Asia
Vang Vieng at River Speed
An inner tube is a poor vehicle for ambition. This is part of its appeal. The Nam Song River moves through Vang…
Topic
Travel Guide
Asia
Hoi An Is Not the Venice of Anywhere
Calling Hoi An the “Venice of Southeast Asia” does neither place a favor. Yes, there is water. There are also lanterns, boats…
Asia
Vietnam’s Beaches Are Not One Trip
Vietnam has more than three thousand kilometers of coastline, which makes a list of its “best beaches” about as useful as a…
Asia
Sapa Beyond the Viewpoints
Sapa is sold through one image: green rice terraces curving beneath misty mountains. The landscape is real. The timing is not guaranteed.…
Asia
Two Weeks in Vietnam Without Pretending It Is Small
Vietnam looks narrow on a map, which has encouraged generations of travelers to mistake it for small. The old version of this…
Asia
Five Days in Singapore Without Treating It Like a Layover
Singapore is often given forty-eight hours and a list of photogenic architecture. Five days allows a better question: how did a small…
Asia
A Night Out in Singapore Should Not Depend on a Secret List
The old version of this post was a list of Singapore speakeasies, complete with addresses, passwords and breathless descriptions of unmarked doors.…
Asia
Marina Bay Is Better on Foot
Marina Bay is usually photographed as a collection of objects: three towers with a ship on top, a lotus-shaped museum, artificial trees…
Australia
A Working Holiday in Australia Is Still Work
Australia’s working-holiday programs are often advertised as a year of beaches interrupted by occasional paid shifts. The beaches are real. So are…
Australia
The Great Barrier Reef Is Alive, Damaged, and Worth Seeing Carefully
The Great Barrier Reef is often written about as if it were one flawless underwater postcard. It is neither one place nor…