Photos

As anyone who has lived or visited there knows, Japan has five seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter and Sakura Season.

For 851 years, an O-torii Gate has stood as the portal to Japan’s sacred Itsukushima Island. But, for the foreseeable future, the current version will be covered in tarp and scaffolding, making this a good time to review the history of the vermillion gate to what today is known as Miyajima Island.

Some call it the “slowest race in the world”: The Cigar Smoking World Championship is a test of how slowly and delicately one can burn through a cigar and, for the uninitiated, is quite a sight to behold.

A first trip to Yangon necessitates visits to its historic pagodas. But the best way to see the “real” Yangon is spending a half-day (or more) traveling the Yangon Circular Line.

Thailand may have the Maeklong Railway Market, but it has nothing on Ngo 224 Le Duan, between Le Duan and Kham Tien streets. Train Street has been taken over by Insta-tourists, selfie snappers all eager to collect likes by replicating snaps they’ve seen on Instagram. Meanwhile, life goes on for those actually living there.

A two-hour walk from Sukhumvit Soi 2 to Soi 23 – which includes both the Nana Plaza and Soi Cowboy red light districts – found Bangkok nearly deserted. Bars were dark, of course. but the extent of just how deserted the streets were, how empty the BTS was and how desolate the MRT stations were between 6 and 8 p.m. still proved hard to comprehend.

Shot in 2016 & Re-Edited for 2019! – Welcome to the new Vang Vieng, a kinder, gentler version of one of Southeast Asia’s most infamous hotbeds of hedonism. Like a Hollywood starlet, this ramshackle blotch on a pictorial panorama of jagged mountains and the languid Nam Song river lived fast and died hard. It was knocked from its perch atop the list of must-do stops on the Banana Pancake Circuit nearly overnight.

It has been 150 years since Japan’s emperor ordered his citizens to dress in western style, but the kimono refuses to die. Even today it retains a powerful hold on the Japanese heart and mind. (50 Photos)

Songkran – the Thai New Year – is normally a joyous, water-soaked, three-day party. But that was before Covid-19. In 2020, Songkran has been canceled, the legal holidays revoked, the water-spraying forbidden, alcohol banned and an overnight curfew imposed. The result are ghostly quiet streets and train stations.

On Saturdays, every segment of Hanoi’s population can be found at the city’s Hoàn Kiếm Lake.

It won at least a 30-day reprieve, but there’s no doubt Bangkok’s historic Hua Lamphong railway station’s last days are counting down.

With most bars and clubs closed at midnight, Hanoi is not what you’d consider a “party town”. But, for foreigners, there is still an active nightlife scene, as long as you start early.

Trấn Quốc Pagoda is the oldest pagoda in Hanoi, originally constructed in the 6th century. Originally it was sited on the shores of the Red River. But confronted with the river’s encroachment, the temple was relocated in 1615 to the Golden Fish islet of West Lake. Visitors are given incense to be burned before offerings of food or small amounts of money are presented as presents to the gods for good luck.

Lacquer art and dishware is one of Vietnam’s famous exports. A look at Hanoi’s Thu Hương Lacquer Arts showed the painstaking, time-consuming process it takes to make it. A typical wall painting takes 3 months from start to finish.

Hong Kong is an expanding art hub, home to a wealth of international art galleries and exhibitions. But the city’s streets themselves are a gallery thanks to the HKWalls group and world-class graffiti artists.

The adjacent Hollywood and State streets and tiny Tank Lane in Sheung Wan are among the most popular sites for wall murals. You might have seen some of these on Instragram.

From sidewalk butchers to drug stores with overflowing shelves to massive night markets, Hong Kong is one big shopping mall. Here’s a few snaps from shops former and less so.

Built in 1886 to be the Notre Dame of Indochina, Hanoi’s St. Joseph’s Cathedral became the symbol of French domination over Vietnam for 70 years. Today is the oldest church in Hanoi and the center of Vietnam’s Roman Catholic diocese.

From sunrise on Victoria Peak to sunset in Central to the deck of the Star Ferry, the skyscrapers are stunningly impressive. Here’s a bunch of shots from mountain, shore & boat during my January weekend in HK.

Like everywhere in the world, Hong Kong’s signature neon signs are giving way to eco-friendlier (and boring) LEDs. But if you walk Kowloon from top to bottom, as I did over 2 days, you’ll still find some.

Views of iconic Angkor Wat from September 2018.

Its appearance in Angelina’s Jolie’s version of “Tomb Raider put Ta Prohm on the “must see” lists of every tourist that visits Angkor. And, unlike other Cambodian temples in that film, the 12th century temple and university is faithfully rendered, merged with the jungle, but not yet completely part of it.

Prasat Bayon, the 12th/13th century state temple of King Jayavarman VII, is often described as the “temple of 200 faces”. While Bayon is comprised by numerous levels and galleries, it’s the top level, with multitude of serene and smiling stone faces on 37 towers that’s its most-famous attraction.

The “Royal Sword”, Preah Khan was, in the 12th century, a city, temple and Buddhist university with 97,840 attendants and servants, including 1,000 dancers and 1,000 teachers.

Located deep in the jungles of Angkor, Ta Nei is a small temple located on the northwest corner of the East Baray holy reservoir, Many guides don’t even know how to find Ta Nai, so it isn’t popular with tourists.

Banteay Kdei – The “Citidel of Monks’ Chambers” – was built in the mid-12th to early 13th centuries in the Bayon architectural style, but is smaller and less complex. Its structures enclosed inside two successive walls from which emerge towers with a cloister in the east.

This Angkor gallery features two sites inside Angkor Thom (The Great City of Angkor) and it’s northern gate.