Because Sometimes International Data Comes in Very Handy
I have an odd, and vaguely woolly attachment, to life without a smartphone, and life without data. And that’s not only because whenever I spend...
EscapeArtistes Blog
Ten Things Travel Writers Do That Folk Who Are on Holiday Don’t Do
I’ve written before about how fundamentally unglamorous it is to be a freelance writer. There are also many ways in which writing about travel for...
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...
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...