https://www.scmp.com/rss/265003/feed Based in London, award-winning writer and photographer Daniel Allen has journeyed widely across the globe. His work has featured in numerous publications, including The Guardian, The Sunday Times, National Geographic, Discovery Channel Magazine, Geographical, CNN Travel and Esquire. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Daniel Allen Daniel Allen It’s just before sunrise in Yellowstone National Park and the ground is encrusted with frost – a reminder that autumn will soon succumb to the frigid embrace of a Wyoming winter. Here in the American West, it can snow as early as September. The distinctive, far-off yipping of a coyote reverberates off the hillsides, the undulating outlines of which are still shrouded in semi-darkness. Despite the early hour, a small but growing group of people gathers on a bank overlooking the silvery ribbon of... https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3314134/yellowstone-americas-first-national-park-heeds-call-wild?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/postmag/travel/article/3314134/yellowstone-americas-first-national-park-heeds-call-wild?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Jun 2025 00:00:11 +0000 At 6am, most guests are still fast asleep in the cabins, shepherds’ huts, yurts and stone cottages dotted across the Bamff Estate, a 530-hectare (1,300-acre) property on the southern edge of the Scottish Highlands. A few, however, are already awake, cameras and binoculars in hand as they stand around a pond a few hundred metres from the towers and turrets of Bamff House. If you want to see beavers at work, it pays to get up early. As the salmon-pink sky begins to brighten, the creators of the... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3263068/beavers-booming-wildcats-released-success-rewilding-scotland-boosts-ecotourism-are-lynx-wolf-next?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3263068/beavers-booming-wildcats-released-success-rewilding-scotland-boosts-ecotourism-are-lynx-wolf-next?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 19 May 2024 08:15:11 +0000 The two-seater plane has hardly taken to the air when eagle-eyed South African pilot Chris Whitfield spots a large herd of Kordofan giraffe, kicking up dust as they gallop across a scrubby plain below. To be fair, it’s hard to mistake Zakouma National Park’s most emblematic wildlife species – or rather subspecies – given their size, two-tone mottled skin and peculiar rocking stride. Here, in the southeastern corner of Chad, there was once a time when these majestic animals would have run from... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3246243/how-chads-zakouma-national-park-became-safe-haven-threatened-wildlife-and-must-visit-safari?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3246243/how-chads-zakouma-national-park-became-safe-haven-threatened-wildlife-and-must-visit-safari?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 26 Dec 2023 05:25:29 +0000 It’s just after dawn in Ecuador’s Maquipucuna Cloud Forest Reserve. The sound of 1,000 water droplets falling on foliage complements the riotous early morning birdsong, while a fine mist cloaks the moss-laden canopy above. Local guide Antony Flores scans the trees with his binoculars and points to a tall pacche (laurel) tree, heavily laden with aguacatillos. Something large but surprisingly nimble is moving in the upper branches, feasting on the tiny, fat-rich wild avocados. September in... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3238635/how-nature-based-tourism-could-save-ecuadors-cloud-forests-incredibly-biodiverse-danger?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3238635/how-nature-based-tourism-could-save-ecuadors-cloud-forests-incredibly-biodiverse-danger?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 21 Oct 2023 10:15:15 +0000 It takes an early evening flight low over the Iberá Wetlands to fully appreciate their scale and splendour. With the sun hugging the horizon, the golden-hued lagoons and creeks of this boundless watery labyrinth glint and sparkle, as the last flocks of egret and ibis return home to roost in the marshes below. If Botswana’s Okavango Delta and the sweeping Serengeti had a child together, it might look a bit like this wondrous and watery corner of northeast Argentina. Located in remote Corrientes... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3218394/apex-predators-their-prey-and-myriad-bird-species-rewilding-wetlands-argentina-best-seen-horseback?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3218394/apex-predators-their-prey-and-myriad-bird-species-rewilding-wetlands-argentina-best-seen-horseback?