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…
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 #5 – Kuang Si Waterfall
This shot was taken at Kuang Si waterfalls which is not far from Luang Prabang in northern Laos. We were there at the end of the wet season, so the gentle trickle into blue pools which typifies the vista…
Barber Shop Photos #3 – Kuang Si Falls
I took this shot at Kuang Si Falls close to Luang Prabang. The waterfall is picturesque in summer when the water is blue and calm as it falls in pools. We visited Laos at the end of the monsoon, so…
Cementing your travel plans
Cement is often seen as an eyesore and in part the folly of mankind’s continual drive to tailor the world to their needs, and while that may or may not be the case, there is little doubt that the simple…
The Night Bus to Vientiane
It was after 11pm as the bus hurtled through the night. We departed almost thirty minutes behind schedule – not bad as far as Laos buses were concerned. The afternoon swelter had slowly diminished and it was only now, at…
On ya bike! – Karst Riding
(The family that races together…) Coming from a family where motorcycles are a part of daily conversation and weekly life, I’ve always been surprisingly cautious about throwing a leg over, particularly when overseas. While most of my family spend many…
The Barber vs The Burger
Gastronomical adventuring has never been high on my list of travel motivations. In fact I have been known to become ever so slightly cynical when somebody carelessly mentions the latest season of ‘Master Chef’ or ‘Whatever cooking sellout plays prime-time this week’.…
4000 reasons to (not) party!
The thud of pumping base and the rhythmic grinding of a thousand sweaty bodies has never been particularly high on my list of vacation musts. In fact, the idea of travelling the world only to engage in exactly the…
Sounds like a plan
As much as we might wish it, no trip comes truly out of the blue – not even for those lucky few who win a competition or happen to have particularly amazing partners. There is always some…
Breadcrumbs
The most memorable thing I have ever brought while abroad is a small model of the Great Pyramid complex at Giza. They are memorable to me, not by virtue of their expense or rarity, but because of the bumbling…
Which Wat? Where?
My list of must visit travel destinations is – as you might expect – long and detailed, however there are a number of clear similarities between the destinations that I long to roam. If I were to complete a detailed…
Four floors above Vientiane
As I write this, I’m reclining in the front of a coaster bus somewhere west of Kalgoorlie in Western Australia. I make the journey from Perth to the bush a couple of hours east of Kal each year with a…
Finding Utopia
The idea of Nirvana is a popular one for many people. Who wouldn’t want to find themselves in a utopia where the world seems to bend to your every wish? For me, it’s hard to define what that place might…
How travel is supposed to be
Nineteen years ago, secure in the knowledge that I was going to be a great traveller, I sat on a minibus on a highway between Shizuoka and Tokyo in central Japan glowing with a sense of superiority over the other…