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“Vietnamese people eat not to get bored,” explains Neville Dean, as I try another “pho,” in Hoi An food market. Neville is our guide in a food tour across the streets of the ancient town of Hoi An, in central Vietnam. It’s 7:30 am, and we have our fourth dish. “Eating is the best way to immerse yourself further in Vietnamese culture,” he points out.
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On a day in late January 2017, I land in Yangon, the former capital of Myanmar, one of the last countries to open up in Asia after 50 years of isolation under the rule of a military junta. I’m only in Yangon for 12 hours before leaving for a five – day expedition across the Arakan Mountains, in western Burma. Despite being relatively new to tourism compared to other South-East Asian countries, in Myanmar, the heat is on. The much-touted places to visit – Yangon, Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake – are on the standard schedule. But I want to be taken off-piste. It is that curiosity about the unknown with all its challenges that drives me to a forgotten part of this exotic country.
There is something about Flores that is rather unearthly. This diverse island in Eastern Indonesia with its savannah landscape, pristine oceans, impressive volcanoes and lakes resemble a wilderness that seems to belong to another place and time. Though it is just an hour flight from the internationally-acclaimed Bali, Flores is an island still covered in relative obscurity.
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When living in Brazil, the mere mention of Bali evoked me thoughts of a far away paradise. I dreamt about a tropical island with white sands and clear blue water populated by surfers and tanned people.
It was during a trip to Bhutan, a year ago, when I first saw, and subsequently fell in love with the Himalayas. You see, those giant mountains mean different things to different people. To some, it represents a chance to meet with and conquer a real-life giant, something every mountaineer finds irresistible. To others, it is a region to be feared, respected and admired from a distance. But to me, it was a sort of mystery, waiting to be unraveled. The five days I spent in Bhutan were clearly not enough. I wanted more. I had to travel deeper into the region and walk among these giants to fully grasp their magic.
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I first traveled to India a few years ago. That was a short three-day trip, but long enough to give me a flavor of a compelling, out of the ordinary country. I watched the sunrise from the remarkable Taj Mahal, drove 300km from Agra to Ranthambore National Park on a Royal Enfield Bullet, and tracked wild tigers in their natural habitat. Rajasthan is a place that moved me. I fell in love with the culture, the land, the people, and have been going back ever since.
If you have the curiosity to experience what an undeveloped and new nation is like you should go to East Timor. I say a new nation because this former Portuguese colony became the first new sovereign state of the 21st century in 2002. The country was utterly ruined in 1999 when the Indonesian troops who had occupied it for 24 years were forced to withdraw after a United Nations referendum resulted in its independence. Almost 15 years after this event, it still lacks in resources, and there is not too much happening in East Timor. And this is the reason why we decided to visit this little nation in the Indian Ocean. We wanted to see with our eyes how a country in its very beginning looks like.
I had long wanted to visit Bhutan. A country that stands apart in the Himalayas as it has been saved from the damaging effects of tourism that have affected the rest of Asia for the past 20 years. The rising of the popularity of Bhutan, however, cannot be denied. Slowly the country is throwing open its doors and coming out with new hotels, airports and flight connections. The high prices, on the other hand, will still keep the mass market at bay for a long time.