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 29 Apr 2023 10:15:08 +0000 From the air, Liwonde National Park appears as an undulating expanse of mopane woodland. The gentle humps of the Chinguni and Kadangusi hills dominate the foreground, giving way to the open, lush Chikalogwe Plain, where herds of water buffalo, sable antelope and impala graze beneath elegant Borassus palms. The Shire (pronounced “shi-ray”) river – fringed by countless tributaries, lagoons and oxbow lakes – meanders through the landscape, a fiery ribbon in the late afternoon sun. It’s easy to see... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3205809/national-park-malawi-southern-africa-sets-benchmark-reducing-human-animal-conflict-and-restoring?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3205809/national-park-malawi-southern-africa-sets-benchmark-reducing-human-animal-conflict-and-restoring?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 07 Jan 2023 05:15:07 +0000 Francisco Barrigão takes a break from minding his flock of distinctive, black-nosed churra galega bragança sheep, resting on his wooden staff in the mid-November sunshine. Winter has come late to northeastern Portugal’s Montesinho Natural Park, and the weather is clear and warm. He smiles ruefully and rubs his sun-darkened pate when the conversation turns to wolves. “Yes, they are here,” he says, sweeping his hand to indicate the gently rolling landscape. “A few weeks ago they took one of my... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3191620/how-saving-striking-iberian-wolf-could-give-nature?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3191620/how-saving-striking-iberian-wolf-could-give-nature?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 10 Sep 2022 08:15:13 +0000 In the frigid waters of Canada’s Salish Sea, close to the mouth of Bute Inlet, a female humpback whale and her calf point their knobbly flippers skyward in perfect synchronicity, before slowly sliding below the surface. Closer to the shoreline another humpback exhales air and slaps the water with its huge tail flukes, sending a plume of spray high into the air. Here, in the coastal waters off British Columbia, a long summer of undisturbed feeding means these iconic cetaceans have more than... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3163197/how-return-humpback-whales-canadas-salish-sea?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3163197/how-return-humpback-whales-canadas-salish-sea?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Jan 2022 23:15:11 +0000 It’s dawn at Elk Island National Park and Canada’s largest land animals are on the move. Guttural grunts punctuate the stillness as a herd of plains bison emerge from the mist, the animals’ shaggy silhouettes backlit by the early morning sun. Cows and bandy-legged calves stay close to each other as they graze while a massive, hump-backed bull brings up the rear, warily surveying the landscape. Surrounded by these mighty herbivores, it’s not hard to imagine thousands upon thousands of them moving... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3157311/canadas-bison-conservation-success-story-also-partly?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3157311/canadas-bison-conservation-success-story-also-partly?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 25 Nov 2021 21:15:12 +0000 After a seven-hour drive south from the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, past camel markets, shimmering Rift Valley lakes and seemingly endless fields of wheat and teff, the asphalt ends. A rust-red dirt track takes over and begins to climb, its heavily rutted surface slowing buses, four-wheel drives and firewood-laden donkeys to a crawl. As the air chills, driver and guide Demiss Mamo winds up the window of his well-used jeep. “Welcome to the rooftop of Africa,” he says, swerving to avoid a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3050170/ethiopias-bale-mountains-lions-and-wolves-prowl-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3050170/ethiopias-bale-mountains-lions-and-wolves-prowl-and?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 18 Feb 2020 12:30:10 +0000 On the edge of southern Norway’s Hardangervidda National Park, two snowmobiles plough lonely furrows across a frozen vastness, dwarfed by the pristine surroundings. Temperatures on the sprawling Hardangervidda plateau,snowbound in winter, can plunge to minus 30 degrees Celsius or below, but today the wind is light and the sun hangs low in a cloudless, cobalt sky. Petter Braaten, a senior nature inspector and park ranger attached to the Norwegian Directorate for Nature Management, halts the lead... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3037402/trail-southern-norways-arctic-foxes-back-brink?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3037402/trail-southern-norways-arctic-foxes-back-brink?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Nov 2019 08:00:14 +0000 The sun rises above the Muchinga Mountains, turning the Luangwa River into a shimmering pink ribbon. Huge bull hippos belch and bellow as they jockey for space in the shallows while the haunting cries of a perched African fish eagle echo across the water. It’s not hard to see why Zambia’s South Luangwa National Park has earned itself a reputation as one of Africa’s foremost wildlife viewing destinations. The good, bad and ugly sides to African safaris Johnathan Merkle is certainly not immune to... