Learning to cook a dish from one of Asia’s best restaurants, mastering the art of making macarons in Paris, and cooking with a Countess in Venice are just a few of our picks of the best cooking classes in the world. I’ve long said that discovering...
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Asian travel etiquette is not so complicated to understand, nor is it mysterious. Almost every Asian guidebook, travel website and those free little tourist magazines seem to have a section on etiquette — how you should greet people, how to conduct yourself, what’s considered good manners...
I was asked to craft a Grantourismo-style romantic city escape or luxury honeymoon holiday, a break focused firmly on love and romance but one involving a slow, local and experiential travel, and a lot of food and wine. Grantourismo’s romantic city escapes and luxury honeymoon holidays Barcelona,...
We spent a lot of time in 2011 in South East Asia. Based out of Bangkok for four months while researching a book and working on stories, we bounced across the region on assignments, around Thailand, along the Mekong, and to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia....
Our local guide to The Mekong comes courtesy of Mason Florence, executive director of Mekong Tourism. Based in Asia for 20 years, Mason is a publisher, former guidebook writer, journalist, photographer, and tour guide. Few people know the Mekong better. It’s hard to envisage one...
Where to stay in Luang Prabang? A decade ago your options would have been limited to guesthouses, because for many years the UNESCO World Heritage-listed town was predominantly a backpacker destination with few choices for travellers looking for comfort and style. Things have changed in Luang...
The waiter who looked after us during the Amantaka cooking course we did on the organic farm in the Luang Prabang countryside was brilliant. His service was impeccable. He was so good at his job that when we asked him what his future plans were,...
We’re doing a morning market walk, followed by a Lao cooking course on an organic farm in the Luang Prabang countryside, with sous-chef Anousith from the beautiful Amantaka resort. When I ask Anousith where he’s from, he responds “Luang Prabang,” and grins, “But my home town is...
That the classic film stock company Kodak has filed for bankruptcy protection has left me with mixed feelings. While I have no sympathy for businesses that don’t adapt to the times (hi Sony), I do see this as a time to reflect on the twilight...
Exploring Phousi Hill, also known as Phou Si or Mount Phousi, is one of those must-do activities that travellers to Luang Prabang do, as much for the sweeping vistas of the sleepy town, the Mekong River and Khan River, and the surrounding mountains, as for the hidden temples,...
After our Phousi Market walk with Joy Ngeuamboupha, the owner and chef of Luang Prabang restaurant Tamarind, we drive to Joy’s cooking school in the countryside to begin our Lao Cooking Course. The Tamarind Cooking School is in a fantastic, airy, open-sided bamboo and palm frond pavilion...
It’s safe to say that Lao cuisine is not known very well outside Southeast Asia — unlike Thai and Vietnamese cuisines. Lao food hasn’t reached the level of popularity — and ubiquity — that other Southeast Asian cuisines have in the West. Laos cuisine has stayed as...
