We’ve climbed the Temples of Angkor in Cambodia and we’ve been dazzled by the Grand Palace in Thailand but, to me, nothing compares to the temples in Bagan. The bus here felt long but wasn’t too bad. Getting on and off I also had someone carry my big rucksack for me for the first time […]
Religion
The City of Gold: Mandalay
We arrived in Mandalay bright and early after our luxurious VIP gold-class bus from Yangon. We had TV screens so I watched 2 films, played a game and listened to some 2007 chart toppers. At 6am we checked into our hostel which seemed clean and nice but we couldn’t have a bed yet so we […]
Yangon: The Run Down City Filled With Tradition
‘This is Burma’ wrote Rudyard Kipling. ‘It is quite unlike any other place you know about’. More than a century after he said this, I still believe it to be a valid statement. It is a country where men wear skirt-like longyi, women are covered in thanaka (traditional make up made from tree bark) and […]
A Little Piece of Pai
“Eat well before your journey to Pai because the journey will make you feel sick.” Exactly 767 fast bends in the mountainous road later, both us and our bags had made it from Chiang Mai to Pai in separate cars. Even during the 10 minute walk from the bus station to our hostel I already […]
The True Thailand in Chiang Mai
After two weeks island hopping in very westernised islands filled with western people, it has been really nice to return to cities where I can witness Thai people just going about their daily lives, doing everyday things. I really feel like Ammun and I have got the true taste of Thailand in Chiang Mai and […]
Peace, Love and Shopping in Luang Prabang
After the hustle and bustle of Vietnam, we have thoroughly enjoyed a more restful time in Laos. We work up early and got on to our small plane with maybe only 20 other people on board. Because of this, boarding was so easy that even the flight attendant started drifting off to sleep during take-off. […]
Siem Reap and the Temples of Angkor
If you ever want to visit a country to learn about its history, Cambodia is where you should go. I’m writing this after visiting Phnom Penh and I’ve seen the power of history both contemporary and ancient. (I’m not sure how long ago it needs to be to be called ancient but I’m talking about […]
Bangkok’s High-Rise Buildings and Hierarchies
Like I said in my last blog post, it took us 40 hours to travel from Peru to Bangkok and I arrived very confused, tired, excited and with very swollen ankles from spending 26 hours in the air and not being able to lie flat. Our first 8 hour flight from Lima to LAX was […]
Photoblog: The Vatican City
Although Ancient Rome was around well before the arrival of Christianity, the word “Vatican” was used even then to describe the area that is now The Vatican City (officially the State of Vatican City). The most obvious thing that people know about the Vatican City is that it is the home of the Pope and […]