Tell me something, have you EVER heard of Berjaya Air before? Berjaya Air!? Well, neither had I, but as I had opted to fly from Koh Samui, Thailand, to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, rather than an uncomfortable 24-hour bus and boat journey, I had no choice but to fly with Berjaya, a small Malaysian airliner. I'm not a keen flyer anyway, used to be but now I fly out of necessity, not excitement or enjoyment. So when I head to the skies I always choose the more well-known, tried and tested airlines. Did a bit of research to avoid flying with Berjaya, [View Full Entry]

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After spending our last night in Bangkok at the very flash Bed Supperclub eating a gorgeous meal and enjoying far too expensive wine, my friend Johanna headed back to London the next day whereas I navigated my nose southwards and got on a night train from the Thai capital to Chumplon where I would get a boat out to the island Koh Tao, a diving and party Mecca. The night train was alright, a bit old (or retro?), but I was able to sleep a bit before having to get off at 4.45am to be taken to the pier to wait [View Full Entry]

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After spending a few lazy days on the beach in Sihanoukville, Cambodia, it was time to move northwards to Siem Reap, the town that came to existence and made its fortune after the discovery of the ancient Angkor Wat temple. The town, which has a cozy feel to it, has lots of nice restaurants, bars and shops, some of which I sampled with friends I have made so far on my trip in South East Asia and who happened to be in town at the same time as me. The Angkor Wat and its surrounding temples are supposed to be amazingly [View Full Entry]

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Traveling southwards in Vietnam from the capital Hanoi in the north to the modern metropolis of Saigon (now renamed to the more mouthful Ho Chi Minh City) in the south by bus was a rather bumpy and sleepless experience. In Hanoi I bought an open bus ticket that would allow me to jump on and off in four major cities and take me from one end of the country to the other. After 17 hours on the bus from Hanoi I made it to the beautiful town of Hoi An, famed for its old town and its trillion billion tailors. Now, [View Full Entry]

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Tokyo -> Hong Kong -> Hanoi - three big Asian cities in only a few days and all offering a bit of a culture shock before I started to make my way around Vietnam! My last day in Tokyo was spent with Akio and his mother who took us down to the coast and a fishing town famed for its excellent sushi restaurants. My previous encounters with sushi have taken place in Europe, so I was in for a new experience. The fish was fresh from the sea and the sushi was prepared for us by an experienced chef who did [View Full Entry]

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Arriving in Japan I thought I had entered a catastrophe zone as the airport was packed with people wearing white facemasks similar to those used by doctors during surgery. Was there a highly contagious outbreak of Ebola?? "No," my friend Akio later told me, "it's hay fever season." Basically, Tokyo has a high number of trees that produce pollen at this time of the year, a great pain for many of the city's inhabitants - hence the masks to combat the running nose and itchy eyes. No Ebola in sight around here. Narita Airport, where most touches down when arriving in [View Full Entry]

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Mexico; the land where they drink tequila like water and use umbrellas to hide from the sun, where every meal is a feast and where there are enough churches to cater for every Mexican's confessions every day. Twice a day even. Now, first thing first; tequila. What can I say? Well, not exactly my favourite drink due to traumatic experiences over the years, normally occurring at around 3am and resulting in less than flattering behaviour and, occasionally, liquid coming out the same way it came in. In Europe tequila is predominately drunk as shots in nightclubs, whereas here they drink it [View Full Entry]

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If I asked you about what you know about Chile, what would you tell me? I suspect the same as non-Europeans would answer if asked a similar question about Norway: 'not much'! So I have to admit that my knowledge of Chile did not stretch far beyond the fact that I knew it was a long and thin thing with an never-ending coastline in the west and cloud hugging mountains in the east. And I did of course know of Pinochet (or Pinoshit as some call him here), as well as author Isabel Allende and her bestseller 'The House of Spirits'. [View Full Entry]

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So it's my last week in Buenos Aires and almost time to pack my bags and head to Chile. I've had a great time in Argentina and met some nice people... And staying here for two months have given me a closer insight in the Argentine way of living - both the best and the worst bits! First of all, ballads are big here. Huge. All the singers look like a mixture of Ricky Martin and a Latino soap opera star. And they all feel so much pain; there are broken hearts all over the place. Each song contains the word [View Full Entry]

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Bolivia, Bolivia, Bolivia, well what can I say! It’s a beautiful country with amazing nature, but it’s third world in every sense of the word so criss-crossing around the place is time consuming and often frustrating. Hanne and I had ten days there and had planned squeeze in a lot, but realized soon after arrival that our plans were far too ambitious, still we had some amazing experiences and even managed a two-day-trip to neighbouring Peru! We arrived in Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s financial capital, which is situated in the tropical low-lands. It was carnival week in Bolivia, [View Full Entry]

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