These posts are about anything at all that we are inspired to write about on our journey.
Musings on the nature of tourism spectacles, performances that are artificially constructed and commodified for the tourist gaze, and the notion of authenticity when we travel. This is the metanarrative of my previous post, I suppose, so perhaps you’d better take a read of that one first, if this is to make sense. No matter … Read more
For most travellers to Siem Reap, Cambodia, the city is little more than a launching pad for day trips to the legendary Angkor Wat and the other enchanting temple complexes of the Khmer Empire. Few travellers linger after they’ve explored the archaeological ruins and fewer people visit simply to experience Siem Reap. We’d heard, however, that there … Read more
I had few expectations about Phnom Penh before we went to Cambodia’s capital to do a story for a travel magazine. I think that’s why I liked the city so much. The images in my mind – of wide boulevards and ramshackle, French colonial-style buildings, dappled with mildew, and skirted by big verandas – were … Read more
Many expats and long-term travellers talk about that sense of belonging nowhere – of never really becoming accepted as a local in their adopted country or the places to which they keep returning. And yet they return home to find they don’t fit in there anymore either. We’ve learnt over the years that we can … Read more
The much-maligned shopping mall makes sense in steamy Bangkok, especially during monsoon season – just as it does in the oppressive heat of Dubai. Whereas the gritty streets of both cities offer few opportunities to escape the elements, air-conditioned shopping centres provide a respite from the humidity and, in Bangkok’s case in particular at this … Read more