Monthly Archive: October 2016

Bua Tong Waterfall north of Chiang Mai (using public transport)

Chiang Mai. The backpacker hub of Northern Thailand. You can tell by the number of flyers advertising dozens of activities outside of each of the dozens of hostels. Ziplining, elephant ____ (put your favorite elephant related activity here), rafting. You name it, they have it. I had a full day...

The food court at Don Mueang Airport in Bangkok

I recently flew from Bangkok’s Don Mueang Airport, by now the world’s largest low cost carrier airport. While you can get to many places for relatively little, you won’t be able to find a decently priced Thai (or any other cuisine) meal. There is however a very good food court,...

The Singapore Avocado Mystery

While Singapore doesn’t really grow many fruits or vegetables for obvious reasons, its neighbors north and south have huge plantations and grow just about anything possible. The local markets have an abundance of all kinds of fruits and vegetables from Malaysia and Indonesia. However, one fruit that seems to be...

Layovers in Istanbul

I’ve had my fair share of long layovers in airports. Some are quite pleasant (like Singapore) others are not really places where you want to spend a long time. If your passport allows you to enter the country, a quick trip to the city might be worthwhile, depending on a...

Atauro Island – if you really want to get away from the crowd

Although I only had a few nights in Timor-Leste, I knew I wanted to get out of Dili. I looked at three options: the coastal town of Bacau, the mountain town of Maubisse or the island of Atauro. Each option had its pros and cons. Maubisse is supposed to be...

Timor-Leste’s capital, Dili

Dili is a quirky little capital.  Really remote and fairly inaccessible with less than a handful of flights out of its tiny airport, it is not your average ASEAN capital. Even Laos’ Vientiane feels much bigger. But thanks to history, Timor-Leste has become an independent nation and Dili its capital....

Traveling to the world’s second youngest nation: Timor-Leste

I have a keen interest in traveling to former colonies and see what kind of traces there still are from the past. Last year I visited Qingdao in China, which used to be German – quite a unique combination. There are some common combinations like Africa and former French or South American...