http://grantourismotravels.com The website of globetrotting professional travel writing & photography team Lara Dunston & Terence Carter. Thu, 23 May 2013 14:09:54 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/K5fbSQ-u0hU/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/05/23/when-happiness-is-squinting-up-at-the-sun-through-palm-trees/#comments Thu, 23 May 2013 13:55:06 +0000 Lara Dunston http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=19458 I was a beach baby. And according to my mum I was a happy beach baby. I was building sandcastles with a smile on my face and squinting up at the sun through palm trees with a silly grin long before I could walk. Some of my earliest memories are of perfect days spent in &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/05/23/when-happiness-is-squinting-up-at-the-sun-through-palm-trees/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/K5fbSQ-u0hU" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/05/23/when-happiness-is-squinting-up-at-the-sun-through-palm-trees/feed/ 0 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/05/23/when-happiness-is-squinting-up-at-the-sun-through-palm-trees/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/bHsP3cECuGw/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/05/14/best-of-bali-the-things-we-love-about-indonesias-beguiling-island/#comments Mon, 13 May 2013 17:56:21 +0000 Lara Dunston http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=19438 We’re back in Bangkok, we’ve just spent six months in Vietnam, and we’re still sharing stories from Australia with you, so why on earth are we posting about the best of Bali you’re probably asking. Well, knowing we loved the Bali we experienced when we stayed in a villa for a couple of weeks, our friends &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/05/14/best-of-bali-the-things-we-love-about-indonesias-beguiling-island/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/bHsP3cECuGw" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/05/14/best-of-bali-the-things-we-love-about-indonesias-beguiling-island/feed/ 0 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/05/14/best-of-bali-the-things-we-love-about-indonesias-beguiling-island/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/Hv9EMZAbpx8/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/05/03/the-pups-of-hoi-an/#comments Fri, 03 May 2013 11:46:55 +0000 Terence Carter http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=19394 &#8220;Do people in Vietnam like pups?” a traveller asked us during a market tour in Hoi An recently. I guess it’s probably a fair question in a country where dog meat might appear on a menu. But the cute fluffy puppy that prompted the question from the visiting Australian was obviously very much loved. During &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/05/03/the-pups-of-hoi-an/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/Hv9EMZAbpx8" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/05/03/the-pups-of-hoi-an/feed/ 0 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/05/03/the-pups-of-hoi-an/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/3VdQQ_a1AEA/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/25/when-is-cooking-at-home-a-waste-of-time/#comments Thu, 25 Apr 2013 13:28:31 +0000 Terence Carter http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=19383 Regular readers are well aware that we endlessly encourage you to live like locals when you travel by doing a cooking class to learn to make the local cuisine, by shopping at the markets, and by cooking a meal or two at ‘home’, wherever that may be. It’s a way to make your stay in &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/25/when-is-cooking-at-home-a-waste-of-time/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/3VdQQ_a1AEA" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/25/when-is-cooking-at-home-a-waste-of-time/feed/ 4 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/25/when-is-cooking-at-home-a-waste-of-time/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/SzE7_-fSZzw/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/20/chef-peter-gilmore-and-quay-restaurant-in-sydney/#comments Sat, 20 Apr 2013 11:51:33 +0000 Terence Carter http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=19350 We spent much of our time in Australia last year writing about the fantastic food scene and formidable restaurants and talking to the finest chefs, from Dan Hunter to Ben Shewry &#8211; as well as great global chefs, from Rene Redzepi to Massimo Bottura. One of the chefs we got to spend time with was &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/20/chef-peter-gilmore-and-quay-restaurant-in-sydney/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/SzE7_-fSZzw" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/20/chef-peter-gilmore-and-quay-restaurant-in-sydney/feed/ 0 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/20/chef-peter-gilmore-and-quay-restaurant-in-sydney/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/wPpLM2emwLU/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/17/a-taste-of-orange/#comments Tue, 16 Apr 2013 17:08:00 +0000 Lara Dunston http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=18913 Orange FOOD Week is underway in the rural town of Orange in the Central Tablelands of New South Wales, a fabulous food and wine destination that we visited last year. The food festival runs until 21 April if you’re in Australia at the moment. We wish we were! FOOD is actually an acronym for the &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/17/a-taste-of-orange/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/wPpLM2emwLU" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/17/a-taste-of-orange/feed/ 2 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/17/a-taste-of-orange/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/jJoqEStfIzo/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/12/celebrating-songkran-in-thailand/#comments Fri, 12 Apr 2013 13:17:03 +0000 Lara Dunston http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=19308 If you’re in Thailand right now, prepare to get soaked! Songkran is the traditional Thai New Year water festival that starts today in Bangkok and other parts of Thailand and runs through to 15th April*. A Theravāda Buddhist festival, it’s also celebrated in Cambodia where it’s called Chaul Chnam Thmey, although the first day is Maha &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/12/celebrating-songkran-in-thailand/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/jJoqEStfIzo" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/12/celebrating-songkran-in-thailand/feed/ 8 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/12/celebrating-songkran-in-thailand/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/tOKH_bRVP4c/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/08/monday-memories-a-moment-at-hoi-an-market/#comments Mon, 08 Apr 2013 13:47:53 +0000 Terence Carter http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=19266 We’ve been working on some food stories here in Hoi An and that translates to eating oodles of noodles, averaging one bowl of the local favourite, cao