South China Morning Post - Travel & Leisure

Meet the family who have been sailing around the world since 2008

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 12:45:12 GMT

The crew of the Totem are smiling from ear to ear in an Instagram picture taken in September, as they eat long-awaited tacos. The family were on land for the first time in six months; docked, for a few days, at the Santa Rosalia marina, in Mexico. It was a rare break from their own version of Covid-19 lockdown, isolating in the Sea of Cortez after more than a decade of living on the ocean wave.In 2008, the Gifford family – mum Behan, dad Jamie and their three children, Niall (then nine), Mairen…

In this Indian city, locals love K-pop and K-dramas while Koreans love Indian food and weather ...

Thu, 03 Dec 2020 02:02:52 GMT

Weekend visitors to the popular Amma Naana supermarket in the upmarket Boat Club district of Chennai might think they are somewhere in South Korea. Groups of Koreans walk the aisles and stock up on Korean groceries such as noodles, sauces, seafood and vegetables. Choi Bobae, 30, arrived in the southern Indian city in 2008 and now works for a trading company, while her husband has his own trading business there. “I love Indian people and their warmth to foreigners, and I also enjoy Indian food…

Vietnam’s Dak Lak province is banning elephant rides, but more must be done to help shrinking ...

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 00:45:17 GMT

Awareness of elephant rights – or, rather, the wrongs suffered by elephants – is on the rise in Asia. Which isn’t saying much. According to conservation charity World Animal Protection (WAP), there are more than 3,000 pachyderms, including calves, being held captive at tourist attractions in the region, many of which are treated poorly for the sake of entertainment.“The animals are beaten into submission when young and then forced to let travellers take rides on their backs and to perform…

What people really steal from hotels and restaurants – and how some businesses turn that ...

Tue, 01 Dec 2020 18:30:10 GMT

When New York bar owners attempted to be eco-friendly by replacing plastic straws, they faced an unexpected consequence – customers kept stealing the metal replacements. Bar owners were not happy about the cost and inconvenience caused, according to media reports, but they are far from being alone in having their property pinched. Ask any hotelier. There again, one person’s theft is another person’s marketing opportunity, as the late design guru and restaurateur Terence Conran proved. …

Five-star hotel opening in Phnom Penh takes on added importance for industry battered by ...

Sun, 29 Nov 2020 23:45:10 GMT

When officials gathered for the Hyatt Regency Phnom Penh hotel’s groundbreaking ceremony in March 2017, Cambodia was in the midst of a tourism boom. Visitors from across the globe spilled out of the galleries, boutiques, bars and restaurants that dot the leafy central street the property sits on as the country set its sights on attracting seven million tourists a year by 2020. Fast forward to today and the scene is very different. Since tourism visas were suspended in mid-March, to help stem…

Hong Kong’s long-distance trails offer 300km of history, views and scenery – and winter is ...

Sun, 29 Nov 2020 02:15:18 GMT

Four long distance trails, stretching nearly 300 kilometres (185 miles) in total, thread their way the length and breadth of Hong Kong. Given the clement winter weather, there’s probably never been a better time to don boots, rucksack and AirPods, head into the wide green yonder and shrink that bucket list.The lengthiest trail takes its name from the late British colonial governor Sir Murray MacLehose, a keen walker who set up the city’s networks of country parks in the 1970s. Covering some 44…

The girl from … Stinking Pond – the true meaning of Ipanema and other place names, and ...

Fri, 27 Nov 2020 09:15:17 GMT

Until now, you might not have given much thought to the literal meaning of the names of countries, cities and towns, but many have fascinating historical explanations, cultural references or are steeped in myths and legends. Khartoum, for example, comes from the Arabic word al-kartoüm, meaning “the end of an elephant’s trunk”, and probably refers to the narrow strip of land in the Sudanese capital between the Blue and White Niles. Scholars suspect the name Toronto derives from the Mohawk word…

From County Mayo to Philadelphia: Joe Biden’s homelands in Ireland and the US

Thu, 26 Nov 2020 17:15:08 GMT

Donald Trump may disagree, but on November 3, Joe Biden was elected the 46th president of the United States. The win came thanks in no insignificant part to the voters of Philadelphia, who helped deliver Pennsylvania – Biden’s home state – to the Democratic challenger, taking his total of electoral college votes to 273, enough to declare victory.Outside America, the change of president was celebrated near and far, but perhaps nowhere more enthusiastically than in Mayo, the Irish county that is…

Will Indonesia’s proposed alcohol ban be the last call for Bali’s tourism industry?

Wed, 25 Nov 2020 00:45:07 GMT

Pre-pandemic Bali had much to offer those in search of a traveller-friendly tropical paradise: superb surf, stunning sunsets and a laid-back lifestyle, all washed down with an Aussie-cold Bintang on the beach. But perhaps that’s a past that has no future.On November 10, Indonesia’s House of Representatives resumed deliberation of a controversial alcohol prohibition bill, reports The Jakarta Post. First proposed in 2015, if it were to pass, “the bill as it currently stands would impose a nearly…

Politics, climate change, the menstrual cycle – board games use the power of play to build ...

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 23:15:16 GMT

When Thomas Wong Chang-hung began his career as a social worker in Hong Kong in 2000, he saw how rarely families spent time playing together. After a hard day at work, parents had little energy left to play with their children. Kids, in turn, were increasingly addicted to mobile and electronic devices. One evening in 2009, as an experiment, Wong now 43, took several board games to a community centre in Tung Chung, a new town on Lantau Island near Hong Kong’s international airport, to play with…

The best animal cams to watch during lockdown, and why cat and dog videos are good for your ...

