almost friday
Journal
Where to go, what it costs, and what it is actually like when you get there.
Thailand halved your visa-free stay on Tuesday
From 15 September, an Indian passport gets 30 visa-free days in Thailand instead of 60, and visa on arrival is gone. What it costs, and what to do.
Kuala Lumpur rewards staying put. One neighbourhood a day.
KL's sights sit in clusters that barely touch. Six neighbourhoods, what each one is worth, and the visa-free window that shuts on 31 December 2026.
Book Vietnam for Diwali. Just not the middle of it.
Puja and Diwali fall inside central Vietnam's flood season. The north is at its best in exactly those weeks. Which third of the country to book, and when.
Dubai in July, without standing in the sun
It is 43 degrees by ten in the morning. Here is a day built around that rather than in spite of it — tower before lunch, aquarium at midday, desert at dusk.