What is it about cute smiling kids in traditional costumes in foreign countries that we find so disarmingly charming? Flick through the back pages of a travel magazine to the ads for tours to South America and Thailand hill tribe treks and there’ll be a couple of rosy-cheeked little kids in colourful clothes leading some … Read more about Touristic experiences #2: staged tourism and the charm of cute children
This month-long research trip in Thailand for the new DK guidebook has been one of the busiest commissions we’ve ever undertaken. It’s also been one of the most sublime. We’ve flown, driven, ferried, and trekked thousands of kilometers in southern and northern Thailand, in our quest to review some 280 hotels and restaurants. So please … Read more about Travel writing and the pace of research
We’ve already lost count of the number of luxury hotels we’ve checked into in Thailand in the last 11 days, the signature spas treatments and massages we’ve enjoyed, and the sublime sunset vistas we’ve savored from spacious suites and private villas overlooking infinity pools, palm-covered islands and the sea. More on those potentially hedonistic experiences … Read more about Thailand and good manners
I asked: what happened to ‘the journey’? Is the process of getting ‘there’ no longer as important as it once was? My friend Greg says: “Get me there as painlessly as possible. That is still important, but airports are airports, and other than the quality of food, and perhaps the entertainment system, planes are planes. … Read more about What happened to the the journey?