The snug lanes of the Old Town (Havana Vieja) called for a slowdown. The cabbie sounded the horn, and the crowd that had been gawking at the crumbling exteriors of a period structure dispersed hastily to make way. These derelict buildings, once brightly-coloured, line both sides of the street. The unhurried taxi ride facilitated a closer look at them. Most…
A modest stone walkway served as my starting point. Beyond it stretched kilometres and kilometres of farmlands, woods and country towns – their pale and ruddy grounds packed tight by the footsteps of a million pilgrims and travellers. Grounds, that were now mine to pound through to reach my destination, the Spanish city of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia. As…
With bobbing yachts on shimmering waters, lush gardens awash with sunshine, and brilliant blue skies, Sydney is the Hollywood star of world cities. Glamorous, adulation-loving yet quietly confident, Sydney’s rock star persona together with its iconic sights alone is enough to make the long trek to Australia worth the effort. It may not be heaving with history unlike some other…
When our Latin American adventure was in its planning stages, La Paz was little more than a convenient starting point for more exotic travels in the region. But a few hours into our stay in the city, when I indulged in the habitual game of ‘what other place does this place remind me of’, the query returned no matches. Given…
With destination heavyweights such as New Zealand, French Polynesia and Hawaii for neighbours, it’s not surprising that the Cook Islands doesn’t make the list very often. However, as I discovered on a recent jaunt, this unassuming group of 15 islands in the Pacific with vistas to rival high-profile island paradises and zany details aplenty, delivers an experience unlike any other. …
There’s a certain romance that Vietnam invokes. From the mist-laden hills of the north to the beach towns in the south, the country has enough topographical variation to suit all tastes. Throw in a tumultuous history, a cuisine that’s fast gathering fans the world over and you have, what many reckon, one of the most intriguing countries to visit. Vietnam’s…
Iconic buildings, snazzy bars, lush gardens, the West End…it’s a well-acknowledged fact that there’s never a shortage of things to see and do in London – not just for the repeat visitor but also for the long-term resident. But beneath all that historical and cultural gravitas is a city that is continuously reinventing itself in all sorts of ways and…
An East African safari tops many a bucket list and, having just returned from a two-week wildlife adventure in Kenya & Tanzania, I can reiterate that it is every bit as special as it is made out to be. However, spellbinding images of grazing zebras and migrating wildebeests could make one easily overlook the practicalities. Here are some ground realities…
I’m not sure LA really gets its due. When I told friends I was off to the Californian city for some ‘me-time’, many couldn’t see the point of a trans-continental journey ‘just to take a few cheesy photographs in front of the Hollywood sign’. I had no dearth of reasons though. For one, it was five years since my last…
And so, as they say, the universe conspired to make it happen. On the 23rd of July, 2015 I set foot in my 50th country. It was just a daylong stopover in Kuala Lumpur, but statistics are statistics. I’m a sucker for travel lists and having perused every ‘best’, ‘10 most’, ‘must do’ list out there, I’ve mustered the gumption…