Stories behind the stories. By Travel Writer, Amy McPherson
I work for an international office and have colleagues all around the world. From time to time, they would come for meetings in Sydney and being the traveller of the office, I end up being the ‘go-to’ person for travelling around Sydney. And just like what I mentioned about tourist destinations, they all want to …
I’ve been eating too much. Oh but I have been in food heaven. Not only have I had the opportunity to sample some regional Javanese snacks with Agata from Withlocals where we zigzagged the back alleys of local communities in search of her favourite street snacks and eating at some of the best local eateries. In …
Our flight had to circle when it got to Yogyakarta (locals affectionately call it ‘Jogja’), that’s how popular the place is. From the window I can spot the pointy tip of Mount Merapi in the distance, tall and mighty like a volcano would, with a lush green landscape sprawling from it. “There are a lot more …
I am in Indonesia to see if we can get sponsors for the Asian Women’s Empowerment Conference. I thought I’d mix business with pleasure and check out the area too. A friend from Jogjakarta warned me about this. “I prefer to avoid Jakarta at all costs,” she said, “you’ll never get anywhere.” I was determined …
[Feature image source: Morgue File. Credit to: muvuca] Some people like sunrises, some people prefer sunsets. Some, doesn’t understand why anyone would be impressed by either, as our trekking guide in Thailand wondered “why you tourists always want to watch sunrise and sunsets? It happens everyday. If you miss today, it’ll be there again tomorrow.” …
It’s been a while. A whole month in fact, since I last wrote. Sorry. The years of planning for the big international move (as a couple) is finally in rapid motion and in this past month I’ve…. Sold our unit Gave away most of our furniture and other odd stuff Sent the cats away to …
Before I met my husband, I have always been the solo traveller. I loved the freedom, the independence and the possibilities of solo travel and I have had no regrets. I was loving it so much that it didn’t occur to me, until last year’s Asian Women’s Empowerment Conference, that many women don’t travel solo, …
Yes, you knew this was coming. I have always taken pictures of cats when I travel but not so much as this trip to the Philippines when I decided that I’d start posting them on the blog. So here it is! The Crazy Cat Lady album, Philippines Edition!
It wasn’t immediately apparent what we should be trying in the Philippines. Filipino cuisine is not like that of the Japanese, Chinese, Italian and India, where there would be a restaurant dedicated for them on every street corner. No one hardly ever hear of trying Filipino cuisine unless you know someone who knows where to …
Manila was our last destination for the Philippines, and what a chaotic end to our journey! From the air Manila sprawled across the horizon like any other city, with sprouts of modern skyscrapers in all directions. Metro Manila comprises of 16 cities with an overall population of just over 11 million people, and the traffic …
At the entrance to Manila Bay lies an island that has seen the battle lines of World War II. Due to its strategic location Corregidor Island was used and re-used by American and Japanese forces as a battle base for their Pacific and Asia campaigns during the war and has since become an important piece …
Why did I come to Bohol? I could have gone to Boracay for the white sandy beaches, or Palawan for the unspoilt nature. However, we chose Bohol, because I wanted to meet the smallest primate in the world and Will wanted a piece of the Chocolate Hills. We stayed in the main city (town) Taglibaran …
Cebu had been an adventure. Many visit only to stay on the small side island of Mactan to enjoy the sandy beaches and its five star resorts, but we chose to stay in the city centre, as I heard, it is a city only to be experienced full on. It was Christmas day when we …
Our Philippines adventure began at Tagaytay, a picturesque township south of Manila where an active volcano – the Taal – dominates the landscape and the tourism industry of the region. Those who visit Tagaytay must pay the obligatory visit to Taal volcano, one that is still living and could potentially erupt again in the near …
Hello Philippines! What a chaotic introduction we’ve had. Having had a night’s stop over in Kuala Lumpur and about an hour and a half flight delay, we finally found ourselves on Filipino soil. The air is sticky and perfumed by a mixture of exhaust, grilled meat, boiled corns and sweat, layered with sounds bouncing off …
This is where I had my first meal in Hanoi when I visited in 2004. I had only arrived in the country for an hour, was wet and hungry and needed food. My love of street food took me to this little corner and my nose couldn’t go past the fragrance of the freshly steamed …
“Why would I spend money on animal suffering just to entertain ourselves?” Last week at the AWE Asia 2013, I had the pleasure to meet Sangduen ‘Lek’ Chailert – Lek for short – who spoke to us about elephant conservation in Asia. Her story is a powerful one, so I wanted to devote a full …
The curtain drew on this year’s Asian Women’s Empowerment Conference today. It had been a fantastic weekend in Kuala Lumpur, where I got to meet some of the bloggers I have been following for a while as well as inspirational women whose stories simply touched my heart. I had come here to network with like-minded …
This, is ‘Durian’. The King of Fruits. The thing that make South East Asians happy and the rest of us gag. Of all these trips to South East Asia I have not in fact, brought myself to face the fruit and it is a challenge that I finally accepted today, with my new found Malaysian …
Wow, yesterday was a big day. As you know, I arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 3am in the morning, was able to ‘go to bed’ at around 5am and I slept for about three hours before my body clock woke me up due to the time difference between Sydney and KL. Never mind, I needed …
Winter has always been a fascination of mine, especially snow. We don’t get a lot of winter and snow here in Australia, especially in Sydney, where we get mild winters and virtually no spring and autumn as transition between the extremes. So, I was naturally attracted to snow, and I had plenty of it during …
I am nice and relaxed. I have just spent the past five days at the Whitsundays and it was surprisingly fun. I say this not because the Whitsundays isn’t fun, but we had booked to stay on Daydream Island, a one resort island in the midst of the region and I was afraid that I …
After our kayaking adventure yesterday we decided to check out what our guide called his ‘hidden little gem’. Bundeena, a small suburb (if you could call it a suburb) of Sydney nestled within the Royal National Park, was just around the corner. It has all the characteristic of what constitute the cliche ‘hidden gem’. It is …
Last night we were treated to a free concert by Her Majesty’s Royal Marine Band on the Opera House Forecourt against the backdrop of Sydney skyline, the Opera House and the lit up Harbour Bridge. It was one of the activities as part of the International Fleet Review and the crowd and I loved it. …
