They say, if you love what you do, you are not working at all. But if you ask any 5-year old, what does he/she want to do when they grow up, I can bet you the answer will never be, “I want to be a travelling salesman!”

I have been a salesman all my life, spending most of my adulthood on the road. I spent over 150 nights in hotels,  earned my platinum badges for several travel loyalty programs, and most of these time I never took any real look at the surroundings I was in.

I started with shuttling between Hong Kong and Singapore. Then I was based there and travelled inland to China and westwards to Taiwan. And as my career (and waistline) progressed, travelled more and more to Pacific, India, and sometimes Europe and Americas for my work. I missed my family yet I love my job!

Because of my job, I have to entertain a fair bit, and therefore I took the effort to chronicle the food adventures with Live2Makan. But along the way, I got to enjoy a view like the one in the feature picture taken in Hamilton, New Zealand.

Enough of food porn! So this little section is to share all the trinkets of memories that are not gastronomic in nature.

• A day climbing the Great Wall (1/27/2020)
• A walk in the Elephant Mountain (2/4/2020)
• Akasaka Historic Walk (1/17/2020)
• Autumn in Japan (12/30/2017)
• Beijing Autumn 1/2 TanZhe Temple 潭柘寺 (12/3/2020)
• Beijing Autumn 2/2 Jietai Temple 戒台寺 (12/4/2020)
• Beijing Nanluogu Alley 南锣鼓巷 (3/4/2020)
• Changsha Part 1: Yuelu Mountain 嶽麓山 (6/29/2020)
• Changsha Part 2: Yuelu Academy – 1,000 years of education 嶽麓書院 (6/30/2020)
• Changsha Part 3: Museum of Chinese Academies 中國書院博物館 (7/1/2020)
• Changsha Part 4: A young Mao in Changsha 橘子洲 (7/2/2020)
• Changsha Part 5: Tianxin Pavilion 天心閣 (7/3/2020)
• Chaozhou Kaiyuan Temple 開元寺 (6/5/2020)
• Chaozhou Leng Ou Village 龙湖古寨 (4/9/2020)
• Chaozhou Night Out 潮州府韻 (4/13/2020)
• Cooking in Hoi An (10/13/2020)
• Cruising and Gluttony (8/21/2020)
• Dayu Kaiyuan Resort 大禹开元 @ Shaoxing (11/9/2020)
• Dimsum in Guangzhou 去廣州吃點心 (5/14/2020)
• Disneyland HK Corner Cafe (3/1/2021)
• Drinking coffee with corgis (2/7/2020)
• Forbidden City – Sacred Animals (7/6/2019)
• Forbidden City 1/5 Royal Architecture 皇家建筑 (9/7/2020)
• Forbidden City 2/5 The Inner Court 内廷 (9/8/2020)
• Forbidden City 3/5 On the trail of Yanxi 延禧攻略 (9/9/2020)
• Forbidden City 4/5 The Empress Dowager 慈禧太后 (9/10/2020)
• Forbidden City 5/5 Leisure in the Palace 宫廷娱乐 (9/11/2020)
• Forbidden City Extra – The Emperor’s Retirement (9/12/2020)
• Hangzhou Lingying Temple 靈隱寺 (5/6/2020)
• Hangzhou Night in West Lake 夜游西湖 (6/20/2020)
• Hoi An Central Market (7/11/2020)
• Kyoto and Nara (12/30/2017)
• Kyoto Arashiyama (12/30/2017)
• Kyoto Toji Temple 東寺 (12/23/2020)
• Land of Canals and Streams – Wuzhen (3/15/2017)
• Lest We Forget – The 1938 Changsha Inferno 文夕大火 (11/12/2020)
• Mao’s Hometown (6/23/2020)
• Quarantine in Shanghai – Day 0 (11/16/2020)
• Quarantine in Shanghai – Day 1 (11/17/2020)
• Quarantine in Shanghai – Day 14 Freedom (12/22/2020)
• Quarantine in Shanghai – Day 2 (11/18/2020)
• Quarantine in Shanghai – Day 3 (11/30/2020)
• Quarantine in Shanghai – Day 6 Area Cleaning (12/21/2020)
• Quarantine in Shanghai – Food Special (Chinese) (12/1/2020)
• Quarantine in Shanghai – Food Special (Western) (12/2/2020)
• Remaking 西营盘 (6/6/2017)
• Ruins of St Paul’s 大三巴牌坊 (9/23/2020)
• Sakura 2017 Tokyo (4/4/2017)
• Sakura 2019 Tokyo (5/28/2019)
• Shanghai – A walk in Tianzifang 田子坊 (9/9/2018)
• Shanghai – Drinking tea at Dak Town 大可堂 (3/14/2020)
• Shanghai Disney Royal Banquet (12/8/2020)
• Shaoxing – Lu Xun Native Place 鲁迅故里 (9/25/2020)
• Shaoxing Dayu Mausoleum 大禹陵 (11/6/2020)
• Summer Palace 颐和园 as a Garden (3/20/2020)
• Summer Palace 颐和园 as a Palace (3/19/2020)
• Swatow Old Town Tour 汕頭老城區 (4/17/2020)
• Tour of Chaozhou Part 1 Green Dragon Temple 潮州遊記 1/3 青龍古廟 (4/14/2020)
• Tour of Chaozhou Part 2 West Lake 潮州遊記 2/3 潮州西湖 (4/15/2020)
• Tour of Chaozhou Part 3 Guangji Bridge 潮州遊記 3/3 廣濟橋 (4/16/2020)
• Via Dolorosa (4/10/2020)
• Walk in Train Night Market (3/8/2019)
• Yangzhou Beautiful in March (4/29/2019)
• Yangzhou Dongguan Street 東關大街 (4/20/2019)
• Yangzhou Ge Garden 个園 (4/20/2019)
• Yangzhou Grand Canal 古運河 (4/20/2019)
• Yangzhou Slender Westlake 瘦西湖 (4/20/2019)

