Stories behind the stories. By Travel Writer, Amy McPherson
The curtain drew on this year’s Asian Women’s Empowerment Conference today. It had been a fantastic weekend in Kuala Lumpur, where I got to meet some of the bloggers I have been following for a while as well as inspirational women whose stories simply touched my heart. I had come here to network with like-minded …
This, is ‘Durian’. The King of Fruits. The thing that make South East Asians happy and the rest of us gag. Of all these trips to South East Asia I have not in fact, brought myself to face the fruit and it is a challenge that I finally accepted today, with my new found Malaysian …
Wow, yesterday was a big day. As you know, I arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 3am in the morning, was able to ‘go to bed’ at around 5am and I slept for about three hours before my body clock woke me up due to the time difference between Sydney and KL. Never mind, I needed …
Winter has always been a fascination of mine, especially snow. We don’t get a lot of winter and snow here in Australia, especially in Sydney, where we get mild winters and virtually no spring and autumn as transition between the extremes. So, I was naturally attracted to snow, and I had plenty of it during …
The last two booked I reviewed: A Moveable Feast and Female Nomad and Friends both have a focus on food around the world. I am a big fan of world cuisine, especially street food and traditional snacks, and I often try my hand at making them through local cooking classes. However, we all know that food …
Mermaids were all over Daydream Island. Which reminded me of the first time I met a mermaid…. It was in Copenhagen in Denmark, 2003. She was the ‘Little Mermaid’ of Hans Christian Anderson’s story. Her sad and lonely stance here remind me of the real story, the one Anderson actually wrote, not the Disney version, …
I am nice and relaxed. I have just spent the past five days at the Whitsundays and it was surprisingly fun. I say this not because the Whitsundays isn’t fun, but we had booked to stay on Daydream Island, a one resort island in the midst of the region and I was afraid that I …
This was taken at the Alter Brucke (the Old Bride) in Heidelberg Germany. They say that by rubbing the mirror the monkey was holding will guarantee my return to Heidelberg again and again. My wish came true three years later, when I took my now husband on a tour of Germany (on our way back …
After our kayaking adventure yesterday we decided to check out what our guide called his ‘hidden little gem’. Bundeena, a small suburb (if you could call it a suburb) of Sydney nestled within the Royal National Park, was just around the corner. It has all the characteristic of what constitute the cliche ‘hidden gem’. It is …
8am. There were very little people about on the beach and Bundeena felt like a ghost town. Still sleepy for an early start, all I wanted to do was to lie down on the beach and snooze away, however the promise of a great day out and the ability to check out the environment around …
I’ve decided to make this a regular Thursday post. Here’s today’s postcard from the memory vaults. This is Brighton Beach in England. It was one of Europe’s hottest summers and I decided that I needed to be at the beach. Brighton was only an hour’s train ride away from London, which made it a perfect …
Last night we were treated to a free concert by Her Majesty’s Royal Marine Band on the Opera House Forecourt against the backdrop of Sydney skyline, the Opera House and the lit up Harbour Bridge. It was one of the activities as part of the International Fleet Review and the crowd and I loved it. …
It has been a good weekend. Since Friday, there has been ships invading Sydney Harbour. It is the 100th anniversary of the Royal Australian Navy and warships from all over the world are here to celebrate with us with an International Fleet Review week. The warships arrived on Friday after a week of joint military …
2003, summer. I was on a bus between Germany and Czech Republic and we came across this field of blooming sunflowers. I’ve never seen a sunflower field (of this size) so I couldn’t resist a photo opportunity. I remember it was a fine sunny day with a pale blue sky, and as I stood among …
I have previously written about my love of street food, and my experience at creating culinary delights at cooking schools, there is no doubt that food is a great motivator (on top of culture, tradition, history and people) for me. It isn’t always just about the food, but the tradition and practices that come with …
Photos & Words by Bell Chan Tai O is a heritage fishing village located in Lantau island of Hong Kong. Tai O is also referred to as “Oriental Venice”, as there are lots of stilt houses along the coastline as the villagers live with fluctuating tides. Today, fishing activity is diminished in Hong Kong, and Tai O has gradually changed …
It’s a funny thing. We are drawn to randomly placed large objects and when giant colourful snails invaded Sydney last week as part of the Art & About Sydney 2013 festival, I noticed that we all can’t help but stop and pose with them. It’s an urge even I can’t resist. The annual Art & …
Oh dear. I just cried in public again. It’s the fourth time this week (and considering there are only five working days a week it’s not a good record) and I just couldn’t help myself. I’ve been reading this really sad book called The Story Teller’s Daughter, an emotional (and funny) story about a daughter …
The smell is never as imminent as they say, and lunch at the Sydney Fish Market is always a treat for me. “Fresh fish doesn’t smell”, is the tip I got from the man behind the counter at Peter’s, one of the larger fish mongers here at the market. I select a few prawns, freshly …
Have you ever arrived at an attraction, after much anticipation of seeing it and feeling it and thought… “WTF?” I felt that when I saw Pis. Yep, the little Pis of Brussels. It took me a bit of time navigating the back streets of the city from central station, through unmarked cobble stoned lanes and …
My posts in the past week have been a bit grim, so I thought I’d write on a lighter topic today and talk about my second favourite animal: monkeys. (My first favourite are cats, if you haven’t figured that out already ;-)) I was born in the Chinese zodiac year of the monkey and so …
It is our natural urge to want to be part of the action, and as much as we may morally disagree with it, we just can’t help ourselves to want to stop and check out the accident scene, or point out sites where certain disaster had happened. It’s our curiosity with the morbid and the …
I thought I’d counter yesterday’s charity ideas with a post about how to avoid ‘feel good’ charity, a phenomenon that is becoming increasing popular with the western world. What do I define as ‘feel good’ charity? These are activities that tourists can undertake to make them feel good about themselves, but not necessarily benefit the …
Pinch and punch for the first day of month! It is also the first day of spring and Sydney is glowing. I love this time of the year, for it marks the start of a period where I can really enjoy Sydney’s great outdoors and the many festivals that are about to start. Last week …
