Travel photos and journals from across Asia [1997-2023]
The road south to our final destination two hours away beckoned, but it meant another hellish minivan journey. I would have much rather taken a slow boat, but there were none running this time of year. This van driver headed out of Kampong Cham on time and then stopped on…
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Kracheh The road south beckoned and the next day our police-arranged minivan turned up on time at the hotel. We must have made a good impression on these guys as we had the entire van to ourselves, the driver was professional, and nobody else or their household furniture was picked…
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It was time to get out of the tourist trap and onto the open road into the real Cambodia. However, the journey to our next destination up on the Laos border would be a five-hour slog in a minivan … or so we thought. Very few people travel from Siem…
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The last time I visited this epic religious site was in 1999 when it was very hard to get to so very few people made it there. Today, the place is Cambodia’s biggest tourist destination attracting more than 2,500 people per day. Instead of taking motorcycles, we’d opted for a…
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There is never a bad time to take a road trip, especially after almost three years of lockdowns. Three pals got together and decided to take a two-week trip to neighboring Cambodia to relieve the monotony of life in Bangsaphan. The plan was to avoid the Chinese casino town of…
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Back in the northwest of England where things had brightened up a little again, we took a drive into the Peak District again to find some viewpoints around Kettleshulme and on to the very dry Errwood Reservoir. It had been one of the hottest and driest years on record for…
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After a couple of days back on the farm catching up, we headed back to Stonehaven to visit Dunnottar Castle. The weather was great when we left but had turned into mist and fog by the time we reached the castle just a few miles up the road, such is…
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Having exhausted many of the places to visit in the local vicinity, we wanted to venture further north so booked a hotel on Loch Ness. Getting there would be the good bit as it involved driving through the Cairngorms, the UK’s largest national park, to Inverness. There were other routes…
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From here it was the long drive to Scotland and the new ‘Château de Jarvo’ in Aberdeenshire where we would be based for the next few weeks. Our rental shed had started to make some strange noises raising a few concerns but nobody wanted to answer the phone at the…
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After two and a half years of lockdown in Thailand, travel restrictions were finally lifted in July 2022 paving the way for a long-awaited road trip. I hadn’t been back to the UK for three years and needed to attend to banking and business as well as make some long…
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The New Year camping session was the perfect escape for a few days. No phone signal or WiFi which meant no Covid news or conversation which was pure bliss after having it rammed down our throats for the past two years. Unfortunately, Thailand’s draconian lockdown measures did not seem to…
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The second half of 2021 has been no better than the first in terms of traveling or freedom of movement. Thailand started to get its Covid numbers under control and it commenced its vaccination rollout during the third quarter. I managed to get 2 shots of Pfizer in September courtesy…
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The year 2021 has been a total write-off in terms of traveling. It has been more than a decade since there hasn’t been at least one OTRA entry in a given year for a road trip somewhere. The Covid-19 pandemic that began in early 2020 is still ravaging most of…
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Day Six Despite the luxurious settings, I didn’t sleep well and woke groggily with sticky eyes, a snotty nose and cracked lips. Living in the tropics for decades softens you up somewhat and harsher conditions take longer to acclimatize to. Several coffees, a hot shower, a good breakfast, a group…
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Day Five The mood was a little subdued this morning as bad weather was expected which is not conducive to riding on some of the most dangerous roads on the planet. A low grey fog and foreboding looking sky shrouded the mountains and we went for a wander around the…
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