Articles (3566)

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #60: Trans-Siberian Railway: Life & Fun Across 9000 km of Taiga, Steppes & Plain Wilderness, Part II –

Leaving Vladivostok for Mongolia, Wee-Cheng finishes the world’s longest rail journey.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #53: Police Racism in Russia: A New Age Buddhist Preaches the Bible to a Corrupt Policeman in Red Squar

Such a beautiful day to return to Moscow was nothing to prepare Wee-Cheng for a nasty yet amusing inciden

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #71: Killing Fields & Fried Spiders: Adventures in Poor Rich Cambodia – Cambodia

Five hours by bus across a mere 150 kilometers tell a lot about the current state of the old Khmer Empire.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #72: Bangkok Notes: Home Nearer Than Ever Before – Bangkok, Thailand

A planned two days in Thailand turn into six, even though home is closer than ever.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #69: Hanoi & Northern Vietnam: A Courageous People Have Arisen Again – Hanoi, Vietnam

How cafe chon is made might add a new meaning to the expression “shit coffee,” but Tan Wee-Cheng says it doesn’t taste anything like shit.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #70: Down Highway One of Vietnam: Journey Through Ancient Kingdoms And Old Battlefields – Vietnam

Even when Highway One is dry vehicles have to shudder in and out of potholes, and it is makes Wee-Cheng ask, why am I here?

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #68: Laos: Lazy Days Along the Mekong – Laos

The peaks of the fog-covered hills look like volcanoes floating on an ocean of fog, or nipples of well-rounded breasts peeping from beneath rich white layers of foam in a bathtub.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #66: Across the Heart of China: Buy a Mao Statue and Win the Lottery! Part II – China

From Communist ruler to pop icon, today Mao Zedong seems like a combination of George Washington and Vladimir Lenin.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #65: Across the Heart of China: Buy a Mao Statue and Win the Lottery! Part I – China

Modernism comes to inland China, but has the government made the right bet when Chinese tourists snap cameras like Westerners in Mozambique?

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #63: Northwest China – China

Wee-Cheng expected a backward, dusty capital in a poor province, but China’s mad rush to prosperity has turned Timbucktu into Las Vegas.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #64: Did Genghis Khan Lose His Organ (oops!) in China? – China

Genghis Khan’s order to destroy an ancient kingdom may have had more to do with love gone bloody, than the accepted story of his death would have you believe.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #62: How Some Singaporeans Became Local Stars on the Steppes – Mongolia

The search for tarveg continues, but see what happens in the Orkhon Valley when Wee-Cheng partakes of a little too much arkhi and airag.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #61: In Search of the Furry Mongolian Groundhog – Karakorum, Mongolia

Autumn is the time for delicious tarveg, a Mongolian specialty for their own groundhog day.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #56: Turkmenistan: Admiring The Beloved Great Leader\’s Book in the City of Love, I – Turkmenistan

Much as Wee-Cheng likes the country and the friendly people, he can do without the personality cult politics and the ubiquitous national oath.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #57: Turkmenistan: Admiring The Beloved Great Leader\’s Book in the City of Love, II – Turkmenistan

Much as Wee-Cheng likes the country and the friendly people, he can do without the personality cult politics and the ubiquitous national oath.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #55: Baku, Azerbaijan: Short Foray in Boom Town – Baku, Azerbaijan

The local Azeris remind Wee-Cheng of the amazing hospitality so prevalent across the Caucasus and Central Asia.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #54: Turkmenistan: Homage to Its Leader & Learning a New Calendar – Mary, Turkmenistan

Things to do today: take over country, have gold monuments made in my likeness, rename months after my gracious self.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #52: Kaliningrad, Russia: In Search of Long-Lost Konigsberg, East Prussia – Kaliningrad, Russia

History, World War II, and the EU seem to conspire to make this strip of land either a future Hong Kong on the Baltic, or an isolated scrapyard.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #51: Moscow: Three Nights on a Bus Looking for Lenin\’s Corpse – Moscow, Russia

A three-night bus journey from London to Russia moves across the past, present and future of Europe.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #50: Russian Adventure Starts Today & The Russian Visa Blues – Russia

Getting into Russia only cost Wee-Cheng $380US – did he mention that was just for the visa?

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #49: Albania: Land of Teletubbie Bunkers; Surviving an Accident and What It Meant, Part II – Albania

Wee-Cheng gets dumped, kidnapped, and snatched in the mountain towns of Albania.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #47: NewsFlash: Bus Crash in Albania – Albania

Wee-Cheng was fortunate enough not to be hurt in this crash, but 3 other people died.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #48: Albania: Land of Teletubbie Bunkers; Surviving an Accident and What It Meant, Part I – Albania

Albanians are misunderstood? That’s an understatement of the world’s perception of this people and their country.

Tan Wee Cheng

Worldwide with Wee-Cheng #45: Kosovo: Will there ever be a Balkans Nelson Mandela in the Land of Hatred? Part II – Kosovo

This part of Wee-Cheng’s journey finds the story of a people currently under siege and the circumstances they face, plus how hard reconciliation has become in Kosovo.

Tan Wee Cheng