2026: Gods & Glass
In 2026, I travelled through Asia, revisiting old childhood haunts, seeing some of the most spectacular ancient and modern architecture in the world, and rising above bustling cities to see them all in a glance. Join me on the journey through Cambodia, Singapore, Taiwan and South Korea.
Cambodia
Five stops running from the historic to the unexpected: the Angkorian-era laterite bridge at Kampong Kdei, the hilltop royal stupas of Oudong, the churn of Phnom Penh, temple country around Siem Reap, and the option of a plate of fried tarantula in Skun on the way through.
Phnom Penh
A chaotic, fascinating capital where French colonial architecture sits alongside Buddhist temples, mostly empty high-rises, and the scars of the Khmer Rouge era. Tuk tuks everywhere, riverside sunsets, and food that's both cheap and excellent.
Oudong
The former royal capital of Cambodia, on a hill about 40km northwest of Phnom Penh, its stupas overlooking the plains below.
Skun
A small market town an hour or so north-east of Phnom Penh, better known as the Spider Market for its platters of deep-fried tarantula, cricket and grasshopper.
Kampong Kdei
An impressive Angkorian-era laterite bridge on the road between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Worth a stop if you're passing, but not a special detour of its own.
Siem Reap
Angkor Wat, Bayon and Ta Prohm, the temple town that draws everyone through this part of Cambodia, plus notes on where to stay and what the tuk-tuk drivers will try to sell you.
Singapore
A single stop, but a dense one, revisiting a country I lived in as a child: hawker food, engineered jungle, and a skyline that was both familiar and totally new.
Singapore
Two childhood years spent living here, then a return three decades later to find the Merlion moved and the city wealthier and more polished. Hawker centres, Kampong Glam's temples and mosques, and the Marina Bay skyline.
Taiwan
Staying in Taipei and seeing the night markets, temples, hot springs, and coffee and cake 88 floors up.
Taipei
Asiapunk to Seoul's near-Cyberpunk, huge billboards and alley shops without the same western commercialism. Night markets, temples, hot springs, and coffee and cake 88 floors up.
South Korea
Seoul, and a look across the world's most heavily fortified border at the DMZ. Cosplaying palaces and neon on one side, a strip of land that's stayed frozen since 1953 on the other.
Seoul
Gyeongbokgung's guard ceremony and hanbok crowds, the National Museum's turtle ship and Corinthian helmet, N Seoul Tower's padlocked railings, and the swap from ancient palace to Gangnam's K-pop street corners.
DMZ
A full day trip from Seoul into the Civilian Control Zone: a British war memorial dressed up as a swaying footbridge, a defector's talk, a tunnel dug for an invasion, and a fake village viewed through fixed binoculars.