There’s nothing I love more than a snoop and a nosy around a grocery store in a foreign country. To me, this is the litmus test of a country’s true grit, and the quickest way to tap into how it ticks. What fresh produce is out, what brands do they carry, what else can I […]
You know that feeling when you’re coming down with something? That specific brand of misery where your body aches, your throat feels like sandpaper, and even your hair hurts? You drag yourself through the day, and all you want is to be horizontal, crawl into bed and disappear under a mountain of blankets. But first, […]
Growing up, one dish that was synonymous with my Filipino family’s birthdays or holiday gatherings was pancit canton. Pancit canton is a hearty, stir fry noodle dish packed with crunchy vegetables, a sweet soya sauce base and mixed with delicious pork belly. My dad has perfected his pancit canton recipe after my grandmother passed it […]
I think I mixed up my packing lists. I packed my bags for five months’ working remotely in hot and humid Southeast Asia, to meet some of our team on the ground, and explore further into the region I love the most, so why did my hockey skates take up the most room? Hockey has […]
Welcome back to WPIG the pig, a voice of reason in the world of travel. This episode: a conversation between two trip planners on a mutual love for Asia. This is a ramble and a dive into travel memories and mental landscapes, and if you have ever wanted to meander the streets of Hanoi or […]
For two days in mid May each year, Sri Lanka turns into a be-laterned island of colour and food, music and gifts. Vesak is a wonderful Buddhist festival that commemorates the birth, enlightenment and passing away (parinivarna) of Gautama Buddha. It’s observed at the full moon of the lunar month Vesakha, which generally falls in […]
We are walking through a winding courtyard which, as far as I can tell from all the monks moving quietly around us, must lead to a temple. “Here it is!” my friend calls out to me in my reverie, so I turn. Ah! The coffee shop. In my meditative state, I’d walked right past it. […]
If you’re anything like me, you’ve read somewhere that Japan consists of four islands and you’ve assumed that’s the lot. If so, you’re short by about 14,121. Yep, you read that right. Japan has more islands than Greece, revealing unexpected and enticing facets of the culture. So when a friend in the Land of the […]
A trip to Japan is always a promise of culinary adventures. The country is home to arguably the best fish and meat in the world, some of the most ludicrously pampered fruits you’ll ever lay eyes on, and a culture where cooking is elevated to an art form. It’s also a place where food safety […]
Kathmandu! Say it out loud. Feel it roll and fall out of one’s mouth like a pebble down some glacial river. The sounds of named things in Nepal; Dwarika’s, Phaplu, Lo Manthang. I can’t stop saying these words, whispering them to myself in a jet lagged state, over and over like a madman tourist. I […]
In a few very bumpy turns in the road up from Pokhara, languages and religions shift, landscapes morph, weather patterns evolve, and then you are in a wee corner of the geopolitical map of Nepal called Mustang, but you have entered a larger cultural region that stretches across Tibet and Xinjiang all the way to […]
We had finished dinner and the rain was setting in when I decided to put on my biking kit and head up the mountain pass. The valley I was in, the Phobjikha Valley, at 10,000 feet, is a sanctuary for the Black neck crane, a medium-sized crane in Asia that breeds on the Tibetan Plateau […]
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 […]
The Pearl River Delta, in the early 2000’s, was a place of heavy industry, pollution, run off, waste and ruin. It was rubble and rebar. Home to factories like Yue Yuen (a company that produces the majority of the shoes for Nike, Crocs, Adidas, Reebok, Asics, New Balance, Puma, Timberland and Rockport) and Samsung, the […]
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 […]
The drive from the new Chengis Khann International Airport to city center in Ulaanbaatar is 55 km. Initial planning for the airport was done in 2006 with a US$385 million 40-year loan agreement signed between the Government of Mongolia and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation. It was built and opened on the 4th of […]