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2168897/why-zambia-game-park-different-african-wild-dog-packs?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2168897/why-zambia-game-park-different-african-wild-dog-packs?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 19 Oct 2018 04:34:55 +0000 Every Sunday, the Basilica de Bom Jesus offers an experience as unstero­typically Indian as any across the subcontinent. Beyond the weathered, rust-red walls of this venerable church, the dusty roads of Old Goa (Velha Goa) are thronged with buses and auto-rickshaws, many carrying day trippers from the sugar-soft beaches of the nearby coast. But inside, beneath stone cherubs, gilded reredos and a vaulted wooden ceiling, the start of Catholic Mass brings order and religious repose. Beach hopping... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2144439/old-goa-haven-classical-music-and-catholic-churches?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2144439/old-goa-haven-classical-music-and-catholic-churches?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 03 May 2018 04:45:45 +0000 In Akagera National Park, another glorious day gives way to a warm, velvety night. A pair of African fish eagles return to roost on the shore of Lake Ihema, their finger-like primary feathers silhouetted against the purple-hued sky. The birds’ haunting cries reverberate across the placid waters and are swallowed in the gloaming. This part of eastern Rwanda moves to nature’s rhymes and rhythms. At the Ruzizi Tented Lodge, the nightly hippo concert begins, a medley of belches, bellows, grunts and... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2112913/rwandan-national-parks-recovery-success-story?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2112913/rwandan-national-parks-recovery-success-story?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 29 Sep 2017 07:04:14 +0000 In leather stetson and rubber boots, Fredi Rosales Mendes sets off towards the nearest expanse of jungle on his russet mare. With the rising sun warming the treetops, a dawn chorus of squawks, croaks, hoots and the resonating booms of male howler monkeys is already in full voice. Here on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, human endeavour invariably unfolds in a vibrant natural theatre. Around the Casa el Descanso, the modest farmstead where Mendes lives with his wife, Yansi, an ethereal mist hovers... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2075161/how-hike-costa-ricas-pristine-osa-peninsula?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2075161/how-hike-costa-ricas-pristine-osa-peninsula?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 02 Mar 2017 11:00:44 +0000 As his wooden pirogue putt-putts through the dense man­groves of Senegal’s Sine-Saloum Delta, Mamadou Bakhoum is in a race with the tide. Dressed some­what incongruously in an ill-fitting beekeep­ing suit, he keeps a weather eye on the congested mass of roots beside the boat. If the water rises much higher, his latest honey haul will have to wait. “Sometimes the tide here is hard to predict,” says the muscular agri­cultural engineer, one hand resting on the tiller of his rusty outboard.... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2022659/see-rare-west-african-conservation-success-story?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2022659/see-rare-west-african-conservation-success-story?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 30 Sep 2016 07:00:15 +0000 IN ANTARCTICA IN February, there is barely any night. At 10.30pm, as the MS Fram nudges its way through the Lemaire Channel, every passenger aboard is on deck to watch the sun’s blood-red orb hover above the horizon. Hemmed in by steep cliffs, the waterway’s unruffled surface is mirror-like, reflecting snow-clad peaks and fractured glaciers with startling clarity. Lying off the west coast of Graham Land, the 11km Lemaire Channel is just one highlight of a voyage through the Antarctic. Carrying... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2002271/how-tourism-could-change-antarctica-our-last?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2002271/how-tourism-could-change-antarctica-our-last?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 11 Aug 2016 05:15:00 +0000 Dawn finds Old Delhi's Chhota Bazaar a place of cool repose. Along the neighbourhood's convoluted network of alleyways, a short rickshaw ride from the ramparts of the Red Fort, a handful of sleep-dazed shopkeepers begin unlocking metal shutters. The odd schoolboy or itinerant dog saunters past while a flock of pigeons wheels on the breeze, silver-white plumage shimmering in the early morning sun. At one address, however, the sounds of labour indicate the working day has long begun. A steady... