I was in Myanmar when we walked into the dorm room. There were many elderly and disabled Burmese men in various states of suffering and the smell of sewage filled the air. The reason for that was because there was one very unwell and severely disabled man who was lying in his own excrement on a bed in the centre of the room. We learned that he had been left like that...
This is a continuation of my last blog on Japan which you can read here: On July 13th, I arrived back into Tokyo and eventually found my way to the Yawp backpackers hostel I was looking for. The problem was, it was closed. I peered inside, looking for some sort of clue, or a sign of hope. All I found were broken bits of furniture, cigarette butts and empty paint...
The final days of my backpacking adventure were spent in Singapore. Singapore is a very modern and relatively clean city, with a few interesting tourist attractions but nothing particularly groundbreaking. Overall, it felt a little sterile and soulless. But I did love the mini rainforest that was in the middle of the city. When I first arrived in Singapore, I...
In 2017, plans were drawn up to introduce Cambodia’s first floating markets. I was surprised when I read about that news. Because when I went on those river excursions in Siem Reap in 2016, I saw plenty of local people selling their wares on the Tonle Sap Lake. One million Cambodians directly depend on this lake to make a living and the vast majority (90%) of those...
My mum warned me about this. She told me that backpacking alone across Asia was dangerous and that death was on the horizon. Well, my mum was always prone to hysterics, so I ignored that and continued my expedition regardless. But now as I stood behind that door in Vietnam, I wondered if she had a point after all. James the Enigma had entered the picture. And...
It’s that time again. You roll out of bed at 6 in the morning after the alarm clock goes off and get ready for another day of mediocrity. At some point, you start to wonder whether there is more to life than this. Most of us yearn for the sea, but the truth is, we let reality get in the way. Pretty soon, before you know it, you’ve been working in the same job...
India is one of the most fascinating and majestic countries you can visit. It is said that you can explore India for several years and still only see a fraction of what she has to offer. If you visit India in the spirit of acceptance and the willingness to learn and soak in a culture that may be vastly different to your own, you will be richly rewarded. Observing the...
I hated Vietnam when I first arrived. That’s not what I’m supposed to say is it? In fairness, my repulsion probably had little to do with the country itself. I think it had more to do with the fact that my first night there was a disaster. So I’d just arrived fresh-faced (code for hot and sweaty) from Myanmar, and my first simple task of the day was...
Sharing beds with random people was not something I imagined I’d be doing in Vietnam. But as soon as I stepped into that house in the middle of the night, where everyone was sitting in the dark watching a horror movie, the house seemed..a little overcrowded. Indeed it was. The house belonged to a Vietnamese couple who had taken on about a dozen other Western...
Spending a night on Everest was one of the most memorable nights in my life. It was also one of the coldest. When I first dreamed of travelling at the tender age of 12, I never imagined that I’d be spending a night like this, in a tent. Huddled close to total strangers desperately clinging onto an oxygen mask to breathe again. I’d heard so much about...
