Five Asian castles
Posted: January 11, 2012 Filed under: Travel | Tags: Asia, castles, china, culture, history, japan Leave a commentIf someone says the magic word ‘castle’, what image springs to mind? Perhaps you think of the mystery-soaked monuments that cast their long shadows across medieval Europe. Or perhaps you think of the English king Arthur and the court of Camelot.
But Europe holds no monopoly on castles. Asia hosts scores. Here are five of Asia’s most striking and strange castles, which transcend bricks-and-mortar, and border on marvellous. Their haunting, massive presence evokes the sound of drums and thunder. Read more at Agoda..
Succulent Asian fruit
Posted: August 25, 2011 Filed under: Travel | Tags: Asia, food, fruit, weird Leave a commentApples, bananas and oranges get boring eventually and start tasting like sawdust. If you struggle to eat such mainstream fruit and thus fail to ‘get your vits’, as Aussies say, join the club and discover some exotic species of fruit popular around Asia.
If you mix them up, these succulent fruits might just revive your jaded tastebuds and make consuming vitamins more enticing. You can always try them blended at increasingly common blender-powered Asian smoothie stalls. Read more at Agoda…
http://travelblog.agoda.com/home/2011/8/24/succulent-asian-fruit.html
Asia: Insider Guide To Five Asian Safaris
Posted: July 22, 2011 Filed under: Travel | Tags: agoda, Asia, travel, wildlife Leave a commentThe human race stands at the brink of an epic statistical milestone. The UN has set October 31 of this year as the date the human population is expected to surpass seven billion people. As our numbers swell, the wild animals that we treat like awkward guests have ever less legroom.
Take a look at some Asian survival outposts – conservation zones where animals take precedence over people. The line-up runs the gamut from mouse hares to mighty Komodo dragons. Read more at Agoda…
http://travelblog.agoda.com/home/2011/7/20/asia-insider-guide-to-five-asian-safaris.html
Asia’s Magic Kingdom: Hong Kong Disneyland
Posted: July 7, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Asia, Disney, entertainment, hong kong, travel Leave a commentA recent Hong Kong Standard headline read: ‘Fun parks go for same theme – price hikes.’ The Standard reported that, like another Hong Kong attraction, Ocean Park, Hong Kong Disneyland plans to hike prices – from HK$350 (adult peak, day ticket) up to a figure nudging HK$400, partly because of plans to expand the theme park.
For those who buy into the magic embodied by Tinkerbell and her starry wand, this forecast rise is inconsequential. In the field of classic folktales sprinkled with fairies and talking animals, nobody offers more wow factor than Disney.
Like any good fairytale, however, the story of Hong Kong Disneyland is not without woe. The park, which stands on the island of Lantau at the Pearl River’s mouth, has had its share of teething troubles. Read more at Agoda…
Five Asian palaces
Posted: June 23, 2011 Filed under: Travel, Uncategorized | Tags: agoda, Asia, luxury, luxury travel, palaces, travel Leave a commentOddly, the Asian landmark most like a classic fairytale palace is a giant crypt. That is, the Taj Mahal, which had to be excluded from this round-up of Asian palaces because it is not actually a palace.
Palaces can seem like a European invention: the stuff of Britain and Bavaria, which feature them richly in fairytales. Better known for temples, Asia nonetheless has plenty of palaces – some magnificent, others just discreetly posh.
Here’s a peek behind the curtain at some of Asia’s most remarkable palaces. Drool at these enviable homes, free from the mundane realm of rent, mortgage repayments, and foreclosures. Read more at Agoda…
http://travelblog.agoda.com/home/2011/6/22/asia-five-asian-palaces.html
Amazing Asian dive sites
Posted: June 8, 2011 Filed under: Travel | Tags: Asia, diving, Espinosa, komodo, Lembeh, travel, undersea, wildlife Leave a commentSo you want to go somewhere wildly different but cannot afford to book a Virgin Galactic flight? Never mind. Plenty of extraordinary otherworldly action happens right under the waves, in the seas of Asia.
Diving Southeast Asia co-author David Espinosa expresses particular passion for the Raja Ampat area in West Papua. The area’s reefs are the most beautiful Espinosa has seen in 20 years of diving. Read more at Agoda…
http://travelblog.agoda.com/home/2011/6/8/amazing-asian-dive-sites.html
Asia’s imperial cities
Posted: May 25, 2011 Filed under: Travel | Tags: angkor, Angkor Wat, Asia, Ayutthaya, Beijing, Borobudur, Forbidden city, imperial cities, ruins, Sukhotai Leave a commentProof that nothing lasts forever, crumbling imperial capitals pepper Asia. Mysterious and haunting, the symbols of transience are also a bit on the sad side because they remind us of our own impermanence.
Still, like battlefields and graveyards, ruined imperial cities ooze intrigue and make great fodder for moody photos. Plus, they’re cultural. If you feel bad about slacking at the beach or some rainforest retreat, they offer a spot of elevation. Read more at Agoda…
http://travelblog.agoda.com/home/2011/5/25/asias-imperial-cities.html
Five Asian paradise islands
Posted: May 12, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: Asia, holiday, islands, palm trees, paradise, travel, white sand Leave a commentGin-clear water, pearl-white beaches, swaying palms: the idea of the paradise beach has a powerful grip on the imagination. Who is not a bit of a sucker for the dream of a retreat where lazy waves lap at a white stretch of sand edged by palm trees? The image, which graces a billion brochures, evokes a life of carefree leisure, uninterrupted by SMS messages, emails and Tweets.
When it comes to those stress-free paradise islands, the Caribbean springs to mind. But the eastern hemisphere has more than its share of contenders. Read more at Agoda…
http://travelblog.agoda.com/home/2011/5/11/asia-five-asian-paradise-islands.html
Water war
Posted: May 9, 2011 Filed under: The Star | Tags: Asia, chiang mai, crazy, festival, fun, guns, Songkran, Thailand, water Leave a commentThe world’s wildest water fights can be witnessed in Thailand during Songkran Festival. Everyone’s fair game when the water starts splashing.
Chiang Mai, Songkran festival: This is war. From the shadows of downtown Loi Kroh Street, two bar girls emerge and gleefully empty buckets of icy water over my head.
In a sense, this comes as no surprise. After all, today is the first day of Thailand’s Songkran water festival that officially lasts from April 13-15. In fact, three days before, makeshift stalls had suddenly mushroomed here in Chiang Mai, Songkran’s quasi-spiritual heart, prompting itchy, trigger-happy types to snap up gaily coloured pump-action water rifles. Read more here at the Malaysia Star…
http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2011/4/30/lifetravel/8507260&sec=lifetravel
Welcome to the alms race
Posted: November 2, 2008 Filed under: Sydney Morning Herald, Travel | Tags: Asia, Bangkok, Buddha, Lehsan, Thailand, Tiger Cave Temple Leave a commentThere’s more to Buddha than the rotund smiling figure known to the West, writes David Wilson.
They decry the cool contours of classical sculpture. Many flirt on the fringes of kitsch and seem inappropriate to a faith based on moderation. Still, Asia’s glamorous, gigantic Buddha statues still draw gawkers and pilgrims by the score. The big Buddhas’ popularity shows the allure of flamboyance as well as the continuing hold of the creed founded by that low-maintenance pre-Christ sage, Gautama.
A tour of the continent’s most compelling Buddha iconography might open in Thailand since the recently shaky land of smiles boasts more statues than you could shake a joss stick at. One is at Tiger Cave Temple, a valley complex in the southern province called Krabi. Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald…
November 2, 2008
David Wilson journalism 