Behind the Journeys

Sauna whisks – or vasta – are an essential part of the sauna experience in Finland, where saunas are a UNESCO listed cultural institution. In this blog, we take a quick look at these special bundles of sticks. 

If you have seen Luana: A Yak in the Classroom, the Oscar-nominated Bhutanese film directed by Pawo Choyning Dorji, then you are probably dreaming of setting off to this most mysterious and tranquil of lands. We certainly are! We have also fallen a bit in love with yaks, so we thought we would make them the subject of this blog. Enjoy!

A nature walk with clinical herbalist Despina Mesimeri is one of the treats in store for you on our Culinary & Cultural Odyssey in Corfu this October. We asked her to tell us a more about her interest in plants for wellbeing, why Corfu is Greece’s garden isle and what botanical encounters you can look forward to.

Gaya Island is the largest of five islands forming the Tunku Abdul Rahman Marine Park in Sabah, northern Borneo. As well as idyllic beeches, the island boasts a rare intact primary forest (it has been a forest reserve since 1923) that is home to some wondrous wildlife. The luxurious Gaya Island Resort sits in the hear of the island so a stay here means living up close to rare animals. Here is a taste of just some the wildlife you might encounter as you stroll around the Resort

For most of the last two centuries, the creation of Singapore has been credited to Sir Stamford Raffles, the British East Indian administrator. Raffles was searching for a site for a British port on the Malay-Indonesian archipelago connecting the Indian Ocean and the South China Sea when, in 1819, he stumbled on an ideally located fishing village. Or so the story went until the mid-1980s when archaeologists began uncovering artefacts that told an entirely different tale.

Australia and New Zealand are starring as the featured countries at this year's European Patchwork Meeting in Alsace so, ahead of their EPM debut, we asked the National Association of New Zealand Quilters - Aotearoa Quilters - to tell us what we can expect to see at their special exhibit.