https://www.scmp.com/rss/328609/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com Yayan Suprianto surveys the floodwater surrounding his house of wooden planks and a corroded tin roof in Kampung Teko, “kampung” being a catchword for urban slums. He is part of a community of 300 people in what is considered the only “floating village” in Jakarta, the world’s second-most populous urban area after Tokyo. Perched above what used to be lush paddy fields, Yayan’s shack spills over support poles driven deep into the mud. It is surrounded by algae and discarded plastic and the water... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3079146/jakarta-sinks-and-indonesian-government-prepares?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/3079146/jakarta-sinks-and-indonesian-government-prepares?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 10 Apr 2020 00:15:05 +0000 It’s late August, after 9pm, and the dark blue light beloved by photographers lingers over the Swedish island of Fejan. Unruffled by any Baltic Sea breeze, the crooked pine trees are perfectly still. If it weren’t for the flies swarming around our grill-cooked dinner, all would be at peace. We eat from a small table, on a wooden patio, on a mountain ledge. And even though the ledge is little more than an hour from downtown Stockholm (by private car and private boat), it feels as though we have... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3076418/island-hopping-stockholm-archipelago-nordic-cuisine?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3076418/island-hopping-stockholm-archipelago-nordic-cuisine?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Mar 2020 09:00:22 +0000 Reached aboard a small ferry that departs during the summer months from Helsinki’s down­town Market Square, Lonna is a former military island that was, until a few years ago, off limits to the public. Now, though, the 150-metre-long island’s half-dozen buildings, in red brick and traditional red and yellow wood, have been renovated. One is a restaurant and another, facing the Baltic Sea, has been transformed into a public sauna. The sauna is an important part of Finnish culture; most Finns take... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3015120/sauna-culture-finland-stripping-strangers-and?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3015120/sauna-culture-finland-stripping-strangers-and?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 19 Jun 2019 13:00:10 +0000 Waves slap the hull, making the speedboat shudder, and I wonder whether this adventure will end before it has even begun. “The ocean is like a washing machine before we reach the reef,” says Tyron Brennon, suggesting the going will be easier thereafter. A dive instructor on Benguerra – the second big­gest island in Mozambique’s Bazaruto archipelago – Brennon is right, the boat stabilises once we reach 2 Mile Reef. It’s early morning as we begin exploring this wild part of the Indian Ocean. As we... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2184326/mozambiques-bazaruto-archipelago-five-island-haven?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/2184326/mozambiques-bazaruto-archipelago-five-island-haven?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Feb 2019 08:30:48 +0000 Departing passengers at Incheon International Airport, on the outskirts of the South Korean capital, Seoul, wave goodbye to friends and loved ones, and say hello to the future. “Please touch my face,” a GuideBot says to one traveller, in English. The robot, which also speaks Korean, Mandarin and Japanese, can recognise boarding passes that are scanned onto its broad touch-screen visage. “Please follow me.” The robot connects to the airport’s central server to find out boarding times and... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2166674/robots-are-coming-south-korea-do-benefits-ai?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2166674/robots-are-coming-south-korea-do-benefits-ai?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Oct 2018 13:00:45 +0000 The forest forms a dense wall that stretches up the mountains beside the winding road. We are in South Korea, on our way to the demilitarised zone (DMZ). The heavily mined buffer between South and North Korea – the world’s most militarised border – bisects the peninsula, stretching about 250km coast to coast. Due to the near absence of human activity in the DMZ, plants and wildlife have flourished here. Scientists estimate, in fact, that the 4km-wide sliver of land is home to more than 5,000... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2163728/north-koreas-ravaged-forests-and-south-koreans?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/long-reads/article/2163728/north-koreas-ravaged-forests-and-south-koreans?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 11 Sep 2018 11:30:00 +0000