Where to stay in Luang Prabang in Laos? A decade ago your options would have been limited to guesthouses. For many years the UNESCO World Heritage-listed town was predominantly a backpacker destination with few choices for travellers looking for comfort and style. How things have changed. Things have most certainly changed in Luang Prabang on … Read more
Perhaps for the same nostalgic reasons that Mumbai’s locals prefer to call their city Bombay, Ho Chi Minh City, as it was renamed in 1975 after the fall of Saigon, is, we quickly discovered, still fondly referred to as Saigon by the locals. We don’t care what it’s called – we loved it. Although I’m not … Read more
Exploring the Isaan region of northeastern Thailand on the lovely backroads to Loie was a highlight of a road trip through Thailand’s largest, poorest and least developed region. While the enchanting Khmer Empire temples took our breath away, the quiet countryside gave us a chance to breathe. From Khon Kaen, where we explored gleaming gold … Read more
It was a scorcher of a day. We’d tried hard to time our arrival at the ruins of the Khmer Empire era temple of Prasat Hin Phimai, slap bang in the centre of the small town of Phimai in Thailand’s northeastern Isaan region, for the late afternoon. But somehow we’d still arrived early in the … Read more
Home to Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman treasures, Sultanahmet, Istanbul’s ‘old city’, on the European side of the Golden Horn, is where first-time travellers to Istanbul usually stay. It’s where we stayed when we first visited the city many years ago. Here’s our review of our Istanbul holiday rental apartment. Once you’ve seen Old Istanbul’s star attractions, … Read more