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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Forty-eight hours in Vang Vieng

Curiosity got the better of me when I booked a ticket to Vang Vieng. I'd heard plenty of stories about the place about three hours north of the Laos capital Vientiane - a place of excessive drug taking and drinking; bar hopping while floating along a river in an inflatable tube. Stories about people dying or getting seriously injured. I told myself I'd stay away. It wouldn't be my scene, I thought to myself. I was right. Getting on the local bus, I was hoping to find other travellers to talk with or at least be with when we were scheduled...

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The first step

Yesterday marked a small milestone in a larger goal to become a travel writer. Its probably a goal that many writers/ journalists want to achieve - to be paid to travel. Either that or being a war correspondent. Neither of which I imagine are easily achievable, especially in the formative years of a journalism career. Anyway, if you haven't seen it already, here's a link to the travel piece I wrote about Sa Pa, northern Vietnam. Its more or less the same as the one that was in the Marlborough Express a few weeks ago. http://www.thephuketnews...

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A lesson in compromise

Travelling alone is great. Unburdened by compromise; the master of your own destiny. Go wherever you want, whenever you want. Travelling with others requires a different mindset. What do they want to do? What can I give up doing? What is the general consensus within the group? The benefits of travelling with others as opposed to going lone wolf are obvious. Camaraderie, conversation, cheaper prices. There are two main subsets of groups travelling together, which can be further subcategorised in terms of the dynamics of the group (which I...

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Of Animals and Trekking

Lunchtime: A baby elephant feeds on vegetation in northern Thailand       The sound of a bell in the middle of the northern Thailand jungle stopped me in my tracks. Above me on a hill to my left, a cherub-faced Asian elephant stood grazing on overgrown vegetation. Its probably the closest I'll come to seeing an elephant in the wild...

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Travelling pays (an update)

Apologies to some (you know who you are) for the no blog entries lately. But after my trip to Sa Pa in northern Vietnam I felt compelled to write something for my old paper back home. My first paid gig as a travel writer (Hoorah). There's also another paper which will be running the piece (which I'm not being paid for). I didn't want to publish it here before it got printed because there's some kind of etiquette around that, I guess. Maybe its just politeness and courtesy. I also didn't want to write a completely different piece...

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No such thing as goodbye

Sunset in Ha Long Bay, Vietnam Maybe its because there’s only one main route through Vietnam. Perhaps its because it’s the low season for tourists. Or it could be both, but during this discovery of Vietnam it seems inevitable that you cross paths with people multiple times in different cities and on different tours without knowing each other...

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The faces of Vietnam

Most countries have that quintessential image that when you see it you can't help but think "yeah, that's definitely x country - it can't be anywhere else". It could be a landmark - the Eiffel Tower - a festival - Carnaval - something which you associate with a particular country without even thinking. After 10 days in Vietnam I don't think...

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Up the Mekong without a paddle (w/ video)

The famed Mekong River Delta, Vietnam My arrival in Ho Chi Minh City (aka Saigon and HCMC) Vietnam several days ago was marked with an air of excitement, a new currency system (the Dong as well as the US dollar), cooler weather than Thailand (it actually rained a bit) and an insanely large of motorbikes and scooters. The motorbike riders are...

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Lessons from Thailand

The end of the first leg of this trip almost over - I leave for Vietnam on Tuesday - so I thought I'd share a few things I've learned which will help you survive and enjoy Thailand. Drink - enough water and more than enough Chang. I've started a ritual of buying two 950ml bottles of water from the 7/11 down the street no matter how long I'm going out for. I keep them in my bag which also keeps them cool for longer and for 7 baht each ($0.30NZD) you can't really go wrong. The weight is negligible, but you can buy water along almost every street...

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Ruins and monkeys (The benefits of travelling alone)

A headless buddha statue at Wat Maha That, Ayutthaya, Thailand I had prepared myself for a costly day when I decided to go to Thailand's historic capital of Ayutthaya, about 90km north of Bangkok. Surrounded by three rivers, the Chao Phraya, Lopburi and Pa Sak rivers, the once prosperous city was, in 1700, the worlds largest with a population...

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Bangkok by night

I tried a bit of night shooting at the Democracy Monument in Bangkok...

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Temple fatigue - its a real thing.

Buddha statues at Wat Pho, Bangkok. Monks mix with tourist at The Grand Palace (Wat Phra Kaew), Bangkok After my time in Thailand I think I will have seen enough Buddha's to last me a lifetime (and well into the next). I kind of understand what people say now about how sick they get of seeing Wats (temples) and statues of Buddha that they...

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Who said sleeping wasn’t an experience?

My new favourite thing is sleeper cars on trains. They bring together my two greatest loves – sleeping and trains. As I am writing this I am on my way in a second class air-conditioned sleeper carriage train from Surat Thani in southern Thailand to the capital Bangkok (Approx 698B = $28NZD). About 12 hours total on a train which, really is nothing...

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Ko Phi Phi: An island made for two (or more)

The weather takes a turn over Phi Phi Ley. Taken from Long Beach.  From the moment you step onto the pier at Ton Sai on Thailand's tourist mecca Koh Phi Phi Island you can tell this place is made for couples and groups. Not only do they dominate and roam the long, brown sugar coloured beaches but they get things cheaper than a serial singleton...

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