Lara DunstonIt’s all about the backstreets, isn’t it? Whether it’s Hong Kong (pictured), Shanghai or Dubai, it’s the backstreets of those cities that are the most fascinating. That’s where I like to think we find what’s ‘authentic’ – a term in itself that’s up for discussion, right? But to really see how people live, we need … Read more about Hong Kong: it’s all about the backstreets
On the subject of ‘colour’, I still think of Hong Kong as the classic ‘vibrant cosmopolitan Asian city’. Don’t you? Bangkok and Tokyo may share that title, but Hong Kong has something special, an effervescence other cities don’t have. The city may not have the flamboyance of Shanghai or the audacity of Dubai but Hong … Read more about Hong Kong: local colour, part 2
I’m always looking for colour when I travel, whether it’s that sense of vibrancy, energy and immediacy of life on the streets, or a sense of ‘local colour’, that the neighbourhood I’m exploring is real, gritty and authentic, or simply the riot of colour and sound that can be experienced in cities like Hong Kong, … Read more about Bangkok: local colour, part 1
Don’t you love it when you travel and arrive at a place that’s exactly as you had imagined? Do you think to yourself “this is exactly how I imagined”? This image of little houses shaded by palm trees against a backdrop of limestone hills near Khao Sam Roi Yot National Park was the Thailand of … Read more about Thailand: as imagined
I located my missing palm trees. I knew I hadn’t imagined them. They’re in Thailand, on the coast somewhere between Hua Hin and Khao Sam Roi Yot national park. We’d hired a car in Hua Hin and driven down to the park to see the limestone hills, the monkeys, and the amazing bird life. On … Read more about Thailand: the missing palm trees