Touch: Bali, Indonesia

Bali is, I'm told, like no other of the Indonesian islands. A virtually 100% Hindu island the locals are welcoming, easy going, unexpecting and (probably therefore) difficult to read. Within a couple of hours walking around even the most amicable of Englishmen will have a hard nodding back and saying 'good afternoon' for the 55th time without a faltering smile.

The Ritz Carlton is where the Island's best grinners and greeters are employed. Its so jubilant they must be trained for it - there's no way people can be that friendly. I was fortunate enough to be upgraded to a Villa featuring its own pair of 40" plasmas, gazebo, infinity pool, fountain and butler, who would be waiting at my gate should I need anything.

Only here for a short time we managed a half day's surfing on graciously soft beaches and snorkeling on a nearby and attractive reef. Both in idyllic settings, inexpensive, rewarding and hugely satisfying. Bali is an obviously struggling island that feels like a Hawaii for Asia except with a distinctly 3rd world identity, rough around the edges and great food.

Touch: Hong Kong Reflections

There aren't many places I'd rather be in the evening for a couple hours than by the water on the Kowloon side of Hong Kong harbour. Across the water, 3 misty miles of bright, colourful sky-scrapers smothered in advertising logos seem to radiate the success of mankind's prime. Its a breathtaking view for a city-lover like me. Coupled with a jaunt across the harbour on the legendary star ferry (second class, downstairs of course) and into the lanes street market around Shanghai Tang's pedder building and the harmony between ultra-modern and traditional is impressive and humbling.

Too much to list... dim sum, Wan Chai, shopping, Times Square, Discovery Bay, steamed chicken, shopping, neon lights and amazing public transport. Hong Kong is an interesting, exciting and inspiring place to be and in many ways puts western cities like London to shame. I'm already looking forwards to the next visit.

Touch: Hong Kong Shopping

Prince Edward is a more locals shopping zone. There's barely a sign in English, market stall owners screaming in Chinese (I assume slogans like "buy one get one free") and Chinese women fully inspecting every seam on a $50 (£3.50) jacket. As a result this is a far more authentic experience than the night market or TST can offer.

We found a store selling some hilarious Ghibli copies (must buy a car to go with my new Totoro seat belt cover). Amongst the typical shoes, belts, towels offerings were a couple of more fashionable shops with rows of plastic-wrapped bathing ape, X-Large, carhart shirts and some rather nice purchases.

Further down the MTR line comes the bustling streets of Mong Kok which have to be closed to traffic in the evenings as the streets flow with shoppers. Only sparse patches of sky can be made out between the myriad of neon signs jutting out from every building promoting everything imaginable. Its like an electric adranaline-fueled supermaket directory walking down the aisles looking up for which shelf the sago shop is on.

All about contrast, Central is a completely different story with acres of connected shopping centres sprawled between the finacial high-rises. Here the designer labels reign with almost-UK priced items for the cash rich only.

Touch: Hong Kong Electronics

Gadget list in hand (Ipods, cameras, consoles) we're whisked on the effortless MTR (the tube should terminate here and see how it's supposed to be done!) over to Kowloon island and TST (Tsim Sha Tsui); electronics central.

Actually, electronics central for gullible tourists more like and after a couple of hours of mostly variable prices it's obvious that nobody is telling the truth. They're far more interested in introducing confused gabble, a better-than-that package and an extra few hundred dollars for chargers and instruction manuals.

Fortunately for us (and not so much for them) I came for a specific list of items and so we're all but ejected from most shops without entertainment. Its the naive visitors they're after - otherwise no chance of a scam.

My advice - forget the shiny shops, read this guide and head away from Nathan Road, up into Mong Kok where prices are fixed and on display. We got the full list from one place - Wing Shing on Sai Yeung Choi Street and saved around £400 on 4 items.

Touch: Hong Kong

Dropping out of the cloud our Oasis Hong Kong flight was already touching down onto the runway. The journey; entirely pleasant compared to the easyjet experience I was expecting. Oasis have a small fleet of old Singapore Airlines 747s which then and now boast superior legroom and pitch. Seat-back screens and a half empty plane made that £220 return price ever so pleasurable.

I always look forwards to that humidity wall onto the jet-way, this is the arrival into a better climate. Off the plane, through immigration and within 20 minutes we were leaving the baggage carousel. Why can't we get things like this right in England?

