Please form an orderly line… Doors are opening for a new Asia planner at Trufflepig. See the page on Work At Trufflepig for details of our employment practises, and here for the unlikely backstories of our current team. You might also want to read about our Hoofprint Project, or look under the hood for a […]
This week, Cambodia, the land of funk, rhythm, blues, and rock. That’s right, this slice of southeast Asia is steeped in the cult of rock and let me tell you there are some gems to look out for. Anthony Weersing and Tyler Dillon have put their collective minds together to bring you an hour of […]
There are secret languages in the streets of the cities we live in. Signs and notes meant to be read by folks who know the neighbourhood, ways of doing things, a whole subtext of unwritten laws to live by and understand. When the trash is taken out, whom to avoid, which shops sell quality and […]
Last week Conde Nast Traveler released its annual Travel Specialists list, kind of like the Oscars of the travel world. And with another record-breaking 7 Trufflepig planners with their names in lights (again), we feel more than usually justified in describing ourselves as the Tiny Company with the Great Big Nose. We are of course […]
George Washington Gale Ferris Jr. grew up in Illinois, obsessed with the moon, its shape, its craters and scarred face. He drew pictures of the moon in grade school and studied it in high school, and when he graduated at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as a civil engineer, the lunar mark stuck and came back to […]
I have a list of three things which, perhaps due to a repressive part of my psyche or some masochistic Protestant lean, I have denied myself until I felt I could no longer continue without them; reading the entire Faulkner cannon, going on a surf/bike road trip through California, and learning how to make my […]
We’ve been out on the road this year…. a lot. At half-time on 2019, our trotters are worn smooth, and it’s time to take stock. The pictures above flooded my inbox when I naively wrote to our planning team to ask for a few shots from recent research trips. I was struck by the awesome […]
I have always been attracted to the worn, to patina, to rusty and to rotten things. Whether it be architecture (Havana, Yangon), fashion (a good pair of old jeans, or old leather boots), or even food (dry-aged steaks, pickle, fermentation – which when you boil it down is rot, tasty, tasty rot…). And as a […]
While I have a deep deep hatred for those who deface priceless antiquities (I’m looking at you, Laszlo Toth), the inner archaeologist in me also has a fascination with the results, especially when they manage to stick around for a long time. On a recent visit to Angkor Wat, I strayed from the usual temple shots […]
As with most of my trips, food always seems to be a focus. In fact, it is one of the main reasons why I love returning to Indochina over and over. Vietnam, Thailand and Cambodia are renowned for their food, and as always, partaking in the various delicious options is a definite highlight. Here are […]
Let’s be honest, Cambodia is only known for a few things, like the temples of Angkor Wat, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge. The country has a magnificent past and a brutal recent history. A lesser-known fact is that Cambodia also has some brilliant not-so-old architecture, and the capital city of Phnom Penh is the […]
Every November, for the past years, we’ve attended a remarkable travel show in Marrakech—PURE Life Experiences. It’s where we go to take the pulse of the travel industry (oh no, did I just use that word?), meet with some of the hotels and people we work with, and sniff around for new and noteworthy places. […]
Hotels in Asia are synonymous with fantastic service, beautiful gardens, orchids everywhere and delicious food. And most of the time that is exactly what you get. The variety (and quality) of hotels in Indochina is mind-numbing. Some are much better than others, and we are constantly working to ensure that we make the right choices for […]
Whether you fancy yourself a building buff or not, architecture in Indochina will definitely impress. Ancient temples, traditional teak houses, brutalist Communist structures, elegant colonial mansions and mid-century masterpieces all make an appearance. It sounds strange, but it all seems to work, and the results keep each and every location unique and worth visiting. Of […]
There is a recurring theme for every Indochina trip we plan: food. Produce is literally farm to table, whether you’re eating at a roadside stall or the best digs in town. A typical day can consist of mind-blowing noodles on a tiny roadside plastic stool, and then hours later find yourself dining in a beautifully […]
When you think about Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos, most think about temples, food, monks, more food and the hustle and bustle that the region is famous for. Long a favourite of honeymooners, retired couples and backpackers (I’m guilty of this one myself), it attracts a really diverse crowd. What some don’t realize however is that […]