Tag: misadventure
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Mekong Motorcycle Diaries Day 6
16th November, 2012 Coffee (as usual), caves and curious lights: Cloudy morning dullness discouraged efforts to rise early, though I was still up by 7.30 for a hefty banana pancake and a pot of tea. Dtoy didn’t have any knowledge about the light I observed traversing the hills above Laos last night. It still wasn’t identified, so it remained a […]
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Plains, Strains & Automobiles – Crossing Mt Bromo
Accompanying my 80s parry into Indonesia was the recently released edition of a guidebook that shall remain nameless, but I suspect all that had been updated in the past decade was the publishing year – 1985. Though, I hadn’t concluded complete unreliability when reading its account about ascending Mt Bromo, in Java. Other than the volcano, the author advised readers […]
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Lost In Transaction
“It was no accident you came to us, Paul,” declared a man sitting among others huddled around a dining room table. “God sent you.” I was caught off-guard for the first time in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and discovering the USA didn’t cater quite like Europe for young people travelling on the cheap. I had arrived in New York from London several […]
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Wat Phu Tok, North East Thailand
The seven levels of circular walkways, meditation caves and platforms that comprise Wat Phu Tok, rise precariously 200 metres above the Mekong River floodplain. Sometimes referred to as the Stairway to Heaven the temple symbolises the seven steps to enlightenment, and was the inspiration of Buddhist monk Ajaan Juen. The first step, for a traveller, is getting there. I’m approaching […]
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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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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 […]
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