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel-leisure/article/1941350/old-delhis-crumbling-mughal-mansions-restored?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel-leisure/article/1941350/old-delhis-crumbling-mughal-mansions-restored?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 06 May 2016 08:02:05 +0000 High up in the Ulley Valley, the late afternoon air is thin and bitterly cold. Hunkered down in a rocky cleft, Tsewang Namgyal scans the snow-dusted slopes with battered binoculars, his prematurely lined face testament to the harsh, high altitude environment of Ladakh. Here in India's Himalayan north, tracking the "grey ghost" has always been a physically demanding undertaking. "Twice in my life I've seen a snow leopard," says Namgyal, shoehorning his body further between two moss-covered... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel-leisure/article/1898552/do-you-want-film-snow-cat-ladakhs-place-see?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel-leisure/article/1898552/do-you-want-film-snow-cat-ladakhs-place-see?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 09 Jan 2016 07:00:15 +0000 At the Chapel over the Well, women in headscarves make small talk as they queue for water. Many have come from Moscow to the monastery of Saint Sergius Lavra, in the small Russian city of Sergiyev Posad, to replenish their supply from the sacred spring. For those who have forgotten to bring a receptacle, recycled water bottles are provided. For a small fee, of course. Sergiyev Posad is only 75km to the northeast of Moscow yet it is a million miles away from the power and get-rich-quick ambition... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1845082/russias-golden-ring-offers-spectacular-window-nations-past?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1845082/russias-golden-ring-offers-spectacular-window-nations-past?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 01 Aug 2015 14:30:15 +0000 As the muezzin's early morning call to prayer echoes around the narrow, dusty streets of Orjan, Mohamad Dwekat and his wife, Maysoon, begin their day. Here in the Al Ayoun region of Jordan, about an hour north of the capital, Amman, the dawn air is deliciously cool and laden with the scent of pine and pomegranate. Cleaning out the tabun - clay oven - in the courtyard of his simple home, Dwekat stops to greet a shepherd herding his flock of goats towards the nearby hills. Three French tourists... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1826370/jordan-homestays-embrace-sustainable-tourism?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1826370/jordan-homestays-embrace-sustainable-tourism?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 27 Jun 2015 14:10:50 +0000 What do an inner city law firm's office, a proposed bridge over the River Thames and a 160-metre skyscraper in the shape of a giant walkie-talkie have in common? Apart from being located in London, they all support (or will do soon) a surprisingly diverse range of life - and we're not talking suited and booted office workers. Energised perhaps by Garden Bridge - billed as "a walk through the woods spanning one of the greatest rivers in the world"; planning application for which was approved in... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1768582/how-green-rooftops-and-vertical-gardens-are-transforming?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1768582/how-green-rooftops-and-vertical-gardens-are-transforming?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 18 Apr 2015 14:07:11 +0000 Below his snow-dusted shapka hat, Anatoliy Vasiljev's rheumy eyes peer through a pair of fogged-up spectacles. In Rubchoila village, about 80km west of Petrozavodsk, capital of the Russian Republic of Karelia, the sun's faint orb hangs low in the December sky. Stepping out into the biting cold, the septuagenarian pulls his hat a little lower, buttons up a red tunic and begins tramping down the lane of packed snow that forms Rubchoila's main street. Vasiljev is Russian, Karelian and passionate... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1723716/russian-karelia-looks-past-and-future?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1723716/russian-karelia-looks-past-and-future?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 28 Feb 2015 14:45:15 +0000 Setting down a brush and a pot of thick epoxy glue, Bundit Kunpoh stops to adjust his red bandana. Despite the dappled shade provided by fronds of coconut and fan palm overhead, the heat is stifling. Seated astride the gunwale of his latest creation, the young boatbuilder wipes sweat from his eyes and lights a handmade cigarette. As the smoke curls into the still air, mosquitoes dance above a carpet of wood chips on the ground below. Ban Pak Rha, the coastal village Bundit calls home, sits 30km... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1694872/how-long-tail-boats-keep-southern-thailand-afloat?