The joys of travel
The pandemic brought travel to a halt. With flights grounded, restaurants shuttered, and popular tourist sites morphed into ghost towns,
3y ago
Bird’s-eye Views of Rio de Janeiro
No self-respecting tourist will come away from Rio without having visited Christ the Redeemer, the statue that is emblematic of Rio.
5y ago
Rousing Rio
Rio is a city of varying extremes, encapsulated in wild rainforests and beaches; a metropolis of skyscrapers and shantytowns; a cosmopolitan steeped in history. I explore its many aspects through a series of articles on the city. This is the second of three.
5y ago
Beach Bums in Rio
Rio is unlike any city I'd been in before: not just geographically, where the urban sprawl gives way to fine, sandy beaches and rainforest covered hills with sheer drop down to stunning lagoons, but also culturally as it exudes a vibrant yet laid-back vibe.
5y ago
Ciudad del Este - A window into Paraguay
Ciudad del Este, Paraguay's second largest city, is famous. But perhaps not for the more conventional reasons. Set on the tri-border with Brazil's Foz do Iguaçu and Argentina's
5y ago
The Mighty Iguazú
Looking down, I saw what resembled a mossy carpet, its tight weave separated only by the muddy Paraná River, snaking its way through the vast stretch of jungle.
5y ago
Montevideo Musings
What we'd thought would be a breezy two-hour bus ride from the coastal town of Colonia del Sacramento to the capital of Uruguay, Montevideo, quickly turned into a four-hour affair.
6y ago
The Muted Delights of Colonia del Sacramento
The ferry, a much smaller vessel than I'd expected, bobbed up and down as it cut across the Rio del Plata. We were en route to Colonia del Sacramento—a quaint coastal town in Uruguay.
6y ago
August 17, 2018
Hanga Roa - Launching Pad for Visiting the Moai
My eyes fell on a tiny speck on the world map spread out before me. Easter Island. One of the most remote inhabited islands in the world.
July 27, 2018
The Vineyard by the Sea
As our taxi wound its way down the wide avenues of Santiago, our driver, despite his rudimentary English, regaled us with his vacation stories.
June 29, 2018
Vibrant Valparaíso
One of the things that struck me most about Chile is their love for dogs. If they hadn't already adopted a canine family member, then they are out on the streets showering their affections on the roadside strays. Bowls of doggie treats and water are left out on street corners and in front of shops; parks host kennel colonies
June 15, 2018
Taking the waters - Soaking in Hot Springs around the World
It was perhaps Jane Austen that first introduced me to the therapeutic benefits of bathing in thermal waters—a concept which my teenaged self found archaic and strange. As I grew older (and travelled wider), I realised bathing in hot springs is fairly common the world over. The instant I stepped into my first hot spring, I understood why. The almost unbearably warm waters cocooned my body and I felt my muscles unwind. I closed my eyes. It was sublime.
June 10, 2018
What Bourdain Taught Me
It was only last month that I found myself in La Fuente Alemana on a busy street in Providencia in Santiago, Chile.
June 1, 2018
Sleepless in Santiago
"This is madness!” I thought to myself as I frantically tried to stuff a jacket into my backpack, already bursting at the seams.
April 27, 2018
Auschwitz: Reflections and Realisations
Neat rows of red-brick buildings, bathed in brilliant sunlight, stretched out under an azure sky. The carefully manicured grounds, and the forest beyond, were a lush green. One could be forgiven for mistaking it for a well-run summer camp. It certainly did not look anything like what had been portrayed in Schindler's List or the myriad of Holocaust literature. Even the wrought-iron sign above the gates reading
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