Visiting the DMZ had been high on my list for as long as I can remember. I have always been curious about North Korea and a tour of the DMZ is one of the most popular things to do when visiting Seoul. It is certainly the closest that most of us will ever get to being in this mysterious country and the experience offers a fascinating and surreal look the history of both North and South Korea as well as the present day reality. (more…)

I had wanted to visit Seoul in South Korea for as long as I can remember. Despite having our long awaited trip cancelled a few years ago – the less said about that time, the better – I finally visited Seoul in September 2025 and it was even better than I could have ever wished for! (more…)

Last week I finally had the opportunity to visit Shanghai once again after being away for so long due to the pandemic. Given what has happened in China during the last few years where they had the strictest rules and lockdowns imaginable, constant testing for everyone and long quarantines followed by the subsequent riots across the country when people desperately started to fight back against all the protocols after seeing that the rest of the world had moved on, I was truly interested to see how it would be. (more…)

On the fourteenth day of every lunar month, the lights in the beautiful ancient town of Hoi An in Vietnam are turned off in preparation for the celebration of the Full Moon. We never purposely timed our trip to Vietnam in May this year for when there was a Lantern Festival in Hoi An, it was just pure luck that it would be taking place whilst we were there. (more…)