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1694872/how-long-tail-boats-keep-southern-thailand-afloat?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 31 Jan 2015 15:35:42 +0000 As the ethereal curtains of the aurora borealis begin their nightly waltz across the winter sky, Olinguaq Sandgreen and his dog team pull up at the edge of the sea ice. The long sled journey from the town of Ilulissat has left the hardy Inuit and his passenger thoroughly chilled, despite being clad in full sets of seal skins. Plumes of canine breath crystallise onto the powdered snow as the dogs yap and strain at their traces. Tonight, an empty fisherman's hut will provide the men with warmth... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1654819/see-greenland-dog-sled-holiday-close-nature?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1654819/see-greenland-dog-sled-holiday-close-nature?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Dec 2014 14:30:30 +0000 Haute cuisine, plump pillows and sundowners in the bush - visiting a game reserve in southern Africa invariably means a luxurious ride into the wild. Today, with African game species under threat like never before, safari-style pampering increasingly underpins vital conservation initiatives. As the sun's final embers fade in the skies over Botswana, a nocturnal chorus starts up at Mombo Camp. Guests sipping Amarula liqueur around the campfire are treated to their very own wildlife show as hippos... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/article/1500771/games-afoot?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/article/1500771/games-afoot?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 08 May 2014 15:45:00 +0000 As a fierce afternoon sun finally begins to dip, work on the Ananda Temple begins again. The heat here in Bagan, 200 kilometres south of Mandalay, in central Myanmar, is stifling. Still slightly groggy from a much-needed afternoon siesta, I wander into the main temple compound through the cool, porticoed entrance. Recently awakened from their own collective slumber, teams of local labourers saunter from the shadows armed with buckets and brushes. Two Indian archaeologists, decked out in shirts... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1484024/solitary-refinement-bagan-myanmars-architectural-city-wonders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1484024/solitary-refinement-bagan-myanmars-architectural-city-wonders?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 16 Apr 2014 14:45:15 +0000 What is it? An upmarket eco-resort on the edge of the remote Torres del Paine National Park, in Chilean Patagonia, one of South America's finest wildernesses, where guests wake up each morning to the glorious sight of the park's most distinctive landmark (weather permitting). And what is that? The Torres del Paine ("towers of Paine") are three massive granite pillars that soar 2,800 metres above the surrounding Patagonian steppe. Nearly 2,000 kilometres south of the Chilean capital, Santiago,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1461751/hot-spots-tierra-patagonia-chile?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1461751/hot-spots-tierra-patagonia-chile?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 05 Apr 2014 14:43:15 +0000 Cultural road trip A green jewel in Korea's tourist crown, the ancient city of Gyeongju is only 50 minutes by bus from Busan. Dating back more than 2,000 years, it was once capital of the Silla dynasty, the greatest of the Three Kingdoms of the Korean peninsula, and is still considered the region's cultural capital. Daereungwon is the largest tomb complex in Korea, with 23 grass-covered tumuli, and Seokguram Grotto and Bulguk Temple were both awarded Unesco World Heritage status in 1995.   Take... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1422991/10-things-do-busan?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1422991/10-things-do-busan?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 12 Feb 2014 15:30:15 +0000 From shimmering flapper skirts and cloche hats to sacque suits and straw fedoras, the art-deco movement of the 1920s and '30s was the epitome of style and sophistication. Much more than just a period-clothing trend, however, it came to represent a daring mix of glamour, excess and functionality that radically influenced all aspects of design. Given its hedonistic nature and connection with the decadent lifestyle, it's little wonder that art deco has enjoyed a timeless appeal. With Baz Luhrmann's... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/article/1393931/influential-era?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/style/article/1393931/influential-era?