“Are we there yet?” Panting with arms akimbo, I squinted at the rock path snaking through the alpine green ahead. Another ridge to cross. More loose rocks to scramble over. We continued trudging to the peak of Mount Furano, stopping occasionally to take photos of the beautiful lush surrounds. “Hey, I think we’re finally there!”…
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“Is it left over right or the other way round?” I wondered as I wrapped my yukata tightly around my body. It has been a few years since I last visited an onsen (hot spring). Barefoot in our yukatas with towels in hand, we made our way to the basement of Ryounkaku Tokachidake. Then we…
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It was summer but the skies were grey and the wind gave me goosebumps under my jacket. We had arrived at the entrance of the ramen shop. Sliding the door open, we stepped inside. The air was thick with humidity, a warm welcome and respite from Sapporo’s chilly streets. It was only 5pm but the…
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Yoichi is a small coastal town located in the bottom part of Shakotan peninsula in western Hokkaido and is about 30 minutes by car from Otaru. The area is noted for its fruit production, especially apples. In addition, it offers the ideal climate at the right latitude for whisky production. When I was in Hokkaido…
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I visited Hokkaido in 2012 and it was only recently that I finally went through all the photos taken by my mum, sis and I, as well as edited my raw files. I started to work on a photo book – which expanded into two volumes – and have been laying out the photos manually (not…
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After learning about the major earthquake that recently struck Nepal, I looked through the digital scans of negatives from the rolls of film that I shot in 1998. As I counted the years on my fingers, I realised that it was about half a lifetime ago when I visited Nepal. I didn’t take many travel notes back then,…
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“Everest has always been a magnet for kooks, publicity seekers, hopeless romantics and others with a shaky hold on reality.” – Jon Krakauer, Into Thin Air (1997) More than 10 years ago, I read Jon Krakauer’s memoir “Into Thin Air: A Personal Account of the Mount Everest Disaster“. The book documents his 1996 expedition to Mount…
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What is your favourite travel memory? I have several but there’s one that always comes to mind. Like a gentle lullaby, it calms my mind and makes me smile as I indulge in a little daydream. The year was 2008. I had just been promoted and work was a constant avalanche. I was barely able to keep…
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Centuries ago, weary tea and horse traders travelling along the Ancient Tea-Horse Road 茶马古道 passed through Lijiang en-route to or from Shangri-la. Bricks of pu-erh tea 普洱茶 were bartered for Tibetan horses amongst the merchants. It was in Lijiang, which is in China’s Yunnan province, where my budding love affair with Chinese tea started. The year was 2008 and you can read…
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Angelina Hue 