Once Upon Hong Kong

April 15, 2018 by Marc Moorghen in Culture, Opinion, Travel

The plane landed late at night, with city lights gleaming below. Our Uber driver dropped us off at our hotel in Mong Kok, north of Kowloon, and we went straight to sleep. When we woke up, we could see Hong Kong in the distance, so we rushed our morning routines to head out as soon as possible. We started by taking the metro to Central, which has great views of the city skyline and which is easy to navigate. The next couple of days, we strolled around the city, up and down hills, along dark alleys and bright overpasses, in search of the essence of this legendary place.

Visions Of Vietnam

April 12, 2018 by Marc Moorghen in Culture, Opinion, Travel

Vietnam is a heaving mass of contractions. War and peace. Tradition and change. Calm and crazy. East and West. After more than a century of foreign occupation and oppression, it's little wonder that things are confused. I should probably say "confusing" instead, because the Vietnamese seem to be doing just fine. It's only paradoxical for outsiders. Trying to make sense of situations is a very Western pastime. Things are either black or white. In Asia, they can be grey, or black and white at the same time. Or neither. Some things aren't meant to be explained. They just "are." You can see why it gets confusing for newcomers.

144 Hours In Shanghai

April 07, 2018 by Marc Moorghen in Travel, Opinion, Culture

We almost didn't make it. When we tried to check in for our flight at Seoul Incheon Airport, the lady at the China Airlines desk asked us for our visas. We told her we were planning to obtain one of the new 144-hour visas upon arrival, but she looked perplexed. "You can only travel to one city with those kinds of visas. With your layover in Tianjin, that's two cities." Huh? Why do you need a visa for a layover? The answer to that question is a phrase we used a lot in the next few days: "Because, China…"