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 09 Jan 2014 14:15:45 +0000 As the morning rush-hour traffic inches along outside, horns blaring, all is quiet inside the marshalling yard of the Chimbacalle Station, in Quito, Ecuador. Against the buffers in one corner sits an immaculate steam engine, almost toy-like in its black and cherry-red livery. Closer to the curved platform, pristine carriages are lined up behind a dormant diesel locomotive. The atmosphere is sleepy, belying the fact that this is a terminus of the world's most exciting new rail project. After a... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1354370/all-aboard-andean-express?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/article/1354370/all-aboard-andean-express?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 16 Nov 2013 14:30:08 +0000 THERE'S SOMETHING about hiking an ancient pilgrimage route that makes physical discomfort a little easier to bear. Perhaps it's the knowledge that a deity somewhere may reward you for your pains further down the line. At any rate, my first glimpse of the Ryokan Adumaya in the Japanese village of Yunomine is a sight for sore eyes, not to mention sore feet. My first day of hiking in the Kumano region is a challenge fit for an unfit journalist. Extending over the lower reaches of Honshu's Kii... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1339816/hot-springs-and-heavenly-hikes-japans-kumano-region?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1339816/hot-springs-and-heavenly-hikes-japans-kumano-region?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 30 Oct 2013 14:45:30 +0000 Looking down at the squirming chambo clasped tightly in my hand, I'm not sure whether to liberate it or eat it for dinner. After a paltry five-minute pull on the net that landed this plump and shiny fish, I certainly haven't earned it. Returning my prize to the waters of Lake Niassa, however, might just be the best way to transform a village full of happy, smiling Mozambicans into a raging mob. It seems as though most of Messumba has turned out on the lakeside beach to rein in a trio of... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1084340/voyage-discovery?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/arts-culture/article/1084340/voyage-discovery?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 16 Nov 2012 15:19:22 +0000 Sashaying down the catwalk with poise and panache, a willowy Chinese model turns heads and triggers flash bulbs in a crimson, figure-hugging qipao. With a slit back and short sleeves, this innovative take on the mainland's most traditional item of female attire embodies the avant-garde face of contemporary Chinese couture. And what better place to showcase this slinky second skin than Dalian, one of China's most vibrant hotbeds of fashion. First staged way back in 1988, the China International... https://www.scmp.com/article/981506/city-dresses-thrill?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/981506/city-dresses-thrill?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Beijing-based American model Anina Trepte is the first foreigner to be named one of China's top 10 fashion models at the China Fashion Awards. Her blog has attracted an increasingly large following inside China and she says: 'I modelled in several of the Dalian Fashion Week events last year and the one I enjoyed the most was the young designer competition,' she says. 'Although the quality of the garments wasn't particularly high, I found the designs incredibly innovative. The fabrics and ... https://www.scmp.com/article/981505/exciting-times-lie-ahead?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/981505/exciting-times-lie-ahead?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Alongside the drive to establish Dalian as a base for foreign labels, the city is also looking to nurture homegrown talent. This twin track approach was illustrated by two simultaneous events. While Versace staged a runway show to launch its autumn-winter line at the Dalian Fashion Week, the Dalian Cup - a competition for up-and-coming local designers - was held at the new Z28 Fashion Valley Innovation Center, a 45 million yuan (HK$54.9 million) complex for fashion development founded by... https://www.scmp.com/article/981507/fashionable-city?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/981507/fashionable-city?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000 With its maritime environment and booming local economy, Dalian is consistently ranked among China's most liveable cities. It's also renowned for its burgeoning fashion industry, underpinned by the city's high-profile fashion festival and long-standing role as one of northeast China's garment manufacturing hubs. 'Today, Shanghai, Beijing and Dalian are China's premier fashion centres,' says Brian Cui, a member of the overseas development team at the Dalian-based International Brand Agency... https://www.scmp.com/article/981508/eye-catching-trends?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/981508/eye-catching-trends?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 10 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000