It was time to leave the dizzying moto-mayhem of Hanoi and head south on the train, our destination was Danang in central Vietnam. I had arranged the tickets a couple of weeks earlier via a friend currently based there, the options were hard seat, soft seat or sleeper, we opted for the latter and took…
Author: OTRAdmin
Vietnam, Halong Bay
Since our time is limited we decided on an overnight cruise in Halong Bay to make the most of it ($375 for the family cabin, 2D/1N with Alova Tours booked via the hotel). Glad we did as the journey from Hanoi to Halong City is a butt busting 3.5 hour bus ride on a road…
Vietnam, Hanoi
Starting out in Hanoi we spend a couple of nights in a delightful little hotel called Jasmine (www.thejasminehotel.com) in the heart of the Old Quarter where the staff bend over backwards to help you – real ambassadors for the hospitality industry. Due to the high cost of cars the city is a melee of motorcycles…
Thailand, Bangsaphan base
Bangsaphan is a sleepy tourist town situated about halfway between the provincial towns of Prachuabkirikhan and Chumphon and 400 kilometers south of Bangkok. It remains relatively unspoilt and untouched by the mass tourism and escalating prices that has tarnished other Thai beach destinations such as Phuket, Krabi, Hua Hin, Koh Samui and Pattaya. It is…
Thailand, biking beaches to borders
Being based in Bangsaphan yields plenty of opportunity to get off the beaten tracks and tourist trails and explore miles of empty beaches, hidden temples, rustic villages and border markets and outposts. There is no better way to do this than on two wheels. The Burmese border is less than 20 kilometers away from the…
Philippines, underwater Mindoro
One year on, the lure to return to Mindoro Island in the Philippines to sample its sub-aqua delights had been too strong to resist. The cluster of dive shops, restaurants and bars clinging to the shoreline of Sabang Bay slowly came into focus as the ferry from Batangas inched closer to its destination. For the…
Philippines, diving Puerto Galera
About a two-hour drive and an hour’s boat ride south of the balmy, bustling streets of Manila loom the cloud-covered hills of Mindoro Island, its shoreline and some of the best diving in the Philippines. Puerto Galera and its surrounds have become popular in recent years because of their proximity to the capital and the…
Burma, the Mergui Archipelago
As tourism increases in the beauty spots of Asia and development races ahead in a relentless tide of construction, many of the natural wonders that attracted people in the first place are being swallowed up. Beaches become concrete boulevards, primary forest becomes a parking lot and coral reefs simply don’t become. The natural expansion of…
Thailand, surviving the tsunami
After consuming a few too many Christmas beers the night before I woke late and it was likely we would miss our boat to Koh Phi Phi today. Left the hotel and wandered down to the beach to see what all of the commotion was about, people were heading inland and cars and bikes were…
Thailand, journeys through the south
[1998 – 2007] Several trips were taken through south Thailand during the decade from 1997 to 2007. From Bangkok down taking in Petchaburi, Cha-am, Hua Hin (where I finally settled in 2000) Prachuabkirikhan, Bangsaphan, Chumphon, Lang Suan, Ranong, Suratthani, Koh Samui, Koh Phangan, Koh Tao, Khao Lak, Phuket, Pha-nga, Krabi, Koh Lanta, Trang, Nakhon Si…
Cambodia, overland to Angkor Wat
[1999] I had been told that the border crossing between Aranya Prathet in Thailand and Poipet in Cambodia had only been open to foreigners for a couple of months and was often closed again due to remnant Khmer Rouge activity in the area. Needless to say I wanted to cross it to have a look…
Up the Mekong through Laos
[1999] Vientiane is a dusty low rise capital city that had no real distinguishing features. A local market was the place to change currency where you’d get a bag full of bank notes in exchange for a few dollars. Due to the French influence the food was good and the wine cheap however I wanted…
Singapore
[1998] After almost six months travelling through Thailand and Malaysia, Singapore came as a bit of a shock to the system. Orderly, regulated, clean, efficient, somewhat characterless … and very expensive – it didn’t feel like Asia at all. The only thing reminding me that I was still in the tropics was the stifling heat…
Malaysia, the peninsular overland
[1998] This journey took approximately two months and started off at the southern Thai border crossing of Sungai Kolok. From there I travelled to Kota Bharu on the Islamic east coast of the Malay peninsula. This town was a little frustrating at times, due to one religious festival or other most of it was closed…
Australia, the long way round
[1997 – 1998] Leaving my homeland, the UK, disgruntled with the routine and treadmill of office life as the biting British winter began to set in, I wanted to get as far away as possible so secured myself a work visa and headed down under for a year. It was my first time on the…