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Wat Phu Tok Gallery
The seven levels of circular walkways, caves and platforms that comprise Wat Phu Tok, rise precariously 200 metres above the Mekong River floodplain.
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Myanmar Shangri La Gallery
This gallery contains photos from the Kalaw to Inle Lake trek in December 2011.
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Nakhon Phanom
The Happy Capital in the Land of Smiles Nakhon Phanom is the ideal Thai city; big enough to have what you need, but small enough to be personable. It has an attractive setting with views across the Mekong River to jagged limestone mountains in Laos. Traffic is leisurely, locals are friendly, food is consistently good, and it exudes a progressiveness […]
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Mekong Motorcycle Diaries – Day 1
I hired a motorbike from Sam, who has a makeshift booth on the footpath a street back from the Mekong River. Well, I think his name is Sam – it’s what he wrote on a piece of paper along with a phone number to call if I ever got in trouble
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Crossing Karma Country
Laos, December 2010… The head of the Japanese girl dangles precariously at right angles in empty space above the aisle. I can’t believe she’s asleep. Beside her, another Japanese girl bounces against the window. I sit opposite them trying to close a gap letting in cold air. At the rear, three wide-eyed Europeans jump and shuffle like lottery balls We’re […]
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George ‘Long Island’ Nagashima
I’m in Kagoshima, at the south-eastern tip of Kyushu, Japan, in the train station, trying to orient the maps given me by tourist information when a frail, elderly man with large thin-rimmed glasses, wispy black hair and an impish grin, approaches. Wearing a shirt and a tie he speaks correct English, but with slow, pronounced effort and a slight American […]
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Ubon Holds Up A Candle
I am sipping an Americano outside Jazz, a blink-and-you’d-miss-it cafe in Khuangthani Road when I hear drums and guitars, followed by singing. Then villagers appear wearing green tops and checked sarongs. They clap and dance spontaneously to the music, oblivious to the light rain. The temple communities are arriving with their floats to set up for tomorrow’s parade, and the […]
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White Night Melbourne
White Night is a dusk-to-dawn celebration of art and culture that began in Paris in 2002 and has since spread to twenty-three other international cities. Though, the true inspiration apparently goes back further to a festival in Saint Petersburg, Russia – ‘white night’ describes the evenings at that latitude during the summer solstice when dusk lingers from sunset till dawn. […]
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Pirate of Padstow
Hiking the Cornish stretch of England’s 1015km South West Coast Path in 1987, I reached Padstow village where a ferry is required to cross the Camel River. It was market day and stalls crowded the quay. A local’s outstretched hand pointed me to a Ferry sign where stone steps led to a smallish wooden boat. I descended, plonked my backpack […]
A Travel Blogsite in Progress