One of the nicest hikes I’ve done in the previous year was the  Stoos, with an impressive break-taking “hike” on the mountain ridge overlooking glorious snow-top mountains and clear water lakes. With gondola cable-car and ski-lifts taking you up all the way, it’s as easy as can be, making this possibly the best easy hike […]

Roaming around Yunnan I visited most of the obvious tourist destinations, starting from Kunming, then Dali, and finally Lijiang. What I didn’t plan, but found a delightful surprise, was an ancient water town about 30 minutes north-west of Lijiang called Shuhe which I visited to escape the endless tourist crowds visiting the very same destinations. […]

I arrive in Cienfuegos without a plan, last minute down from Havana, and made my first stop at the Airbnb to leave my luggauge. I was greeted with a cold lemonade, a quick overview explanation of what’s available in the area. After figuring things out in the Cienfuegos area, I was heading town towards Trinidad and asked […]

After enjoying the lovely Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, I wanted to explore quick getaways in the are, and so was recommended to head off to the west to see Trakai, which features the Trakai Castle – a 14th century beautiful fortified stone castle set at the middle of a large lake. An hour’s bus away, […]

During my last month in Europe before heading off to Central America and relocating to Asia, I tried to do as much as I could around Europe, and that included heading off to the German side of Switzerland to explore cities I’ve long wanted to see. I finally made it to Zurich, arriving late night, […]

Following a short stay getting my bearings in Colombo, I decided to head to the mountains. I had very limited time and public transport is time consuming, and so the visitor’s center made a good argument for renting a car with a driver, something I’m typically very reluctant to do. But it worked out nicely, […]

Heading west from Granada in Nicaragua, towards Leon, I made a few stops along the way to admire some of the local nature and volcano mountains. First stop, the Mirador de Catarina, overlooking the Apoyo Lagoon (Laguna de Apoyo), with grand panoramic views of the lagoon from the west. I then continued to the Parque Malecon de Masaya […]

I’m not exactly sure why, but I’ve heard – a number of times – that Athens isn’t a very pleasant city. Which just made my enjoyment of this gorgeous city even greater. I expected little, and got a world class capital city, with the obvious remarkable Greek history sites, but also with lots of terrific […]

Vilnius was one of my last minute rush weekend getaways during my last month in Europe to try and see as much as possible. Haven’t been to Lithuania before, so this was meant to give me a taste of the country, people, and culture, and the weekend far exceeded my expectations. Vilnius was a lively […]

In my recent visit to Yunnan province in China I spent a few days roaming around, from Kunming, to Dali, to Lijiang and Shuhe, and then back for a final day near Kunming to fly back to Hong Kong. In that last day before going back I was looking to do something a bit different […]