October TraveLife magazine available!

Imagine, it's already October and another 12 months is about to come to an end and I'm another year older!

That's the bad news - the good news is that another issue of TraveLife magazine will be distributed this weekend in the Toronto Star (Oct. 22), my former employer and Canada's largest newspaper.

TraveLife magazine can be accessed online right NOW at http://www.travelife.ca/ and our team of excellent writers have been busy filing stories from exotic places around the world.

In the October/December issue of TraveLife magazine, you'll find stories on:

British Columbia's Sunshine Coast: Brian Brown and Laurel Rowbotham sail away on a 10-day cruise along B.C.'s breathtakingly beautiful waterways and tell us about their experience of fishing for crabs and shrimps and coming face-to-face with bald eagles and starfish.

Japan's Kyoto: George Millar tells us about his experience at a temple in that ancient Japanese city.

Israel's Eilat: TraveLife's photo editor Casey Nolin takes some back roads to get to Israel's "fun capital."

San Francisco: Karen Asp and her husband patrol the streets of San Francisco in some unusual vehicles.

India's Little Tibet: Our adventurous writer Amy Chung goes out of her way to find excitement in India.

Guam's food culture: Cynthia Dial attends a food festival on Guam and comes away with an appetite for more of this treasured island.

Bora Bora: Mark Dimitroff discovers the inner beauty of this South Pacific treasure with the help of an island icon.

China: Chloe Tse has the second part of her amazing journey to China, the land of her ancestors.

And it's been a busy time between editions for me - I've taken exciting trips to Panama, Taiwan, Malaysia and Miami and share my experiences in the October issue of TraveLife magazine.

So look for a copy of TraveLife magazine in the Toronto Star Saturday (Oct. 22) or go online and read it on your iPad or smart phone.

My China trip was a great success

I took this photo a intersection chaos in downtown Beijing from
my hotel window. Traffic in the capital is out of control.

 Now, where were we before I was interrupted by the Chinese ...

Just got back last night from an incredible 10-day tour of China, which included stops in Beijing, Hangzhou and Shanghai, and must apologize for not staying in touch through this blog. However, it wasn't my fault. The Chinese block all access to western-based blogs like mine and while I was able to "smuggle" some posts out - thanks to Hayson Chu for posting them - I was pretty much cut off.

I love travelling in China - the Chinese are some of the most pleasant people on the planet - but I wish their government would get over their paranoia about bloggers.

Enough said.

Some thoughts about the trip:

Beijing has to do something about its traffic gridlock and air quality control. Both are now becoming a deterrent to travelling to the capital, where the summer smog and heat are becoming a health hazard, even for short visits. There will be about 300 million cars on China's roads by next year and while the country has done an amazing job adding new super highways, officials have done little to control inner-city chaos. Red lights are regularly ignored by drivers, especially cabbies, and you literally risk getting hit just walking across a street, even though you have the green light.

Hangzhou was such a relief after four days in Beijing. The air in that eastern province city of six million is sweet thanks to beautiful West Lake and the botanical splendour that surrounds it. The lotus blossoms were in full bloom while I was visiting and that's a spectacular site. I also made my first visit to the new Four Seasons Hotel Hangzhou at West Lake and have one word to describe the Canadian brand's new China property - WOW! The Four Seasons at West Lake is now my favourite hotel in China and it's jumped into my Top 10 worldwide. It's actually built on the shores of West Lake and the staff there are the best in the Chinese hotel business.

Shanghai is my favourite city in China - the traffic isn't quite as bad as Beijing and I actually got three straight days of sunshine; a first after my many visits to China's biggest and most exciting city. Shanghai's nightlife is right up there with Hong Kong's and again I stayed at the Fairmont Peace Hotel on the historic Bund - just love that Art Deco beauty. I also visited a new chic hotel on the Bund called Indigo - InterContinental's new high-end brand - and the meal I had there and the nightime view I got of the Huangpu River and futuristic Pudong on the opposite side of the busy waterway from the hotel's observation deck was simply spectacular. Rooms at the Indigo are going for about $200 a night - a real bargain! I also ate at a restaurant called Ye in the city's Xin Tian Di district - the old colonial quarter which has been renovated and now features some of the city's finest dining rooms.

I can't wait to go back to China because it's the most exciting country on the planet to travel in these days - I just wish I could report back to you when I'm there.