A Maverick Traveller

Malaysia’s answer to Phuket? Another island settlement with an old town and natural attractions all around (except swimming)

In which I stop being a traveller and become a tourist for a while, exploring the beaches, hills, and Sino-Portuguese Old Town

Thailand’s River Capital, bigger and more bustling than Chiang Mai

An Oasis in an Unstable Area

What a difference one determined person can make

From one of the most famous cities in Thailand to the nearby old capital of Lan Na, which is not so well known, but also a must-visit!

No Beaches, but Perhaps Still the Best Place to Go in Thailand!

World Heritage and history in one of the most storied parts of China, not far from Shanghai

A visit to China’s greatest and most prosperous city and to an old canal town nearby, the ‘Venice of the East’

A small, funky surf town on the west coast of New Zealand’s North Island

My struggle to build a small house on a sloping site in Queenstown, New Zealand (it’s there now, but tiny). A fascinating saga!

A historic tourist chateau and rides on the Sky Waka cable car, in sunshine and snow, under pressure from global warming.

Or, why you shouldn’t just pass through on the way to Dunedin, Christchurch, or Oamaru

North of Oamaru lies the ‘bluestone town’ of Timaru. First stop there is the i-Site and the incredible Te Ana (‘The Cave’) rock drawing…

A wonderful wild peninsula right on the city’s doorstep

From hiking in the Hollywood Hills and an abalone-themed installation at the Getty Center, I fall in love once more with Venice Beach

Part one of a revisit, staying in Hollywood this time, on the way home to New Zealand

Part 3: Owaka To Balclutha

Another young city, conjured out of the desert near the famous Grand Canyon and Hoover Dam

A visit to Mexico’s newest big city, where the nation begins

A Famous Silversmith, Frida Kahlo’s House in Coyoacán, and the Floating Gardens of Xochimilco

The National Anthropological Museum, the Zona Rosa, and other Downtown Delights (plus Teotihuacán)

My first time in the capital

Mexico’s most indigenous state and perhaps its most artistic as well, popular with tourists and remote workers