About Eastravel
Each of our experienced travel consultants has lived, worked, or travelled extensively throughout our Asia portfolio. Working closely with local agents and guides, we strive to deepen your experience beyond the landmark sites and attractions. Interact with elephants in Thailand; throw a pot on the village wheel in Myanmar; help a Malay fisherman catch and prepare the family’s evening meal… Our guides were born and raised in the regions where they work, so have exceptional knowledge and experience as well as strong links to the local communities.
Dorothy Heng
Originally from Singapore, Dorothy joined Eastravel in 1990 following a successful career in hotel management with the Oberoi and Furama hotel groups. From a very young age, she was always fascinated by the world beyond the small island she grew up in and in the age with no internet, corresponded with many pen pals in England, India and Cambodia.
Always passionate about travel, from hitch hiking through Malaysia to waitressing in Japan, and through her friendship with many locals, she has been able to get beneath the surface of these places, rather than just run of the mill trips. India is one country that she goes back to time and time again. Lazing on a house boat in Kashmir or Kerala, Horse riding at Gulmarg, seeing the Asiatic Lion at Gir are just some of the travel experiences that she has experienced and recommends.
When she is not working or travelling Dorothy takes joy in cooking. Thai and Indian are her favourites and she will be happy to share her recipes.
Mike Tunstill
Mike joined Eastravel in 2006 from a background in the motor trade with BMW and MINI. Equally passionate about travel and cars, he has driven in places as diverse as India and Easter Island, from the Great Ocean Road in southern Australia to America’s Route 66. Influenced by a childhood spent poring over his father’s atlas of the world, the diary he kept of his part in the Burma Campaign of WW2, Mike’s other great passion is travel writing. Outside the office, Mike has his first novel in the final edit. He is also learning Mandarin. We asked Mike the sort of questions we might ask you.
Q. What is the most spectacular property you have stayed in?
A. The Dhara Dhevi resort in Chiang Mai. Stunning in every way.
Q. What is the most adventurous thing you have done?
A. Travelling from Moscow to Vladivostok on the Trans-Siberian Railway, and on to Japan by Russian party boat cum freighter. A thousand memories, mostly good.
Q. Where would you recommend for a romantic getaway?
A. The Whitsunday Islands, on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Or closer to home the mediaeval walled city of Dubrovnik, in Croatia.
Q. Where do you find yourself returning in your heart.
A. India. Sights, sounds, smells, the people, more English than the English. The glorious madness of the place.
Q. And finally, one place everyone should see before they die.
A. The pink city of Petra, in Jordan. Petra lay forgotten by the outside world for centuries. Nothing prepares you for it.