The Art of Slow Travel

Toyko district focus: Roppongi

Den Den — Sat, 18 May 2013 12:24:14 +0000

It feels good to have jumped on the Slow Travel wagon once again. Having explored Tokyo slowly at the beginning of my trip in Japan, I’ll be publishing a number of posts focusing on the different Tokyo districts, my experiences in each plus information about what they have to offer. We arrive at Narita airport [...]

A Postcard to My Blog

Den Den — Mon, 13 May 2013 00:27:47 +0000

Dear Blog, I am so sorry that things have been really quiet here lately. My last proper holiday was when I travelled in Vietnam and Singapore over a year ago (minus that short, 4-day trip to New Zealand). But now I am writing to you during my 3-week trip in Japan, which is turning out [...]

On why I love being an expat

Den Den — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 12:41:11 +0000

The problem with working in the travel industry is that now, my to-visit list has spiraled out of control. While in the past I seemed to have one main country fixation per year (recently Vietnam and Japan), making picking where to go on holiday next a relatively easy task, now I seriously don’t know where [...]

Love with a Chance of Drowning – Why I still love this book

Den Den — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 03:54:52 +0000

Editor’s note: I am totally crap at summarising stories and that’s definitely not the point of this review. To read a summary of ‘Love with a Chance of Drowning’, please click here, where you’ll also find a delightful book trailer. The world doesn’t need another ‘Eat, Pray, Love’ style book, and while Torre De Roche’s [...]

The Hidden Melbourne

Den Den — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 00:38:41 +0000

Jerome points down a dead-end laneway I’ve been passing everyday for weeks on my way to work. From this angle, it looks unremarkable with it back-of-buildings look, exposed drain pipes and garage doors which I always assumed conceal parking spaces and storage spaces, unremarkable, that is, until I notice the three groups of people clustered [...]

Beautiful Melbourne and Victoria

Den Den — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 00:52:43 +0000

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while will surely remember me whining about how I couldn’t quite fall in love with Zurich and Switzerland, which caused me to ultimately decide that I needed to live somewhere else, and to pick Melbourne, Australia. And now that I am nearing my 1st [...]

Picture Perfect: Singapore Signs and Fines

Den Den — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 22:50:21 +0000

Before I visited Singapore, a friend on mine told me that he thought the country to be too sanitized. I asked him what he meant, and he said that, for him, there were too many rules to follow and too many things to be careful about. Incidentally, this friend is Swiss! As soon as I [...]

The virtues of slow travel through Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos

Den Den — Sat, 16 Feb 2013 07:26:24 +0000

This is a guest post Despite global financial woes, visitor numbers to South East Asia continue to grow by a rate of 10% a year. In 2011 alone visitor numbers from Australia to Vietnam and Laos grew to 280,000 and 31,000 respectively, and the total number of foreign tourists heading on an independent or guided [...]

On Projects and Stuff

Den Den — Sat, 02 Feb 2013 12:44:06 +0000

At the beginning of every year, in some random moment of inspiration, I always reach for the nearest piece of paper – a receipt, a Mcdonalds napkin, an empty page of the travel guidebook I’m devouring – and scribble a list of things I want to achieve that year on it. In past years, my [...]

Spotlight on Nha Trang, Vietnam

Den Den — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 00:47:14 +0000

Life is very sweet indeed in that little corner of Vietnam which is called Nha Trang, though of course I keep arguing that life is sweet in all the places I’ve been to in this amazing country. In the Southern part of Vietnam, Nha Trang can be easily accessed via cheap local flights (Jetstar or [...]