Last year, during what is now an annual pre-birthday surf trip, I was lucky enough to spend two weeks in the paradise that is Kandui Villas. A remote spot tucked away in Indonesia's Mentawai Islands, it had taken us two plane rides, a couple of car rides, and a couple of boat rides to get there. But once we were there, it was sheer bliss - our humble abode was an expansive rustic villa built in the traditional Indonesian style, or Uma as they're called there, and I spent my d

During the long, hot Dubai summers, I often joke that the temperatures get so high outside that I turn into a "human dim sum" - steamed from the inside out. So it's somewhat ironic, then, that it's during the human dim sum time of year that I was lucky enough to discover - with thanks to my friend Kirsteen (the co-founder of Get Fit Chick, Kirsteen is a fellow HAPA who hails from Hong Kong so she knows her dim sum, and like me, lives in the area, which is how she stumbled acr

This kebab place is not for the faint-hearted, appetite-wise anyway. Several summers ago while in Istanbul, Turkey, I stumbled across this amazing little kebab place that was just up the road from my hotel in the Galata/Taksim area and what a find it was! This tiny little hole in the wall may look unassuming and simple from the outside (there isn’t even a wall separating the downstairs dining area from the street, and the seating is made up of basic wooden tables and chairs)