August | 2015 | IKIMASHO!

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Jetwing Vil Uyana, Sigiriya, Sri Lanka

August 31, 2015 by joostay

Eco Retreat? Nature Reserve? Luxury Resort? Jetwing Vil Uyana is all of these, and more… Truth be told, after being caught up in the earthquake in Nepal in April I was a little apprehensive about coming back to Asia. But I’ve been drawn to the region for the past ten years, and so it was only a matter of time before I jumped on a plane back East. Coming to Sri Lanka was the best decision I ever could have […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: 5 star, animals, asia, backpacking, dambulla, design, endangered, five star, hotel, lizards, luxury, photography, resort, sirigiya, snakes, sri lanka, travel, video

My crappy Sri Lankan gym

August 29, 2015 by joostay

A Careless Whisper – and a lesson on the importance of chocolate.

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, blog, bodybuilding, city, fitness, gym, ikimasho, japan, kandy, keep fit, sri lanka, sri lankan, tokyo, travel

Kandy Esala Perahera 2015, Sri Lanka

August 27, 2015 by joostay

Walk with me through the streets of the most spectacular religious procession in Asia I absolutely love religious and cultural festivals in Asia. Last year I readjusted my schedule so that I could climb to the top of a volcano at midnight to witness the Yadnya Kasada sacrifices in Java, Indonesia. This year I made sure to time my Sri Lankan trip with the Kandy Esala Perahera – one of the oldest and grandest of all Buddhist festivals, featuring dancers, jugglers, musicians, fire-breathers, and […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Jetwing Sea & Jetwing Beach, Negombo, Sri Lanka

August 24, 2015 by joostay

Sea. Check. Beach. Check. Boutique bliss at two of Negombo’s finest hotels. There’s never really been an easy way to get to Asia from Belfast in Northern Ireland. Skyscanner lured me in with a very good price to Sri Lanka (£270) but it was quite the hellride: a two-hour bus journey to Dublin; a three-hour wait; an hour-long flight to Heathrow (+ pick up my bag and re-checkin); another four-hour wait; then a turbulence-belting eleven-hour flight to Colombo. It was […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: asia, blog, boutique, food, ikimasho, japan, jetwing beach, jetwing hotels, jetwing sea, luxury, negombo, se asia, sri lanka, tokyo, travel

When only the streets remain. Bangor, Northern Ireland.

August 11, 2015 by joostay

A puzzling postcard – and how the ghosts of generations walk the streets of my home town. From a travel point of view this year has been pretty varied. I spent the first three months of the year finishing up a contract in Japan, then went to visit my friend near the Cambodian border in Isaan, Thailand. From there I flew to Nepal and was caught up in the earthquake in Kathmandu and subsequently evacuated back to the UK. In […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: 1900s, bangor, blog, county down, ghosts, history, ikimasho, japan, northern ireland, nostalgia, old, photography, photos, pictures, postcards, puzzle, tokyo, war, world war 1, world war 2

IKIMASHO! x WANDERLUST [The World’s Lamest Gyms]

August 10, 2015 by joostay

“I asked how much the gym was and he told me he didn’t know. He said he just bought the owner petrol now and again. I told him I didn’t have any petrol so he said for me to just go in and use it for as long as I wanted. So in I went.” I’m in Wanderlust Magazine this month talking about some of the funniest gyms I’ve come across on my travels. Check it out here.

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: bali, bangkok, blog, fitness, gyms, ikimasho, indonesia, japan, marrakech, morocco, thailand, tokyo, travel, working out

Smoke over Pashupatinath, Nepal.

August 6, 2015 by joostay

Out of the few pictures I took during and after the earthquake in Kathmandu, it is this one that stays with me. Pashupatinath Temple in the east of the city is well known for its ceremonial cremations, but following the disaster the temple could not keep up with the growing amount of bodies waiting to be burned. For three full days the air was filled with dense smoke rising from the dead, yet it was only when I went down […]

Categories: Travel: Outside Japan • Tags: earthquake, kathmandu, nepal, restinpeace, travel

IKIMASHO Luxury Stays: Dwarika’s Hotel, Kathmandu, Nepal

August 1, 2015 by joostay

My stay at the Dwarika’s Hotel is something I will never forget. I was a guest there when the earthquake hit 80km west of Kathmandu, and so for me the hotel holds special significance. The staff were incredible during the disaster; I simply cannot stress this enough. In fact, incredible isn’t a strong enough adjective to describe what they did. They put us above all else, even their own families. I will write about their kindness and humanitarianism in a separate […]

Categories: Luxury Travel, Travel: Outside Japan

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Monthly Archives: August 2015