Hands up if you know where Sangkhla Buri is located!
Not very many I suspect, and the answer is very close to the Thai Myanmar border about 210 miles or 375km northwest of Bangkok, and far from any of the well known destinations in Thailand that attract the bulk of the 30+ million international tourists who visit Thailand annually.
I do not have a ‘bucket list’ of things I want to do or see before I die.
I do have many books waiting to be read (far too many to list!) and I do keep lists of those books I read each year as I try and reach my target of 50 books per annum.
I have lists of TV series to watch and again of those I have watched. Continue reading
Remember when it was possible to travel almost at will? To go where we wanted to go and whenever we wanted? Finances and time permitting of course!
I always thought that one of the great delights when travelling was to stumble across somewhere or something which was totally unexpected and which, at the fear of sounding dated, totally blew my mind.
The most famous historic ruins in South East Asia are justifiably the magnificent and extensive ruins of more than three dozen often ornately decorated temples found amidst the dense jungle at Angkor Wat, near Siem Reap in Cambodia. And as a result Angkor Wat is a heavily visited destination, attracting visitors from all around the world. Indeed when I first visited Angkor Wat in 2006, I was also fortunate enough to visit the Great Pyramids in Egypt and Machu Pichu in Peru, also both for the first time the same year, and it was Angkor Wat that for me was by far the most impressive. Continue reading
The famed Golden Triangle is a region of Northern Thailand close to Myanmar and Laos.
Like most regions it is not delineated by lines on a map but is an area associated with a way of life or historical events. In a similar manner you will find no lines on a map marking America’s ‘Rust Belt’ or the ‘Midwest’, England’s ‘Wessex’ or the ‘Scottish Highlands’ but everyone knows where they are there because of either a distinct way of life or an association with past events. Continue reading
I am a Geographer by training and I have been a Geographer all my working life, firstly as a Geography Teacher and latterly for 40 years as a Tour Operator.
I love looking at maps and, as a child, enjoyed nothing more than going for a ride in my father’s motor bike and sidecar and discovering Dorchester was indeed just as the map said, 25 miles west of Bournemouth. Continue reading
I first came to Ban Nong Weng in 2006 and I am pretty sure I have been here every year since. It is a small village of maybe 300 or so inhabitants in Isaan, the hot, dry, north eastern region of Thailand, that many people believe provides the economic (and perhaps spiritual?) backbone to Thailand, if for no other reason than the fact that, for generations, the people of Isaan have flocked to Bangkok, Pattaya and cities throughout Thailand in search of employment and provide the labour force for so many activities. Continue reading
Hands up if you have heard of Tonle Sap?
No? Well you are not alone but Tonle Sap is the largest freshwater lake in South East Asia and is found between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap in Cambodia, extending 250km in length and 100km in width at its maximum points. Continue reading
I am spending a period of three and a half months writing a book in Thailand and I needed to leave the country to renew my visa. Rather than a quick one day hop across the border to Cambodia, Laos or Malaysia I thought this was an ideal occasion to visit Myanmar, a country my wife Sharron visited Continue reading
Notes from a Nomad 