Everything happens for a reason. At least, that’s what I’ve come to believe. Actually, without trying to sound arrogant, I don’t actually believe I sort of ‘know’. That’s not to say it makes things any easier; it’s not part of any great philosophy to simply become apathetic. In fact it’s quite the opposite. Perhaps [...]
READ MORE »Posts tagged Food
Shame on me. Shame on you.
When the guy pulled a gun and placed it on the table, I snapped! “Is that a gun?”, I demanded, looking him in the eye. “Did you just pull a gun on me?”, I demanded again as I bent over the counter to confirm my suspicions. Our previously courteous misunderstanding was reaching a climax. [...]
READ MORE »To the trenches!
Fast forward a month meeting old friends in Goa and things were still touch and go with my health. I tried to let my body take care of itself but, even after a month resting on palm tree-lined southern beaches, feeling better one week then miserable the next, it was still not recovering. Eventually [...]
READ MORE »It’s all about food …
Indian kitchens are dirty, very dirty, especially those that I frequented on the road. Rats, bugs, flies, mice, dogs, cats and even monkeys are frequent visitors to the places I ate at. Bodily cleanliness is highly valued in India but, when you’re up to your eyeballs in filth all around, then it feels as though [...]
READ MORE »Growth, a Mad Man and a Meal
China is diverse. It’s an exotic mix of peoples, cultures and customs. From the vast plains of the Mongolian herds in the north, to the dense jungles along the Mekong River in the south; from the low lying river deltas along the South China Sea in the east, to the Great Taklamakan Desert in the [...]
READ MORE »Black markets and cold smiles
Crossing into Southern China was another milestone. China was a country that sounded so strange and foreign, like it was in its own remote corner of the world. With a few billion people, China was big and, for the last five years, we’ve constantly heard people talk of China, China, China. But, what was it [...]
READ MORE »The ugly side of tourism
Luang Prabang was an interesting place. The town is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and, cycling around, it was easy to understand why. The city has a charm all of its own. It was also easy to see why the UN was contemplating taking the title from them as it was changing very quickly. It seemed [...]
READ MORE »The hardy back roads of Laos – Part 2
… continued from a previous post. In the valleys, I pushed my bike across the gravelly river beds and usually ended up giving Ruby (the bike) and myself a bath at the same time. Fortunately, with the airtight panniers, the bike could float across if need be but, being the middle of the dry season [...]
READ MORE »The hardy back roads of Laos – Part 1
With an unusual rattling sound, followed by a ‘tink, tink, tink’ and a loud ‘SNAP!’, I knew I was in trouble. It was coming from the rear wheel and I hoped that it wasn’t anything major. The roads were some of the most gruelling I’d experienced on the expedition to date and both myself and [...]
READ MORE »A feast for the senses
Hannah and I left Langkawi Island headed for the small port city of Satun in Southern Thailand. It had been raining all day and we were both wet and tired. We rode around Langkawi during the day and fortunately managed to arrive in time to catch the last ferry. I stripped the bags off the [...]
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