Museums

One of my favourite itinerary was to visit the museums. Museums always fascinate me, how people lived in the past, and a reflection of how we can live better from a moral altitude and civil responsibilities.

• Australian Museum, Sydney (6/2/2019)
• Changsha Bamboo Slips Museum (2/1/2017)
• Changsha Part 3: Museum of Chinese Academies 中國書院博物館 (7/1/2020)
• Cup Noodles Museum @ Yokohama (2/28/2020)
• Forbidden City – Gallery of Historic Architecture and Corner Towers (6/9/2019)
• Forbidden City – Life of the Empress (8/15/2019)
• Forbidden City – Treasures (6/2/2019)
• National Museum of China – HouMuWu Ding 后母戊鼎 (1/13/2020)
• Old Changsha Museum (1/31/2017)
• Rijksmuseum Amsterdam (2/17/2017)
• Ruins of St Paul’s 大三巴牌坊 (9/23/2020)
• Shanghai Museum – Gallery of Ancient Chinese Bronze (4/21/2019)
• Sichuan Museum – #1 Treasures in the West 西蜀瑰宝 (3/8/2021)
• Sichuan Museum – #2 Zhu Yuelian Tomb 朱悦燫墓 (3/9/2021)
• Te Papa Tongarewa (4/30/2014)
• Walt Disney Family Museum (5/21/2016)
• Yad Vashem (2/1/2017)

Airline Food

And since you travel, you must love inflight catering!

• Advance Australia Fair (3/2/2021)
• Airline Food – Love or Loathe It (7/28/2012)
• Another BA flight (1/29/2021)
• Arabian night in the sky (2/2/2021)
• Buffet feast in the sky (2/10/2021)
• Celebrating CNY 2021 with SQ (3/5/2021)
• Club World by BA (1/22/2021)
• Feline “air”traction (10/14/2020)
• Fly the Friendly Sky (2/9/2021)
• Healthy choice in the air (10/6/2020)
• Huaiyang elegance in the air (10/12/2020)
• Magic carpet ride (2/3/2021)
• Noodles in the Air (10/16/2020)
• Overnight with EVA (3/3/2021)
• Pride of Republic of China (2/1/2021)
• Quarantine in Shanghai – Day 0 (11/16/2020)
• Shanghainese fare on MU (1/27/2021)
• SIA@Home with George Blanc (12/25/2020)
• SilkAir on Business (3/4/2021)
• Sky Gourmet by BR (1/20/2021)
• Smooth as Silk on TG (1/28/2021)
• SQ and ICP (10/7/2020)
• When airlines get grounded (10/5/2020)