Over the two weeks of our journey in Sri Lanka, I slept in a number of different places from upright in a crowded train carriage from Colombo, to a beach by the surf on the south coast. We stayed in…
Tea Time in the Sri Lankan Highlands
Tea is one of those drinks that everyone is happy to talk about. Every person you meet has an opinion on it. How to drink it, how to prepare it, when it should be consumed; even how it should or…
Einstein’s Barber Shop Itinerary – Japan: Temples, Cities, and Typhoons
Tuk Tuk Trek
Transportation while travelling is something of a romantic ideal to me. Wherever we trip across the globe, I’ll invariably return with a story where the means of getting from one place to the other is the central premise of the…
View from a Room/ Welcome to Hanoi
In the corner of the room, close to the window was an armchair. It was black, adorned with metal end-caps on the armrests, and a large pillow decorated with gold embroidery which was slightly too large to be useful. I…
Guest Who
When it comes to accommodation, we as travelers, have a number of options for consideration. The obvious starting points are the traditional options; hotels, backpacking, and camping. More recently we’ve been offered accommodation share choices like Air BnB and couch…
A Picture of Halong Bay
I have seen thousands of pictures of Halong Bay. It is one of the places I think almost every traveler considers at some point. Of all the ‘have you been’ conversations I’ve been a part, it has not only cropped…
Mirissa – Southern Sri Lankan Stopover
“Can’t we just take a tuk-tuk?” I asked. “But the bus is cheaper.” It was the same discussion every time we travelled. I wanted comfort speed and a just a little legroom. Linh, on the other hand – at 5’1”…
Thailand – Floating Markets
I’ve heard of Thailand’s floating markets many times, and my mind had conjured images of a sprawling flotilla of water-borne stalls, loosely connected to create a labyrinth of alleyways where long tail boats jostle for space, rocking to the ebb…
Musings from a Bangkok Mall
Eight days in one city is not something I would usually relish. Even at home in Perth, I rarely spend that amount of time in the city in a month. So when I found myself booked to supervise a tour…
Einstein’s Barber Shop Itinerary – Sri Lanka: Exploring Mountains, Temples, and Coastlines
Itinerary 3 Sri Lanka In Sri Lanka, we made effective use of trains and busses to see a large percentage of the island in a relatively small period of time. The trip initially took us from Colombo to Kandy by…
Behind Unawatuna
We spent the last few nights in Sri Lanka staying on the south east coast of the island. We’d taken a tuk-tuk from Mirissa in the morning and found a spot on the beach to spend a couple of…
Matara Island Temple
We had been on the road for almost 6 hours and although this stop was only brief – just long enough to drop off a couple of passengers and take on another collection of travelers and commuters – it was…
Lantau Island – Escaping inside Hong Kong
When we arrived in Hong Kong, my expectations were certainly upheld. We stayed in the Mirador Mansion in Kowloon and wandered the shopping district before a stroll along the Victoria Harbour waterfront in the evening. I had expected this extended…
Mid- Level detour – Hong Kong
Darkness had fallen over Hong Kong and a chilly wind had brought temperatures down to less than 10 degrees as I looked out over the city. The tramline that ran up Victoria Peak continued to ferry passengers, crushed in the…
Travelling the Cultural Triangle – Sri Lanka PART 2
Missed part 1? You can read it first here! There is something to be said about arriving at your destination by night. First, there is the anticipation of arriving after a busy day of exploring or driving. Then there is…
Travelling the Cultural Triangle – Sri Lanka PART 1
For such a small Island, Sri Lanka certainly overachieves when it comes to opportunities for exploration. The country’s diminutive footprint on a world map (430km from North to South) belies a wealth of historical, geographical, and biological wonders that are…
Barber Shop Photos 25 – Polonnaruwa
Polonnaruwa is a sprawling city ruin in central Sri Lanka. We visiting in late September 2016 and spent a couple of hours wandering around the crumbling temples. At one stage, I walked away from a car park with a small market…
Barber Shop Photos 22 – Don Khong
Near the southern boarder of Laos is an archipelago of islands in the Mekong River where tourists go to party during peak travel periods, If you travel there in late September like we did you should miss the worst of…
Walls of Galle Fort
Unless you are one of the few who have been able to break free the bonds of daily work commitments, then you will know the pain of selecting from the multitude of experiences in any particular location and grafting them…
Barber Shop Photos 17 – Laos Horizontal Waterfall
I’ve always found it hard to capture the majesty of a waterfall. Something in the fluid motion always gets lost as you pull the trigger. It’s no different here – The mile long horizontal waterfall viewed here from the island…
Barber Shop Photos 16 – Petronas by night
If you spend any time in Kuala Lumpur, chances are you’ll find yourself in front of this iconic tower. We decided not to take a tour inside the building as the price was prohibitive considering the haze engulfing the city…
Barber Shop Photos 15 – Flores Volcano Sunset
This week I’m looking back at my trip to Indonesia in July and of the sunset sessions looking out towards Komodo island. There really is something evocative about catching a shot of an active volcano. It’s worth remembering that there…
Arugam Bay: Surfing Slum
Sri Lanka is – particularly for its small size – a dazzlingly diverse island in almost every way. The people, the culture and history, and the landscapes all change from town to town to the point where it only takes…
Barber Shop Photos 14 – Gateways in Galle
This week, I was looking back through the photos I took in Sri Lanka, and I noticed that during the last couple of days of the trip – particularly in Galle on the South West coast – I found a…