South East Asia

Vietnam may not immediately spring to mind when you think about the craft beer scene, but interesting new lagers and IPAs have been brewing away in the country for years.

While the frenetic streets of Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City offer a unique insight into Vietnam’s urban life, it’s not until you’ve ridden through the serene – and surreal – surrounds of Mai Chau that you get to know the real Vietnam.

While Halong Bay may be one of Vietnam’s shining stars, Cat Ba Island is a hidden gem. Here’s why you should add it to your travel itinerary now.

Most people tend to focus their Cambodia itinerary on Siem Reap and Phnom Penh, perhaps with a jaunt along the coast thrown in. Between the temples of Angkor and the bright lights of the capital, there’s a whole country waiting to be explored.

If you want to see the face of overtourism, take a plane to Phnom Penh and catch a bumpy five-hour bus to Sihanoukville – a once-sleepy town on a little peninsula in the Gulf of Thailand. Sihanoukville is the jewel of Cambodia’s tourism industry. Or at least it used to be.

Sadly, the influx of mass-produced and imported items in Laos has made shopping responsibly more challenging in recent years. Here are our tips.

The thing that really gets me – the thing that really grinds my travel gears – is that Laotian cuisine is consistently underrated. It’s overlooked. It’s a travesty!

It’s often overlooked in favour of its more popular neighbours Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. But make no mistake – Laos’ Luang Prabang can’t be missed.

18 months after breaking two legs and an arm in a car accident, one American lawyer never dreamed she’d be climbing Mt Batur in Bali.