I come from a country where an average bottle of wine costs US$15-20. You wouldn’t drink wine with your meals. Heck, grape juice was a luxury when I was growing up because juice isn’t cheap either.

Chile is, in comparison, ridiculous. At some point, I caught myself at the supermarket in a twist over if I should get a good bottle of wine for a full dollar more. Why is that even a choice when it’s easily a $10 difference back home for the quality gap? … …

I think I decided to hike the Torres del Paine in the Chilean part of Patagonia days before I did that. It was the right season; I happened to be in the area and everyone who’s done it raved about the brilliant scenery. Google tells me that it’s a must-do – a constant best hikes in the world contender and high up on a lot of people’s bucket lists.

All the cool kids do it, the internet told me. … …

Despite being in plain sight in a well-populated area, surprisingly few people knew that we had a functional railway station. Specifically, one that brought us to Malaysia.

I must have passed by this building a million times but have always thought that it was some government building due to its atas colonial exterior. It might have looked welcoming 50 years ago but not in my lifetime.

Anyway, back in 2011, it was in the papers everywhere that the old railway station was going to shut. … …

Don’t get me wrong, Cheung Chau is a beautiful place, off the beaten track from the hustle and bustle of business Hong Kong. For about US$4-5, you’ll take an ~ hour ferry ride from the Central ferry terminal to the island where it’s as different as you can get.

My excuse was for an adventure to a relatively safe but less-explored part of Hong Kong. Cheung Chau Island was perfect since no one really goes there except for apparently a Bun Festival that was decidedly a bit too far off in the calendar and a bit too crowded for my liking anyway. … …

On my first visit to South Korea, transport options across the country were not great. You’d have to fumble around getting to a bus terminal in Dongseoul which no one could tell you was still kind of Seoul but not really. Google Maps was still a new concept so you couldn’t just navigate yourself around.

In Seoul, I would ask for directions to the Goseong with the dinosaur prints (“You know, RAWWWR! Stomp, stomp!”) and absolutely no one would know what I’m talking about. … …

Your typical K-dramas usually feature some picturesque parks. Equally-spaced trees would arch over paths , sheltering some doe-eyed, well-powdered lovers from the sun because God knows love’s greatest enemy is prematurely ageing skin. Everyone needs a visit to a Korean park/forest in their travel itinerary.

So I went to Haesingdang Park.

Because you would obviously need a good story to explain to your neighbors why you’re building a park with giant dicks, there is one that accompanies this park. … …

A decade and a delusional amount of self-confidence ago, I managed to convince 2 other equally deluded friends and a complete stranger from halfway across the world to head to Nova Scotia, Canada to sign up for a 800km unicycle relay race called Ride the Lobster. We called ourselves the Masticating Bunnies from Hell.

It’s not even like we would only find out that it’s insane after travelling almost 2 days to reach the starting point; … …

People ask why I don’t take many photos when I travel. Well as it turns out, getting strangers to take your photos is like asking a kindergartner to take your wedding portrait – it usually doesn’t turn out well and sometimes, you lose your camera.

If you ask me, I think selfies came about after someone finally realized that if he/she stuck out his/her arm and blind-took a pic, there’d be a better photo outcome than actually getting a human to do the same thing. … …