Everyone has one, in the past three years digital SLR cameras have gone mainstream. So noticeable on my travels are tourists with their Canons and Nikons, snapping away at anything and anyone. Do they think that owning a big camera makes them pro and free license to shoot indiscriminately? Case in point is the curly-haired man I encountered at Pashupatinath, Kathmandu. It's a holy site for Hindus, a place for pilgrimage and also an auspicious place to die. We tourists, and more than a few Nepalis go there to spectate. Armed with both a video camera and a digital SLR, the [View Full Entry]

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I can't see why the Lonely Planet says Cebu City is nicer than Manila. Arriving on a rainy Saturday afternoon, I found it dull and depressing. I walked from the pier to town, not stopping and staying alert. A woman sleeping on the sidewalk with a child lifted her head and looked me over as I crossed the street. She gave up, relaxing onto her makeshift pillow and cardboard carton mat. People stare, you look different, you have money, teenage boys taunting, "Hey, Joe”. I found a place to stay just as the afternoon rain set in. I researched my next [View Full Entry]

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There are many interesting exhibits in the War Remnants Museum (formerly named War Crimes Museum), Ho Chi Minh City (a.k.a. Saigon). One that caught my eye was an M-16 rifle imprinted with “General Motors, Hydramatic Division”. That got me thinking, if defense is an industry then war is a business? I did some research on the internet and confirmed that General Motors did manufacture M-16s for the Vietnam War, about 1.4 million rifles, from 1968 to 1971 (source [View Full Entry]

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April 1975 was certainly a historically significant month and not only because of my birthday. On the 17th of April Phnom Penh was “liberated” by the Khmer Rouge and on the 30th Saigon “fell” to the North Vietnamese Army. Not that I would remember but I’m sure most of the world soon forgot about the second Indochina war. America had lost and returned home, there was no more news to report. Too bad for the people left behind. With Pol Pot as “Brother Number One”, the Democratic Kampuchea (as Cambodia was renamed) regime imposed a version of agrarian col [View Full Entry]

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Slow boating the Mekong River is another popular activity in Laos. I was doing it backwards, going upriver from Luang Prabang to Huay Xai in the Golden Triangle. There I would re-enter Thailand from the north. Our slow boat departed Luang Prabang in the morning and proceeded up river at a steady pace, relentlessly against the stream. The captain knew this section of the river and was constantly adjusting course, sometimes midstream and sometimes only 5 to 10 metres from the bank, weaving between rocks, past swirling eddies and running over ripples. Infrequently the engine would rev harder a [View Full Entry]

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The town of Luang Prabang is a UNESCO World Heritage site and everyone goes there. I took an ordinary bus from Vientiane, not one of those tourist buses I had seen outside the guesthouse every morning but was surprised to see were more than a few white faces onboard. The bus broke down halfway in Vang Vieng, a backpacker destination where western ‘kids’ flock to party on the cheap and go tubing down the river. Where there are cafés playing Friends non-stop everyday and comfortable places to nap - not a very cultural destination. Five hours we waited for a substitute [View Full Entry]

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It was past noon and sitting on the benches in the shade of steel-roofed gazebo was a small crowd of Africans and more white people than I was expecting. After the usual two or three hour wait, boarding was announced and we joined the queue that bottle-necked through the gate. Once onboard the MV Liemba we were assigned our berths and given our keys. The MV Liemba is a wonderful old iron ship and piece of history. Built the SS Graf von Götzen in Germany in 1913 for the colony of Deutsch-Ostafrika she was disassembled and transported in piece [View Full Entry]

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Preface It has been too long since I added another chapter to this blog. My excuse is that I have been burdened with work and writing presents another labour. Not to mention Iran blocking travelblog.org! This is likely my last entry from Tanzania 2006 and fills the gap between Zanzibar and Tanganyika. The three short journals are but fragments of my experience and there is more that could be told but there is more travel to be done. The bit in-between Leaving Amani, I found myself on the same buses on which I had come: Ndio Zetu to Muheza and then [View Full Entry]

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It’s relatively expensive but local buses are inconvenient to track down. I am on a tourist minibus driving across the island of Unguja, commonly known as Zanzibar, to the east coast. Blame the Omanis. Before I first set foot in Africa I once worked in the Sultanate of Oman. In centuries past, Arab dhows traded in ivory, slaves and later in spices up and down the Swahili coast. Zanzibar fell under the control of Oman in 1698 and grew to become a great seat of power in the region. Out of this shared history, modern Oman has gathered a high percentage [View Full Entry]

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