Category: Beyond the Dot

Hokkaido in Winter
Beyond the Dot, Hokkaido in Winter, Japan

Hokkaido in Winter

The northern most island in the Japanese island chain, Hokkaido is also the largest island and is largely undeveloped compared to the other islands. More well known for its beautiful scenery and ski resorts, as well as, the source of Sapporo beer, Hokkaido is still not as popular a destination as the rest of Japan for tourists. Well, I think that first of all it is not easily accessible. You can travel there by car, plane or train, but flying is the easiest and fastest. Secondly, the cost of travelling to Hokkaido itself is pretty expensive.

Update: As of March 2016, the Shinkansen or bullet train now goes to Hakodate from Tokyo in around 4 hours, making it more convenient to travel there. More information on the Shinkansen service can be found here. And for visitors to Japan, we can use the Japan Rail Pass for this ride, making it even more economical to travel. Continue reading “Hokkaido in Winter”

Ubud, Part 2/2 Eat See Wonder
Beyond the Dot, Indonesia, Ubud, Part 2/2 Eat See Wonder

Ubud, Part 2/2 Eat See Wonder

So if you were inspired by the book and movie Eat, Pray, Love to visit Ubud, you can read my previous blog which covers Ubud town itself and what you can do there. In this blog, I will cover the surrounding sights outside of Ubud town which can be done in a day tour. You will most probably need to hire some form of transport to get around if you want to do this as those places mentioned here are at least 5km or more from Ubud center.

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Road Trip Down Under
Australia, Beyond the Dot, Road Trip Down Under

Road Trip Down Under

There’s something exciting about road trips. The idea of just hopping into a car or motorbike and going wherever the road takes you has been immortalized in many films and books. We have taken a few road trips before, but none were as long (distance wise) as a road trip we did in 2005 in Australia, touring the west coast from Perth to Albany. We covered roughly more than 1,000km for this round trip over 3 days.

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England in a Day
Beyond the Dot, England in a Day, United Kingdom

England in a Day

The unthinkable has happened and we have a Brexit, the Sterling Pound has also dropped in value. Many people in Singapore were reported to have rushed down to the money changers to buy Pounds for their next holiday in UK. So if you are like one of the many people eagerly looking at a holiday to UK this year, besides just visiting London, there are more sights to be seen a few hours drive of England’s capital city.

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Golden Circle
Beyond the Dot, Golden Circle, Iceland

Golden Circle

For anyone visiting Iceland, most of them would have heard of the Golden Circle. Well, what is this Golden Circle? It’s a tour of the main attractions that more or less define Iceland, and is a must do for first time visitors. Whether you are going to follow a guided tour or self drive, the route for the Golden Circle is a 300km round trip that can be completed in a day trip from Reykjavik or extended over a few days to enjoy more of the incredible Icelandic scenery.

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Land of Fire and Ice
Beyond the Dot, Iceland, Land of Fire and Ice

Land of Fire and Ice

As the plane flew over the alien landscape, I could see that Iceland was going to be a very different world compared to other destinations. Lava fields extended below me as the plane came in for landing at Iceland’s only international airport at Keflavik. It was the middle of winter and snow covered the lava fields. Jagged black lava formations stuck out of the snow everywhere forming a contrasting landscape of black and white. There is no room for error during landing, miss the runway and the plane would be shredded to bits on the sharp and knife-like volcanic rocks. Building an airport out in the middle of an ancient lava field, what were they thinking?

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