Hitting the peak of Kilimanjaro is a shock, a relief and an ecstatic rush all rolled into one. The orange horizon burned my eyes after hiking for 6 hours in the dark, my fingers were frozen, lips ripped apart from the wind and sand. My boots weighed ten times what they did when we set off 5 days before, my head was throbbing from the thin air up here. But still it was amazing. Having trekked through monkey-filled mountain rainforests, from soaking cloud layers to parched, dry deserts and up the steep volcanic ash fields to the frozen glacier walls, i [View Full Entry]

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"No, you're not on the passenger list." said the check-in guy, stuck his bottom lip out, and leaned back in his seat as if he was going back to sleep. Zanzibar airport desks are little more than corroding wooden desks set against the side of the road with scruffy, faded signs advertising defunct plane companies and a chalk board to list the departures. The board had yesterdays date at the top. And my ticket was really a corroding peice of paper with 'J&Js Travel' printed at the top and some scruffy handwriting underneath and was no more than a reciept for [View Full Entry]

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There she is. Standing firm through the thin blanket of clouds over the African planes, a great big square chunk of rock dumped in the middle of Africa. Kilimanjaro, viewed from my airplane window looks amazing. The cloud line is barely halfway up the slopes and she looks a barren, lunar wasteland above, with hardly any snow covering or vegetation. I'm going to climb that! ME? Am i sure? Surely theres no air above the clouds? Surely the wind will blow us all off? Will we be higher than this plane? But for now, my worries must wait and brood. This [View Full Entry]

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So, I flew to a country that was: Engaged in a border war with its neighbour (Cambodia), A terrorist insurgency in the south (muslim extremists set off bombs almost daily - http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5h6FC576282bpOmKZwOXl25-yEYGQ ) Has an opposition party causing riots in the capital and attempting to overthrow the government to install a non-democratic regime (the PAD have their own television channel) An exiled former leader who stole the nations wealth and who is now residing in my own country and city (Wakky Ta [View Full Entry]

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"She sits there so refined, and drinks herself half-blind She lost her youth and she lost her Tony Now she's lost her mind" I'm staring into the face that sunk a thousand sailors. In this town, pleasure is a 24-hour business, and Nikky is the Anita Roddick of the Pleasure Business. A wide-eyed queen of capitalism, whose shop, 'Nikky Massage' gave the most renowned happy endings. ''Nikki is a Legend in this town'' says my host, Jack ''Everyone knows her round here.'' Here in Patong, she glides around on he [View Full Entry]

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This one isn't in your guide book. Strolling though the night market of Siam Reap, passing over the bangles and t-shirts that are the same in every market in asia, and the smokey barbeque stands, I spot a sign. '3D Cinema' This cinema is only a small building, a room squashed in the corner with a straw booth outside and a woman holding a list of the shows. Hourly showings of ''the Horrors of Pol-Pot'' are the main screenings, but at 6pm - in half an hours time there is the once - a - day showing of ''On the Trail [View Full Entry]

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Cambodia is boiling. On the dirty, dusty Poi-pet border the heat rises, in Siam Reap, buildings are bubbling up from the jungle - big shiny 5-star palaces. Crowds steam and churn around the ancient towers of Angor Wat as the sunrises - the noise is intense as voices from all over the world cackle and chat and click digital cameras at the sun brings its heat to the day. The Tuk-Tuk Touts in the town fizz around you as you walk down the street - 'tuk tuk sir?' 'tuk tuk now?' 'lets go!' their voices seem like bubbles popping around your [View Full Entry]

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It never fails to amaze me how much difference a country's border can make - faces, attitudes, the food, the voices, even the actual ground here in Cambodia is a different colour. A harsh, rusty ochre that settles on your clothes and skin and bakes on with the heat. My choice to head to Saim Reap and Angkor Wat was settled when the owner of Popular guest house in Trat offered it to me, leaving the next morning, 800 baht for the whole way. AW was the whole tourist point of this trip so i got back on tack after the [View Full Entry]

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A beautiful photo of a deserted beach rarely lives up to its promise - crowds, noise and litter often conspire to destroy the desert island fantasy and replace it with a messy, smelly, awkward version of a real life beach. I think I have woken up in Beach Porn. A wooden beach hut, an empty sandy beach and the sounds of lapping waves to wake me every morning. Its simple, its been dreamt about so many times, but rarely experienced. This never happens for real. Does it? Ao Naun on Ko Samet is probably the only place on the island where [View Full Entry]

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You must have a plan to leave the Ko San road in Bangkok, or you may stay forever. Most people have planes and trains booked, which is their escape routes. The heat and humidity of Bangkok is a glue that slows you down - nighttime drinking sessions and the non-party atmospheresucks you in till the sun comes up. I ended up waking up everyday in the early afternoon, peeling myself, and whoever was with me, out to eat and consider the day. By the afternoon, the long-distance trains and buses had left and I had no chance of reaching anywhere interesting [View Full Entry]

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