Travel photos and journals from across Asia [1997-2025]
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 shot and a couple of…
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 medieval ramshackle village before breakfast….
Day Four It was now not far before we swung right to make the ascent up to Muktinath on what was the best road seen so far – a smooth strip of blacktop snaking up the mountain above the snow line. As the altitude increased the bikes grew a little sluggish as the Enfield carbs…
Day Four The next morning yielded an even more spectacular view as the 6,920 meter Tukuche Peak revealed itself to the north in the crystal clear morning light. Next to it was the seventh highest mountain in the world, Dhaulagiri I at 8,167 meters. We had not seen this mountain yesterday due to the heavy…
Day Three After an early night due to tiredness we were up early for a quick bite to eat before hitting the road. There were planned road closures on our route north and our guide Jai wanted us through them in good time. We left Kushma and took the last semi-paved road north west and…
Day Two Accommodation was basic but homely and it was cold, I had yet to acclimatize. Up at sunrise for some organic coffee and breakfast before gearing up and hitting the road again for what would be a long stint riding over rocks today. Our ride would complete the southern loop and take us to…
Day One We hit the clubhouse early, checked over our steeds and geared up for the first leg of the journey which would take us south of Pokhara. It was a crystal clear morning and the 7,000 meter Machhapuchhre or the ‘Fishtail’ was reflecting the morning sun across Phewa Lake offering some splendid views. In…
Nepal. It was a crazy idea from the start. An acquaintance had been there on some wild motorcycle ride “into thin air” in the Himalayas so I decided to follow in his footsteps, or wheel tracks to be more precise. The trip was booked and planned in April last year so I had plenty of…
We decided to stop in the Loei Palace Hotel for two nights since it had a big pool and was relatively luxurious. We’d been on the road a week and every night stayed somewhere different so needed a little down time. The town is a traffic clogged little place with tiny roads and too much…
I had read up on this place as it is one of the most popular national parks for Thais and somewhat of a pilgrimage to make the climb. Relatively unknown to foreigners, Phu Kradeung is a 1,300 meter high mount with a mesa spanning 60 square kilometers. There are no roads to the top and…
October is our month for road trips and it was time to find somewhere in Thailand we had yet to visit. Usually we head south due to our proximity to it but this time it would be a journey north into two provinces I had yet to visit; Phetchabun and Loei. Known for their mountainous…
A year after my first trip to Scotland it was time to return for another reunion. The journey north seemed to take forever in our bright blue rental but the sun was shining on arrival and we would be spending the next week or so at Ray’s place on the Burnton Farm in Laurencekirk. Gary…
I had my reservations about taking a minivan for the four hour journey north on hellish roads but there were few other options. Fortunately our driver was pretty good and took things at a safe pace which is extremely rare for an Asian minivan driver. The road snaked up into the mountains but the higher…
Da had her heart set on the sunset hot air balloon trip which was not cheap at $90 per person. I didn’t have much of a choice so we booked it and would be picked up later that afternoon. We were driven to a field on the outskirts of town where a Chinese company ran…
A free hotel shuttle took us into Vang Vieng the next morning and I knew I’d miss the Sanctuary as soon as we hit tourist central an hour later. Our accommodation in Vang Vieng was a riverside resort called Simon. Again the permanent miasma partially obscured what would have otherwise been an epic view but…