Hong Kong – Island of a Thousand Stories
For a city-state that dynamited two mountains and pushed the shattered remnants into the sea to grow its airport, for an engine of global capitalism...
Author: Theodora
The Seven Types of Language Speaker
Native English speakers are a peculiar bunch. Blessed with the world’s dominant language, many of us will pass our entire lives without needing to use...
I Gave up Smoking Six Weeks Ago. When Do I Start Feeling Good, Again?
For more than a quarter of a century, I was an absolutely dedicated smoker. A two-packs-a-day, anytime, anyplace, anywhere smoker. A smoke-ring-blowing, lighter-stealing, ashtray-filling semi-professional...
The 10 Best Things to Do with Kids in Singapore
Famously urbanised, a global business centre and a regional transport hub, Singapore might seem, at first blush, like an odd place to take the kids....
Parents: You Might Want to Show Your Spawn How to Navigate an Airport
I went to Singapore for lunch the other day, as you do. Well, more specifically for a visa run – visas, as I have remarked...
The Best Books for Learning Indonesian
As an intellectual friend, an intimidating chap who can be cerebral in several languages and do the basics in a handful more, observed, “Indonesian really...
41: A Difficult Birthday
As birthdays go, 40 was, surprisingly, OK. I think turning 40 is OK for most women, provided you’re vaguely “well-preserved”, simply because it sounds so...
Is THIS the Biggest Environmental Issue Facing Indonesia?
Ladies, gentlemen, environmentalists. Allow me to introduce the Aqua cup, or “Aqua gelas”, a single-use, single-cup serving of water that is designed to be thrown...
Five Reasons You Should Totally Dive Malapascua
We loved diving Malapascua, a pretty, white-sand island off Cebu, in the Philippines. And, frankly, it would be hard not to. Malapascua is one of...
How Does High School Work After Homeschooling While Travelling?
A lot has been written about how easy it is – or otherwise! – to do education on the road. But nobody seems to have...