https://www.scmp.com/rss/506149/feed Megan Eaves is a travel author, editor and dark-sky advocate. She formerly served as Lonely Planet's North and Central Asia editor and she has written guidebooks to China, Central Asia, South Korea and Tibet. She also often writes about stargazing and the night sky, hiking, walking and beer. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com “Shh. Look, do you see the eyes shining there?” I squint and peer through the darkened bushes to where my guide, Anderson Pakomyus Mesilla, has just pointed. My eyes adjust and there it is: a leopard crouching a few metres away. This is the Usangu Expedition Camp, a new safari experience in a remote part of southern Tanzania’s Ruaha National Park, where guests take part in conservation science. I’ve come to learn how the pandemic has affected tourism and wildlife conservation in Tanzania and... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3191084/growing-travel-trend-how-citizen-science-african-safaris?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3191084/growing-travel-trend-how-citizen-science-african-safaris?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Sep 2022 08:15:10 +0000 I miss China. It’s been three long years since I was last there and the itch for street noodles, speedy trains and the wafting scent of temple incense has become overwhelming. Pre-pandemic, I was visiting annually, often for weeks at a time, travelling to small villages and odd outposts in the name of guidebook research before settling in for a craft beer at the Great Leap Brewing bar in Beijing. But two years into the pandemic, China feels farther away than ever. Luckily I live in London, a... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3176708/chinese-food-and-culture-tour-through-london-noodles-dim?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3176708/chinese-food-and-culture-tour-through-london-noodles-dim?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 08 May 2022 09:15:16 +0000 In March, some 400 travel professionals gathered at London’s Queen Elizabeth II Centre, overlooking Westminster Abbey, for International Media Marketplace UK (IMM). IMM is a two-day event at which journalists and bloggers are matched with tourism boards, travel brands and destination marketing agencies in 15-minute, speed-networking meetings. Given the realities of tourism in the era of Covid-19, representatives from Asia were few and far between. Nevertheless, as I walked into the seated lunch... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3172719/wild-okinawa-hakka-heritage-hong-kong-chinese-culture?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/3172719/wild-okinawa-hakka-heritage-hong-kong-chinese-culture?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 03 Apr 2022 08:15:14 +0000 One of my most vivid memories is of riding a fixed-gear bicycle through the streets of Anji, a town in northern Zhejiang province. It was 2006 and I had moved to China to take a job as an English teacher at a public vocational college. It was my first time living in China and I was completely hooked. I had been given the bike by my school. It was painted ice blue with the words “Royal Voyager” written on the frame. It had a basket on the front, which I often filled with vegetables or groceries,... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3167513/small-town-sparked-lifelong-love-china-memories?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3167513/small-town-sparked-lifelong-love-china-memories?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 20 Feb 2022 01:15:15 +0000 Oh to be finally free of travel lockdowns! I dreamed about future travels during the long hours spent cooped up in my tiny London flat. But never did I think my first destination might be Kazakhstan. In mid-December 1991, Kazakhstan became the last republic to declare independence from the Soviet Union, which was dissolved just 10 days later. In the decades that followed, it established itself as one of the most economically successful republics in Central Asia, by the mid-2000s generating more... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3158132/what-see-kazakhstan-silk-road-cities-camels-almaty?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3158132/what-see-kazakhstan-silk-road-cities-camels-almaty?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 04 Dec 2021 05:15:08 +0000 My favourite anecdote to tell at parties is the story of how I became the mayor of a small Chinese village. It all began in early 2019. I was sitting on the Asia desk in Lonely Planet’s London office, staring at my inbox, when an email with a most unusual proposition popped up. It was from the global communications manager at Wanda Group – a man named Yang – asking if I would be interested in coming to China to be the mayor of Danzhai, a small village in Guizhou province. Internet scam alarms... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3114122/how-london-based-editor-became-mayor-small-village?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3114122/how-london-based-editor-became-mayor-small-village?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 27 Dec 2020 02:15:16 +0000 I have had a long, beautiful and occasionally rocky love affair with China. It has taught me many things, contributed the zaniest anecdotes in my storybook and dished out some of the biggest lessons and heartbreaks. I started out studying Mandarin at university, and then worked for an extended period in small-town Zhejiang province as – what else? – an English teacher. For many years, I was the China editor at Lonely Planet, responsible for commissioning, editing and overseeing all of the travel... https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3087305/good-karma-visiting-chinas-tiantishan-giant-buddha?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/magazines/post-magazine/travel/article/3087305/good-karma-visiting-chinas-tiantishan-giant-buddha?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Jun 2020 21:00:17 +0000