Pushing jet lag aside for now we dipped into the tall, skinny Cosmo Hotel (cool, chic) and cruised straight for the nearest roadside cafe for Won Ton Min and Char Sui (Soup noodles and roast pork) excellent. An afternoon of strolling through bustling streets, spacious malls and skyscraper-side markets, then into a lively wan chai bar and total immersion is complete within 4 hours.

No time for rest, Lan Kwai Fong is the nightlife central of Hong Kong and luckily we were in good company queue skipping and into private clubs. Two of note were Zalor and Drop with a full compliment of worshipped DJ's, good music, exuberant settings and too-cool local clientèle. The early hours came and went.

Touch: Meribel

4.75/hour is a modest sum for a week's worh of snow [that's both awake and asleep]. However with that thought pushed aside it was too late. Cheques have been cashed, bags packed and 16 of us descended sleepless and bleary eyed into a Meribel chalet for a proper 3 valleys experience.

Recent fresh dumps of the cold white stuff had the experienced amongst us riled for an extreme week. As the beginner boarders we hoped that would mean a soft landing for our delicate behinds.

As with all new skills, one must pass from a state of unaware to aware incompetence and overcome the steps to success assimilated. In this case the former took only a matter of hours 'okay i need to relax, commit and curve' however achieving that took virtually all week with many frustrating panics, falls and fist shakes. I think i won the award for longest up-time however that meant a heavy speed trade-off.

The snow was amazing to us. Hard falls and deep soft snow for the first few days, one day of icy conditions and then a temperature rise with softer more slushy runs towards the week's end. Trying to make the most of the E250 three valleys pass we ventured into each Courchevel (Highly recommended), les meinures and would've made it into Val Thorens if the incoming storm hadn't put risk of return lift closure and a E160 cab ride home.

Everything was expensive but we expected that. Perhaps too much of a club 18-30 feel with ski-world but I'm told that's part and parcel. In all a rewarding and addictive experience.

http://www.merinet.com/

Meribel on Gmail

Touch: Mexcio DF

Mexico DF is the world's third most populous city and that's no lie. Flying in on the plane a blanket of urban developments spreads hazily to all points on the horizon punctured only by a scattering of mini-mountains rising out of the haze.

The city has an unkempt ambiance. People here seem to relish living in unfinished property. Everywhere rusty reinforcing poles jut out from un-clad concrete buildings like the third world fallout from a long finished war.

Crime is reportedly high across the district, 'dont take the green cabs' we're warned by hotel concierge. Shame because the comedic beetles are rattling around everywhere and add a strangely fun element to western eyes. I wasn’t party to any of the horror stories from a friend of a friend – actually we were very well looked after and the population came across friendly and welcoming.

This week the project kept us mostly on our toes during the days. Any daylight experiences came only from the rush-hour crawl across town to the office, in the evenings was a better chance to explore. Nothing really stands out about this city... unless you're interested in tequila (or its older, rougher brother; mescal). We were taken to a bar selling only the latter from an almost medical-counter bar and savored the mind numbingly (literally) different preparations and flavors.

The weekend offered an opportunity to take a day trip and we opted for the pyramids at Teotihuacan. Another day and I would have liked to re-visit the monstrous street market and highly acclaimed museum of anthropology.

Mexico DF's is a vast city with all the trappings of a populous Latam capital without any of the attractive features. I can’t help but feel that after a week I'd have seen everything; however the vast Mexican countryside and coastline may have offered the positive alternative.

Touch: Frankfurt

So we returned from Frankfurt and the JWT Creative challenge 2006 Q3. Not even a weekend break destination, Frankfurt is good for being a city with a highly developed banking sector... and as far as we could see nothing else.

Stayed on the 13th floor of the Lindner Hotel [http://www.lindner.de/en/MP] where the TVs & towels are tiny but the view huge with a corner room and no-less than 6 massive windows to admire the hazy sunrise.

Pork-a-plenty in Frankfurt is washed down with fortified apfel wine, not the most exciting of local fayre. Much better was an Italian 4-course at Biancalani [http://www.biancalani.de] across from the hotel, where each plate was slightly too rich but not detracting from an enjoyable German twist.

Don't bring your girlfriend. Don't even bring your boyfriend - Frankfurt won't be missed, even if the highlight was.