Oh, the places I've been.

Just a quick post to link to this map of most of the places I got to while I was away. I didn't include most of the places where I was only there for the day (because that would make the map even more confusing). I've also numbered the places on the left side of the screen because otherwise it also gets confusing. Enjoy!...

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Wongdering back home (excuse me while I get all reflective and stuff).

After six months (May-October) and six countries (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar) I decided to call it quits and go home. And what an insane six months its been. Week to week (sometimes day to day) not knowing what I'll be doing, seeing, who I'll be meeting or travelling with. The decision to head home came surprisingly organically and unforced. I'd actually been thinking about it for a while. As far as I can pinpoint, the thought was in its embryonic stage somewhere in the middle of Sri Lanka (geographically and in terms...

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Lessons

Sitting here in my hotel overlooking the Laccadive Sea (Yeah, I've never heard of it either) in Hikkaduwa, Sri Lanka I've been thinking. And yes, that was me gloating, but the hotel was cheapish (in a mattress on the floor in a single room kind of way) because its low season and low season rules. Anyway, as I said, I've been thinking. Thinking about the lessons I've learned/ will learn from the countries I've been to and/or am going to. Looking back, this trip has had a game-of-two-halves feel to it. The first half (Thailand, Vietnam, Laos)...

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Independence is a three-letter word.

I bought my first car when I was 20. A nifty little second-hand silver Nissan Primera which had been lovingly keyed down one side. (On occassion I reassured passengers the damage was there when I bought it - no one disliked me that much, I didn't think.) I was fresh out of university and had secured my first proper job in the industry I studied to be in. I was all grown up. I never needed a car until then - everywhere I needed to go was on a bus route or I got a ride with someone - parents mostly. Life until then was all right. But then I got...

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Travel is a fickle mistress.

Well, this was unexpected. One day you're going about your business doing things in Cambodia, the next you've changed plans and decide to go to Sri Lanka - somewhere you never considered going. Ever. Its not quite South East Asia (more like, South East of India) which is where I wanted to focus this trip, but it looks like I'm about to wongder a bit further than envisaged. But I'm not really one to pass up an opportunity like this. For the past three-ish months I'd had a pretty solid plan, though lacking in finer details (dates, budgets etc)...

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Freedom.

Sometimes you meet people who change you. Change the way you think about things, the way you see the world - in a literal sense at least. Since I crossed the border from southern Laos into Cambodia a week ago I've been with a group of people who more-or-less shunned the day tours in favour of more travelling freedom in the form of motorbikes/ scooters. In every town I've been to so far - Banlung, Kratie and Kampong Cham, I've been on the back of a motorbike exploring the surrounds a paid day-tour would not take me. Important to note though, I...

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There and back again.

This has nothing to do with The Hobbit. I just merely stole the title.  This is about the sometimes (read mostly) unglamorous transport options and tours which get me to the beautiful places that I take photos of and subsequently write about. In Laos, most of the overland transport is limited to buses, minivans, motorbikes, bicycles and boats (if you're lucky enough to be near a river).  Most of the buses and minivans (except for the local transport) are actually quite nice - clean, with air con and big windows - but what gives the...

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