lầu, per day (more on that dish in upcoming posts). Having worked our way through all the street stalls, backstreet eateries and recommended restaurants sampling the dish, we headed &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/08/monday-memories-a-moment-at-hoi-an-market/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/tOKH_bRVP4c" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/08/monday-memories-a-moment-at-hoi-an-market/feed/ 1 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/04/08/monday-memories-a-moment-at-hoi-an-market/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/lngXwHYEUHY/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/31/australian-art-at-art-gallery-of-nsw/#comments Sun, 31 Mar 2013 11:51:05 +0000 Lara Dunston http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=17749 Last week the winners of Australia’s most important and most-talked about annual art contest, the Archibald, Wynne and Sulman Prizes, were announced and the exhibition of finalists opened at the Art Gallery of New South Wales (NSW), Sydney’s and possibly Australia’s premiere art museum. We were in Sydney last year during the final days of the exhibition &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/31/australian-art-at-art-gallery-of-nsw/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/lngXwHYEUHY" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/31/australian-art-at-art-gallery-of-nsw/feed/ 0 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/31/australian-art-at-art-gallery-of-nsw/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/Qtlj769JoJo/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/29/how-much-planning-you-should-do-before-you-travel/#comments Fri, 29 Mar 2013 07:05:47 +0000 Lara Dunston http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=19150 The walls in the hotel we’ve been staying at in Hoi An for the past seven weeks are paper-thin. We can’t help but hear our neighbours&#8217; conversations and note the many hours they waste in their hotel rooms discussing what to do, which destination to head to next, how they should get there, and where &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/29/how-much-planning-you-should-do-before-you-travel/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/Qtlj769JoJo" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/29/how-much-planning-you-should-do-before-you-travel/feed/ 10 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/29/how-much-planning-you-should-do-before-you-travel/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/K4AvzsgVM5c/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/24/how-to-photograph-people-when-travelling/#comments Sun, 24 Mar 2013 07:30:36 +0000 Terence Carter http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=19141 How to photograph people when travelling so that they engage with the camera and, more importantly, you don&#8217;t offend them, isn&#8217;t all that hard. Yet every day in Hoi An I witness some very disappointing behaviour. On my early morning photo-taking walks through the local Hoi An markets I rarely spot a foreigner. The market &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/24/how-to-photograph-people-when-travelling/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/K4AvzsgVM5c" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/24/how-to-photograph-people-when-travelling/feed/ 24 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/24/how-to-photograph-people-when-travelling/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/A0Bq8oFHXb8/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/22/living-like-locals-in-milan/#comments Thu, 21 Mar 2013 13:50:18 +0000 Terence Carter http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=19059 During our first few months in Vietnam, we rented an apartment in Hanoi that, well, didn’t go so well. In short, it was simultaneously the best and worst of locations in the city, and you can read about that in a piece I did for The Independent. One of the projects that kept us in &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/22/living-like-locals-in-milan/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/A0Bq8oFHXb8" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/22/living-like-locals-in-milan/feed/ 2 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/22/living-like-locals-in-milan/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/MZ3CenKunBI/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/16/at-home-in-hoi-an/#comments Sat, 16 Mar 2013 08:06:34 +0000 Terence Carter http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=19102 “Boat ride, one hour!” “Motorbike!” “Taxi!” “You buy lantern!” “You buy something from me!” “You take picture of me!” “Happy hour!” While these were the phrases shouted at me daily as I wandered the streets for the first few weeks of our stay in charming, laid-back Hoi An in Vietnam, they have recently started to &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/16/at-home-in-hoi-an/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/MZ3CenKunBI" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/16/at-home-in-hoi-an/feed/ 2 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/16/at-home-in-hoi-an/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/_12fcVcMN_c/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/11/photographing-tet-celebrations-in-hoi-an/#comments Mon, 11 Mar 2013 09:39:08 +0000 Terence Carter http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=19087 It was Tet in Hoi An. Tet – Vietnamese New Year – is a great time to visit this charming town and we were feeling good about being here for the celebrations. I was particularly excited about the prospecting of photographing Tet in Hoi An. Because there were midnight fireworks, I had taken my tripod &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/11/photographing-tet-celebrations-in-hoi-an/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/_12fcVcMN_c" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/11/photographing-tet-celebrations-in-hoi-an/feed/ 2 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/11/photographing-tet-celebrations-in-hoi-an/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Grantourismo/~3/sizgm_d8T0A/ http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/10/the-worlds-best-foodie-walks/#comments Sun, 10 Mar 2013 11:21:05 +0000 Lara Dunston http://grantourismotravels.com/?p=19055 Inhaling fresh herbs and fragrant spices at a local market, savouring street food treats at curbside stalls, and tasting delectable samples at gourmet food shops are some of the delicious reasons to do foodie walks. We may have set some kind of record for the number of culinary walking tours two travellers have done. We’ve experienced &#8230; </p><p><a class="more-link block-button" href="http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/10/the-worlds-best-foodie-walks/">Continue reading &#187;</a><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/Grantourismo/~4/sizgm_d8T0A" height="1" width="1"/> http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/10/the-worlds-best-foodie-walks/feed/ 7 http://grantourismotravels.com/2013/03/10/the-worlds-best-foodie-walks/