To escape the greyness of February in the UK, this year we chose to visit Vietnam. We planned our 25-day trip ourselves, rather than be seduced by the lure of an escorted all-Vietnam tour. Our reference sources were old-fashioned print (take a bow DK), internet searches and recommendations from our girls who had spent time … More 25 DAYS IN // Vietnam
Hanoi is in the north of Vietnam. It is the country’s capital and second largest city with a population of around 5.5 million people. Hanoi was full of life, noise and colour and its Old Quarter seemed chaotic with narrow streets criss-crossing each other. In the past most streets in the Old Quarter were arranged … More 4 DAYS IN // Hanoi, Vietnam
Sometimes you arrive somewhere and you just feel it is special. Da Lat is special. We loved Da Lat and could easily have stayed longer than the two and a half days we spent there. Da Lat is a city in the south of Vietnam initially developed by the French in the early 1900s as … More 2 ½ DAYS IN // Da Lat, Vietnam
Ho Chi Minh City is Vietnam’s most populous city with a population of around 10 million people. Formerly known as Saigon, it is situated in the southeast region of Vietnam, and is busy, bustling and colourful. We arrived in the run up to the Tet Lunar New Year festival. This is an important annual event … More 5 DAYS IN // Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Pattaya is a beach resort, located on the Gulf of Thailand, about 100 kilometres south of Bangkok. Pattaya caters to most tastes, with excellent beaches and resort hotels focused on families, as well as livelier areas with energetic nightlife catering to more eclectic tastes. Pattaya is busy at all hours however, even late at night, … More 14 DAYS IN // Pattaya, Thailand
KL has branded itself as ‘A City of Contrasts & Diversity’ Our first impressions were not good:37 degrees Celsius, 94% humidity, a strong smell of exhaust fumes even in the taxi heading into the city and traffic jams everywhere. However, once we had found our hotel, showered, changed, and then ventured out, we loved what … More 4 DAYS IN // Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Wellington was described to us as ‘a city that thinks it is a village’ by a vendor at the Underground Market. This is apt. Wellington is easily walked, has a nice friendly feeling and a few streets of vibrant nightlife. We went in April and the temperature was around 17 degrees Celsius and cloudy. We … More 2 DAYS IN // Wellington, New Zealand
I have been visiting Hong Kong for over a decade on business. Every year there is a toy fair in early January. The usual routine is to leave London on a Friday evening, arrive in Hong Kong late Saturday afternoon, have our first customer dinner Saturday evening, set up the booth at the Hong Kong … More WORKABOUT // Hong Kong, China
Global Gary 