For years it seems the imposing old facades of Singapore’s former City Hall and Supreme Court have seemed stopped in time, their purpose arrested and their point missing. But all that changed in November 2015 when the two old grand dames of the Padang joined hands and... Read More
Somehow it sounds just a little Somerset Maugham-ish when you bark “Serangoon Road, please” at the Singapore taxi driver. The exotic sounding name is that of the main thoroughfare of Little India, the former Tamil settlement east of the Singapore River that has to be... Read More
Bangkok is not generally known as a focal point of the world’s religions, but its coffee-coloured river would have it different. Languid and long, the Chao Praya is one of the great waterways of the Orient, a working river plied by myriad different craft, large and... Read More
There is more to that desert mirage Dubai than soaring office towers and over-the-top luxury inns. If you scratch the surface, you will find a real world far removed from the Costa Plenty of the Gulf. For less than a dollar you can take a wooden abra across Dubai’s... Read More
Often unfairly labelled “Asia-lite”, city-state Singapore is more suited to the moniker “Asia decaffeinated”, because while it lacks the cacophony of rival Hong Kong or the chaos of Bangkok, it is an island steeped in history and full of exotica. From your arrival... Read More
Noel Coward even mentioned the concept in his rollicking song Mad Dogs and Englishman, although he neglected to focus on the potential for perambulation through the back lanes of Siam’s old capital. “In Bangkok At 12 o’clock They foam at the mouth and run, But mad... Read More
