January 26, 2024

Taiwan - A Tale of Three Cities

January 26, 2024/ Ken Hardaker

If Taiwan is mentioned in the news, it’s usually with reference to the question: “when will China invade?” But meanwhile, as the world waits to find the answer to this, 22 million people are getting on with living their lives on a green, mountainous island.

So, what is Taiwan like? Is it a good place to visit? Is there much to see and do? We wanted to find out for ourselves. Unfortunately, we only had one week, so we decided to split our time between three cities: Taipei, the capital; Hualien on the east coast; and Kaoshiung in the south-west. Here’s how we spent our week.

October 15, 2023

10 Day Kyushu Circuit, Japan

October 15, 2023/ Ken Hardaker

Kyushu is the most southerly of Japan’s four main islands. It is renowned for its warm climate, volcanoes, onsen (hot springs), fascinating history and excellent food; all good reasons to visit. In late August/early September 2023 we did a 10-day circuit around Kyushu. We travelled with our sons, Alex and Zac, so it was a real family affair. Here is our journey – hopefully it will inspire a visit of your own.

July 07, 2023

Return to Haw Par Villa - Singapore

July 07, 2023/ Ken Hardaker

We first visited Haw Par Villa (HPV) in December 2014. It is a well-known attraction amongst local Singaporeans but doesn’t get a lot of attention in tourist literature aimed at overseas visitors. It is, for want of a better term, a Chinese Culture and Mythology theme park. In 2014 we described it as Asia’s weirdest theme park. In early 2023 we were back in Singapore and decided to revisit HPV to see how it had fared over the intervening years.

May 05, 2023

A Little Bit of Lao

May 05, 2023/ Ken Hardaker

In February 2023 we did a 10 day trip to the Lao Democratic Peoples Republic (Laos). As it was a relatively short visit, we chose to go to just three locations: Vientiane (the capital), Phonsavan (the home of the evocatively named Plain of Jars), and Luang Prabang (the previous royal capital and UNESCO listed World Heritage city). Ten days is far too short to do this fascinating and diverse country justice, but if you only have time for a brief stay, here are three places worth including on your itinerary.

September 23, 2020

Suzhou – China’s Venice of the East

September 23, 2020/ Ken Hardaker

The city of Suzhou, 50 kms to the west of Shanghai, is famous for its canals and gardens, having earned the moniker of “Venice of the East”. The region around Suzhou has a network of canals and attractive canal towns, all of which date back to the building of the Grand Canal, the world’s longest canal, which commenced construction in the 5th century BCE. We spent a few days in the region in September 2019 and found it both a pleasant and interesting part of the country. Here are a few highlights.

July 22, 2020

UB For Beginners (in Pre-COVID 19 Mongolia)

July 22, 2020/ Ken Hardaker

This time last year, six months or so before the world was hit with the COVID 19 pandemic, we visited Mongolia for a month. Most of our time was spent out of the capital Ulaanbataar, but the trip necessitated that we transit through the city on several occasions. We’d read less than flattering reviews about Ulaanbataar. However, we decided to give the city a chance and decide for ourselves what we thought of it. The result was that we were pleasantly surprised. So, if you find yourself in the city many locals refer to simply as “UB” here are a few options for how to spend a couple of days.

February 28, 2020

Rice Terraces, Hanging Coffins and Kalesas - Northern Luzon Road Trip (Philippines)

February 28, 2020/ Ken Hardaker

We knew little about the Philippines before we decided to go. From a bit of research we learned about the 2,000 year old UNESCO World Heritage listed rice terraces of Northern Luzon. Also, in this region are extensive cave systems, a number of tribal groups with their own distinctive languages and cultures, and nearby is the city of Vigan, Asia’s best preserved example of Spanish Colonial rule. We decided that Northern Luzon was worth a visit. Here’s what we found.

December 09, 2019

Three Lesser Known Chinese Cities Worth a Visit

December 09, 2019/ Ken Hardaker

Most first time Western tourists to China will follow a well-trodden path – to Beijing for the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City, Xian for the Terracotta Warriors, the Bund in Shanghai, a Yangxi River cruise, and a visit to the karst mountain region in the south around Yangshao. There’s nothing wrong with this itinerary. All of these are impressive and well worth the effort to see, but there is a lot more to China than just these big ticket attractions. On a month’s visit to China we also took the time to go to some lesser known cities and were rewarded for the effort. Here are three that we think you might want to add to your China program.

November 05, 2019

Classic Mongolia Circuit Part Two: the Gobi

November 05, 2019/ Ken Hardaker

In our previous post “Classic Mongolia Circuit Part One: Northern and Central Mongolia” we reported on the first half of our 18 day trip around Mongolia. In Part Two we head into the Gobi Desert in Southern Mongolia before returning to our starting point - the capital Ulaan Bataar.

October 18, 2019

Classic Mongolia Circuit Part 1: Northern and Central Mongolia

October 18, 2019/ Ken Hardaker

We’d always had an ambition to visit Mongolia and we achieved our aim in August-September 2019. There is a fairly classic circuit that can be done over a two week or so period where most of the key attractions of Mongolia can be visited. We did an 18 day trip that took us from the pine forests and scenic Lake Khuvsgol in the north to the deserts and stunning vistas of the Gobi in the south. We’ve divided the journey into two parts – each of nine days. Here is Part One – Northern and Central Mongolia.