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Sep 10

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Beyond the concrete jungle, Hong Kong.

When I first returned to Hong Kong both my immediate and extended family members were quick to point out a drastic change in my outward appearance.

After a month of eating my way through Madrid, Brussels and finally Scotland, I was going to have to do something to kick-start my very own battle of the bulge. Enlisting the help of my friend Phil, an experienced hiker, we set a date for a 3-4 hour hike with the promise that it wouldn’t be too strenuous. Read more

Aug 21

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Honey-coloured sunsets – Bath, England.

The end of my whirlwind tour around Western Europe was a signal that my life was about to take a very different course. After 4½ years of study, I was going to leave England for good. Read more

Aug 20

In Search of William Wallace – Stirling, Scotland.

After two days of exploring Edinburgh, I was ready to seek some form of relief from the tourist hordes. So we jumped aboard a train bound for Stirling, a small historic city just 50-55 minutes away. Read more

Aug 11

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A View from the Top – Edinburgh, Scotland.

After the tranquility of Oban and the Western Isles, Edinburgh seemed like a world away in comparison. Scotland’s pulsating capital is often regarded as one of Europe’s most beautiful cities, so it comes as no surprise that it is such a major tourist draw. Read more

Aug 5

Mulling it over – The Road to Iona, Scotland.

It is a damp Sunday morning and we are down at the pier, amongst a crowd of weekend day-trippers from as far afield as America and New Zealand. We are boarding the 9:50 ferry out of Oban, on what is the first leg of a 2-hour journey to the fabled island of Iona. Read more

Jul 25

A Little Slice of New Zealand – Oban, Scotland.

Just 3 hours away from the hustle and bustle of Glasgow is the little town of Oban (OH-bin), Scotland’s self-proclaimed seafood capital and the ‘Gateway to the Isles’. I am here with my mother on a week-long trip through the land of bagpipes and haggis, where people speak with a burr and the lakes are all called lochs. Read more

Jul 22

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Of Quads and Dreaming Spires – Oxford, England.

When we arrive in Oxford, it dawns on me that I am a walking example of the stereotypical Asian tourist, except with a very big twist. My partner in crime is Ángela, a Spanish exchange student I met back in January. Armed with our big cameras and speaking primarily in Spanish, we went from college to college, confounding many of the locals along the way. Read more

Jul 18

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The Perfect Cup – Brussels, Belgium.

It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon and the live band behind me is playing a soothing blend of jazz tunes. We are sipping fresh mint tea in Café Belga, a hip café and bar on Brussels’ unassuming Place Flagey. Outside the beats of the Portuguese festival fill the square while revellers congregate around tents serving everything from grilled sardines to pastéis de nata. Read more

Jun 24

Becoming Madrileño – Madrid, Spain.

It is difficult to pinpoint the exact moment when I shed the trappings of a tourist and began acting like a local. Maybe it all started when I went to the bar opening on the second night without my camera in tow. Or perhaps it was more to do with the fact that I knew enough Spanish to get me by. Read more

Jun 22

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City of Three Cultures – Toledo, Spain.

Just half an hour away by train from Madrid, the former capital of Toledo is famed for being an example of early tolerance. Between the 9th and 16th centuries, the city was the centre of La Convivencia – the peaceful coexistence of Muslims, Jews and Christians in medieval Spain. As a result the city became a major centre where ideas were exchanged between the three communities. Read more

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