved to eat too much, spend too much and buy too much – and also, we had resolved to spend the time like expats.
it’s not really the usual mode to enjoy hong kong – travellers usually go all berserk on dimsum and roast meats and wanton noodles (coming up in the next post!) – but hong kong has a plethora of amazing dining options that extend past that.
let’s go!
posts are going to be rather slow these two weeks – I am away on work without a laptop, and there’s only so much phone-squinting I can abide.
perhaps you’d like a look at some gorgeous (if I do say so myself) photos from my trip to yunnan in July?
xx
keep cool!
is that a little macabre? last post from the trip!
and to finish with possibly the best duck I’ve had in a while – and almost definitely the best thing I’ve eaten in yunnan – then well, it’s a good wrap-up.
part deux of the journey – a rather typical sequence of stops in the yunnan province. if you’re planning a trip there, it’s convenient to fly into kunming, drive to dali and then lijiang, and then drive to shangri-la – before flying back to finish the trip off at kunming.
the drive out of kunming almost definitely takes you to the stone forest, 石林. think a large national park full of stone forests (literally) rising from the ground. it’s full of lakes and greens, and it’s a pretty gorgeous place.
this is the start of a photo-heavy series. I went on a trip in the yunnan province of china in july (how is it september now?!) – kunming, dali, lijiang and shangri-la – all picturesque cities indicative of the various stages of development happening in china now: all the way from rural to bustling city.
it was a trip full of colour, full of beautiful sights – but it turned out also to be pretty remiss in the gastronic department (not in variety, but in food I actually wanted to eat).
let’s begin the journey – I have no idea how many series are going to come out – but it’s going to be an adventure!
the last of the taiwan posts – and really, this place on its own is all the reason you need to visit this country in the spring. taiwan has an intriguing mix of metropolitan cities and the great green wilderness – rolling hills and mountains and green, green grass so far as the eye can see (so much that you forget just (sorta-)round-the-corner is a bustling cosmopolitan city like taipei).
when we were here in february, the weather was chilly, windy, and very good for long walks. there’s something very surprising about this place – it reminds me of the lake district and all those scenes you read in literature about the great british outdoors – certainly not something you anticipate being in this part of the world.
anyway, enough preamble. I hope you enjoy the photos!
andmorefood 