I have written this blog to share my photos and my mishaps along my journey, starting in July 2009 ending when I get home.
At the beginning the blogs were more factual about my adventures or the state of politics and sociology. However, over time I have become more relaxed in the realisation that politics and sociology is the same everywhere!
My entries now are more theme based about travelling in general or mimicing a style of writing for a recent adventure.
Please feel free to read on!
A Favourite Quote
"But real adventures, I reflected, do not happen to people who remain at home: they must be sought abroad."
-JJ
world maps:
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So I came home... the trip that took me 768days to get from the Lebanon to Thailand via the Caucasus, Central Asia, passing over the High Pamirs into China and down into South East Asia. A wonderful little trip that took about 18hrs to reverse... sigh! A plan had formed many moons ago that I would be sailing the Pacific and circumnavigating the world and many whom I travelled with may have heard me boasting of my plan. Especially those North and South Americans who I had promised to visit on the way home. To these people I apologize. I realised that there are a few things of greater importance in life than a jaunt. My face reddens to think that I even considered continuing. I returned par avion to London but not before one massive
... read moreThe other day in Phnom Penh I went to a fortune teller, they foretold that I had a dark secret that I hadn't told my family and similarly they had one that they hadn't told me. I entered a deep meditation on the subject as I entered the vacuum of one's own mind to its furthest reaches to find what could I possibly have kept secret from my family. And then on a humid night as I watched the rain scatter over the tubes of Vang Vieng it struck me, at about the same time as the lao whiskey shots did. - It must be Flash. My motorbike, my dear Flash, aptly named due to the electrics not working. It all started out one sunny day in the middle of March. We had just swung out
... read moreAnd now for another round of my cathartic text babble. All around the world, the white man is a special beast that has its own special name. Some polite, some less so, but whatever they are it’s evidence of the obvious divide that is felt between the two half populations of the world. A handful I can think of are Gringo(Mexico), Mzungu(East Africa), Waiguoren(China) and here in Laos it’s Falang. It directly translates as French, due to its colonial past, and it stuck for all of us non-Asian rich types. You see the reality is that instead of choosing to classify us all together, we are simply the same to them! We come, we spend, we leave, sometimes we smile and other times we shout, but at the end of the day we are gone and
... read moreSo, firstly thank you for everyone who cheered me up with emails and comments after reading my last blog. For every down there is an up. My last blog was aimed at the my feelings of myself within the expat world, rather than on the road or settled at home, and it wasn’t meant to berate people who don’t stay in contact, as the old adage goes “It takes two to g-chat”. It was meant to be a look inward at my own personal disgruntlement and dissatisfaction. But to revert to a happier mood as I am not one to dwell in a hole, and in celebration of the onward trip. I thought I would compile a list of the 7 Wonders of the Traveller’s World! These things are either so wondrous or so useful to
... read moreObviously by the sheer lateness of this blog you will be thinking really he doesn’t want to talk about it. But the real reason is that I have been touched by lethargia and felt no inspiration to write, but it's back now. A month or so ago I went to Vietnam, and it was some real good fun with Mikeal, my German friend with whom I toured the Mekong Delta. We had no guide book only a road map with some tourist spots marked on. Alas, the map producer was a bit overly keen on splashing these symbols about. Outstanding natural beauty = Leading us to a Beach made of sharp boulders with a crashing pacific storm spraying us while we took a Milk Coffee – equivalent to a couple of espressos mixed with condensed milk
... read moreOn my travels I have played and seen so many different games and I thought as I enjoy this side of life so much I would write about them today. Plus its a bit easier to write about than social and cultural norms where your glimpse is normally the tip of a very large topic. Actually after starting to write this I realise that it is a very large topic too! So here is the first installment and if it gets read a lot or there is a request a second installment will be produced in a few blogs time. So what is the best street game in the world? OK, OK too fast, What games are there? Nard A variant on Backgammon where you can’t take any pieces even if there is just one piece
... read moreHello everyone, care to sing a long for my birthday... see the video! As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I take a scratch at my bites, and realise there's more on my chest. 'Cuz I've been slappin' and eaten so long that. Even my mama thinks that my mind is gone. But I ain't never killed a mossie that didn't deserve it. Me be treated with deet, you now that's unheard of. You'd better watch who you're biting and where you flyin’ . Or you and your homie might be crushed red. I really hate to slap but I gotta brawl. As they fall I see my hands in a bloody sprawl..., FOOL. I’m the kind of g that little ‘quitoes hate to see. Like armed with a racket fryin’ mossies
... read moreMy life has once regained a sedentary nature! But there has been a rather slack effort on my behalf to update this blog and I am lagging behind. One of my problems is the lack of subject, not that these are not interesting places but the subjects are difficult to put into meaningful words without boring you! Just to get you up to date, I travelled through Laos, meeting the now famous Max and on to Cambodia via the 4000 islands, a river archipelago inhabited by relaxed fishermen and some stoners. I saw fresh water dolphins in Cambodia and then on to Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. Taking in the awe of the Angkorian ruins, which in terms of ruins ranked in the top five for me at least. Krac des Chevallier and ancient Rome and
... read moreHello everyone, Let us discuss what this day (Christmas Day) is all about. For some, presents, others Church and for one such lunatic I happen to have lived with in the past, he decides to celebrate this day as his birthday! This crazy mo-fo, has single-handedly sent me more words in emails over my travels than all my other social mail combined! And this blog can be considered a big-up shout out to my main man back in the White Lands of Albion. Many ask and many more are perplexed by the attitude of distant and timely travelling pursuits. One such fellow would be the aforementioned honourable fellow. And this blog will try and answer this question. In a typical manner of his to regale me with the latest papers(scientific not tabloidal) he once stated... "Why
... read moreSo I met a man named Max. And I was wondering what I was going to write about South East Asia and found it hard to select anecdotes that sum up my feeling about this region. Anyway on discussion with Max he suggested that I write a blog about him so here it is! I boarded the ferry to Luang Prabang, the day was beginning to heat up by 9am but the sun was by no means in full force yet. We had got up early and eaten french bread with tuna mayonnaise, a luxury that is unheard of in China. Then we made our way to the quay avoiding the ticket touts. Laura discussed for 30 minutes of unadulterated French to the ticket man to give us the local price tickets not the Falang price,
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