Category: Activities

A day with Pandas – Dujiangyan Panda Base near Chengdu

For a long time I’ve been wanting to see the panda bears up close. While there a few spread in zoos around the world (I’ve seen the two in Singapore), you have to go to Chengdu if you want to see a bunch. It is a fascinating animal and unfortunately...

The State Art Museum of the Republic of Karakalpakstan (Savitsky Museum)

So, I ended up in Nukus. Out of all places. I did read about Nukus in the guidebook but it certainly wasn’t included in my initial itinerary. The guide book recommended it for trips to the Aral Sea, but after doing some reading, I wasn’t kind to drive several hours into...

Mountain Bike trail at Bukit Timah Nature Reserve

Singapore has a number of parks and reserves where one can escape the noise and crowds. My favorite spots to go cycling are East Coast Park and Coney Island. Ubin Island is also great. However so far, we’ve only gone cycling in a casual way which was about to change...

Watching ‘Kabali’ – this year’s Kollywood blockbuster

Most of you are probably familiar with Bollywood movies. However, what few non-Indians know is that besides the Bollywood movies coming from Mumbai, there is a second movie capital in Chennai. The Tamil film industry, nicknamed Kollywood after the Kodambakkam area of Chennai, is famours for its movies with action and...

Safari in Uda Walawe National Park

Having grown up in places where you are used to seeing wild animals in Zoo, going on a safari is always special for me. The excitement of not knowing when to see an animal coupled with the beautiful landscape make it a very special experience. One of Sri Lanka’s prime...

SEA Games: Sepak Takraw and Football…again

The range of sports played at the South-East-Asian Games is quite fascinating and we wanted to make sure to catch a sport that is rare in Europe. We settled on Sepak Tekraw, most easily explained as a football meets volleyball. As always, Wikipedia does a great job at explaining the basics:...

SEA Games: the football tournament – Philippines vs. Cambodia

Singapore is currently hosting the 28th South-East-Asian (SEA) Games, kind of like a Mini-Olympics for the 11 participating nations: Brunei Cambodia Indonesia Laos Malaysia Myanmar Philippines Singapore Thailand Timor-Leste Vietnam While some of the sports are rather international (such as football), there are some very SEA specific sports on the...

Crossing into Johor for a football game

After our recent encounter with the fans of Johor Darul Ta’zim in Singapore and their invite to follow them to JDT’s next home game in Johor Bahru, we decided to check it out. JDT’s home turf is the Tan Sri Dato Haji Hassan Yunos Stadium in Larkin (a suburb of Johor...

Football derby in Singapore

While Singapore has its own soccer league, the S.League, it also has a team that plays in the Malaysian Super League. The Singapore Lions XII are a relatively new team (founded in 2011) but has been fairly successful. They won the league in 2013. This past weekend they played against...

One-day island excursion around Ao Nang (Krabi)

One of the most-dos when in Krabi is the boat tour to the nearby islands. There are several ways to do it, depending on what tickles your fancy. Since we only had two days in Krabi, we opted for the most comfortable and efficient way – chartering a private boat....