https://www.scmp.com/rss/317427/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com What would you travel to India for? For the food, perhaps? Or the culture? Or maybe for the sheer exhilaration of experiencing life in a country that’s as crazy as it is beautiful; as peaceful as it is colourful. These are all reason enough to put India on your bucket list, but what about where to rest your head at the end of a day? We travelled India in search of those places: whether it’s in the desert, along the coast, on the most holy of rivers, here is some of the most enticing... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/1929379/5-unusual-places-stay-india?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/1929379/5-unusual-places-stay-india?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 23 Mar 2016 04:15:30 +0000 According to research recently released by Deutsche Bank, Kuala Lumpur is one of the cheapest cities in the world in which to enjoy a five-star holiday. Not only are prices reasonable (one night in a five-star hotel could cost one-third of the price in a similar property in Hong Kong), there is much to see and do. Malaysia’s capital, whose name means “mud estuary”, is an interesting fusion of Malay, Indian and Chinese cultures, which can all be explored at  any price range. Here’s how to... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/1854373/six-ways-enjoy-kuala-lumpur-whatever-your-budget?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/1854373/six-ways-enjoy-kuala-lumpur-whatever-your-budget?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 02 Sep 2015 00:00:12 +0000 There is a sense of romance, of intrigue, that comes with a trip to Chiang Mai. Thailand's unofficial second city is in the far north of the country, surrounded by the mountain ranges of the Thai highlands, and it is much celebrated as the cultural capital of the country. Here, in the city that was once the capital of the Lanna Kingdom, there are more than 300 Buddhist temples. It's a city of trees. A city of colour. A city of markets. It's also a place that naturally encourages introspection,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48-hours/article/1826752/six-ways-escape-crowds-and-see-real-chiang-mai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48-hours/article/1826752/six-ways-escape-crowds-and-see-real-chiang-mai?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 01 Jul 2015 12:30:00 +0000 The Lion City has come a long way since 1819, when British statesman Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles declared the tip of the Malay Peninsula a prime location for a trading station. Back then, one could hardly have imagined that from the swampy shores of the Melaka Straits a cosmopolitan metropolis would rise to become a global financial centre and one of the world's leading commercial hubs. And yet between the shadows of slick high-rises, traces of Singapore's fascinating past — a history of spices... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48-hours/article/1803101/see-singapore-past-present-and-future-12-easy-steps?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48-hours/article/1803101/see-singapore-past-present-and-future-12-easy-steps?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 20 May 2015 14:53:31 +0000 The thirtieth of April marks the 40th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. While it signalled the end of the Vietnam War, it was not yet the end of what seems an eternity of fighting: in the past 100 years alone, the country has been at war with France, Japan and Thailand, then America, and after that Cambodia and China — and the fall of Saigon ushered in a Hollywood genre that has shaped modern perceptions of this skinny, S-shaped Southeast Asian country, bulldozing over the intricacies of this... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1763349/where-get-close-look-vietnams-long-history-war?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1763349/where-get-close-look-vietnams-long-history-war?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 15 Apr 2015 08:58:49 +0000 On the shores of the meandering Melaka River lies an extraordinary city loved as much for its interesting streets and colourful architecture as for its rich history, delicious cuisine and fusion of cultures. We visit the capital of Melaka state in Malaysia, a place of many faces.   Portuguese Settlement In the early 1500s, the Portuguese, on a mission to benefit from the spice trade in the East, colonised Melaka. Today the Portuguese Settlement, on the coastline a few kilometres west of... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1722487/melaka-five-ways-see-world-one-malaysian-city?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1722487/melaka-five-ways-see-world-one-malaysian-city?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 25 Feb 2015 14:30:15 +0000 Bangkok: it's a storm of colour and light and sights and sounds; a clash of elegant temples and looming skyscrapers; a collision of Buddhist grace and flashy capitalism. It's a city stitched together by narrow streets and a web of canals and bridges that are subjected to the relentless flow of eight million residents. With tuk-tuks, Skytrain, taxis, bicycles, buses, scooters, the streets are never still. But pockets of calm do exist. And you don't have to go far to find them.   CLIMB GOLDEN... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1675947/seven-ways-duck-out-chaos-bangkok?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/48hrs/article/1675947/seven-ways-duck-out-chaos-bangkok?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 07 Jan 2015 14:15:15 +0000