The hidden side of the Silk Road
The pools beneath the pristine madrassa in Bukhara’s blue-tiled Lyab-i Hauz square were still. Men in long tunics hawked tea from silver pots in the...
Saving India’s artist ghetto
I made my way through narrow, twisting alleys, stepping carefully over open sewer drains, as I tried to keep up with the young man...
A case for banning in-flight wi-fi
About half an hour out of Bangkok, we were soaring at 30,000ft and I looked below: green, tree-covered hills undulated endlessly, impenetrably, to the...
The wine that comes with added bite
Eddie Lin first tried snake wine about 16 years ago, when a friend purchased a bottle from a combination liquor and dried herbs store...
World’s most dangerous waterways
It was just after sunset when the first hazard came dimly into view. Peering through wire-rim glasses into the inky-black waters of Bangladesh’s Buriganga...
A 400-year-old-port – with no boats
A 400-year-old port, Macau has long been closely linked with the sea. As recently as the 1950s, Macau children would have grown up knowing...
Welcome to ‘surfer nirvana’
The Liberian city of Robertsport is blessed with four pillars of surfer nirvana: perfect waves, warm water, an empty line up and an exotic...
The Asian city that never sleeps
“Pali pali” – meaning “quick, quick” – isn’t just a favourite expression in Seoul: it’s a way of life. South Korea’s capital moves at a...
The dish worth a 15-hour flight
Hainanese chicken rice is the chickeniest chicken dish one can find in the chicken-eating world. Don’t believe me? Picture this: sitting in front of...
The last of the pink dolphins
When Simon Holliday jumped into the water to swim from Hong Kong to Macau on 24 May 2014, he was feeling anything but ready....
The secret life of Beefeaters
It was 11 am behind the crenellated walls of one of England’s best-known attractions, and I was in a room few people know exists:...
The monster you should never find
Most monster lore is a product of wild imaginations, a little hysteria and a healthy dose of cultural mythology. Although it’s easy to dismiss...
The church of 40,000 corpses
With every corner of the gruesome Sedlec Ossuary ornately decorated with bones from more than 40,000 skeletons, the Czech Republic’s “Bone Church” offers a...
Why only some are born explorers
Antarctica is unbearable in July. It is so treacherous that in 1911, explorers Apsley Cherry-Garrard, Bill Wilson and Henry Bowers returned to base camp...
A taco with Middle Eastern roots
I wasn’t exactly at the Mexican version of Benihana, but it felt like it. The taquero, or taco maker, had just shaved off a...
China’s secret to a long happy life
Ninety-year-old Mr Chan, known around Macau’s Coloane Village as “Fat Suk” or “Rich Uncle”, has practised the same routine every morning for as long...