Off The Beat: Lake Baikal – A Siberian land frozen in time
By the time I finished Aleksandr Isayevich Solzhenitsyn, the great Russian novelist and historian's series of books on these cruel places, I had...
Off The Beat: Tips For Malaysians Travelling To Rwanda And Uganda
In the whole world, one can only see mountain gorillas in Rwanda, Uganda and Congo.Fly to Doha in Qatar, from Kuala Lumpur and...
Off The Beat: Gorillas in East Africa
The head of the family – the alpha male Ubumwe – was sound asleep. He was big. Real big. He is said to...
Off The Beat: A Noah’s Ark in Hong Kong?
The ark is, in fact, a multi-storey building serving as either a hotel or a youth hostel located on the top floor, and...
Off The Beat: In search of… durians in Australia!
There is a growing demand for the King of Fruits in Australia, but the supply is limited because of a relatively smaller number...
Off The Beat: Up close with the Rafflesia, the largest and smelliest flower on Earth
The rafflesia takes six to nine months to go from bud to bloom, and then it dies in a week! So it is...
Off The Beat: What is it about Japan’s Aokigahara Forest that attracts tourists?
It is one of the scariest places on earth, with an evil aura and a spooky disposition. And as I mentioned, I felt...
Off The Beat: Getting spooked in Shibuya, Japan
It's not always about the pumpkins and the Grim Reaper.In Japan,Halloween has a distinctly different flavour.
Off The Beat: In search off the rare and elusive Durian Kura Kura
Unlike regular durian, the kura kura durian hangs just about ground level from its tree when it fruits. It’s presumed that the fruit’s...
Off The Beat: Swimming with jellyfishes on Kakaban Island
The idea of diving into a lake to swim with thousands of jellyfishes (of the harmless variety) had never crossed my mind. It...