Sun, 22 Nov 2020 23:15:20 GMT

Have you ever fallen down a rabbit hole of endlessly scrolling through cute dog videos or clips of fluffy, adorable kittens on the internet, and felt guilty about doing so? Don’t – it turns out there’s a rationale behind the addiction. A new study has found that watching such videos can lower your heart rate, blood pressure and anxiety. In December 2019, an hour-and-a-half before their exams, 15 students at Britain’s University of Leeds took part in an unusual exercise. Rather than doing any…

Mask-free in the Maldives: what it’s like now in the tourist idyll – as beautiful as ever, ...

Sun, 22 Nov 2020 04:15:17 GMT

From my overwater villa I’m staring into the Studio 54 of the fish world; jade and purple parrotfish pass by in flocks, tubular blue needlefish dart and dodge, black-tip reef sharks sashay about like they own the place. Inky eagle rays and huge stingrays, like magic carpets, steal the show – until the dolphins make an appearance and upstage them all. My new aquatic friends are oblivious to the carnage 2020 has wrought upon the world and for a few, all too brief days, I’ve been able to share…

Travel bubble: the best Singapore hotel deals, from luxury to family-friendly accommodation

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 05:15:16 GMT

STORY CONTAINS LISTWith the Hong Kong-Singapore bubble starting on Sunday, holidays are finally back on the cards. Our thoughts turn to hotel deals in the Lion City.Disappointingly, most of Singapore’s hotels aren’t offering anything special – nothing like the spectacular deals we’ve seen in Hong Kong over the summer – but after much trawling, we found six super stays, from the most family-friendly, to a crash pad for shoppers, to a bucket list weekend at Raffles. All prices include the fiddly…

From luxury private cemeteries to graves piled on top of each other, these Indonesians have ...

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 04:15:14 GMT

Indonesians are often spooked by cemeteries, but the history enthusiasts in a group called Indonesia Graveyard like to visit them to learn more about the past and about themselves.They may get odd looks and queries, and face scrutiny from people who don’t understand their hobby, but they have never questioned their dedication and vow to continue.The key members of Indonesia Graveyard, which was formed in January 2017, routinely get together to visit various cemeteries in their hometown of…

Travel bubble: Singapore for foodies and art lovers – the top places to eat and drink, and ...

Fri, 20 Nov 2020 02:45:08 GMT

With the travel bubble between Hong Kong and Singapore launching on November 22, we have some suggestions for Hong Kong foodies and art lovers heading to the Lion City.You don‘t have to be particularly interested in Southeast Asian art or subscribe to the growing interest in previously overlooked women artists to appreciate the Georgette Chen retrospective at the National Gallery Singapore, which opens on November 27.The China-born artist had a cosmopolitan and privileged upbringing and…

Historic buildings in India photographed and their stories preserved before they succumb to ...

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 09:45:05 GMT

Photographer Amit Pasricha is determined to find as much of he can of what his countrymen have forgotten. This desire to document India’s neglected and crumbling heritage buildings and monuments spawned a project he calls India Lost & Found (ILF). Just 3,650 cultural monuments enjoy the protection of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI). That leaves at least 35,000 and as many as 700,000 other items of built heritage vulnerable to bureaucratic apathy, decay, vandalism – and property…

The Lion’s Share: how community-based wildlife projects across Asia benefit from big-brand ...

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 07:15:14 GMT

Animals abound in advertising, whether it’s a puppy helping to bring life to otherwise inanimate toilet tissue, polar bears promoting a chilled soft drink or a bunny demonstrating battery longevity. The bears may be merely computer animations and the bunny a toy, but animal images help to shift hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of products every year.In 2018, the United Nations Development Programme and partners decided it was about time the animal kingdom received some payback. Animals…

Tourists take world’s highest outdoor lift to the top of China’s ‘Avatar’ cliff

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 09:26:03 GMT

Towering more than 300 metres (1,000 feet) up the cliff face that inspired the landscape for the blockbuster movie Avatar, the world’s highest outdoor lift whisks brave tourists to breathtaking views.The three double-decker elevators in central China’s Zhangjiajie National Forest Park zip up the cliff in just 88 seconds, a speedy attraction as domestic tourism slowly recovers after the coronavirus forced strict travel measures and lockdowns earlier this year.It delivers tourists to the top of…

Travel bubble: 7 tips for visitors from Singapore to Hong Kong – where to eat, shop, hike and ...

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 04:17:09 GMT

Quarantine-free travel between Hong Kong and Singapore is expected to start on November 22. For Singaporeans who are taking advantage of the “travel bubble”, forking out an estimated S$328 (HK$1,889/US$244) for Covid-19 tests alone (once in Singapore and twice in Hong Kong) gives them an even bigger reason to make the most of their trip. Here are our seven tips for doing just that.1. Value mealsSocial-distancing rules are strictly followed and enforced in Hong Kong. As of November 16, the…

Kyoto is empty of Chinese tourists, and Japanese netizens would like to keep it that way

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 00:45:10 GMT

The coronavirus might have curtailed international travel from China, but it hasn’t stopped what the United Nations World Tourism Organization identified as “the leading tourism outbound market in the world both in departure numbers as well as total expenditure” from wanting to explore beyond the nation’s borders. In lieu of real-life expeditions, they have been making do with tours of popular destinations, including the Palace of Versailles, in France, and London’s British Museum, live…