Irreverent, informed and downright eclectic crime fiction and reportage from Southeast Asia and beyond
I’ll be giving a live radio interview on Rudy Maxa’s World, America’s most widely-syndicated, weekend travel radio show, on Saturday, May 11th at 10.18 am EST US, which is 9:18pm Bangkok time. I’ll be talking about travel writing, publishing and my new US published guide to the Angkor temples in Cambodia from Moon Guides. Here’s [...]
The first edition of new my English language guide to Angkor Wat (including Siem Reap and the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh) is hitting shelves this month. After Moon Cambodia and Spotlight Angkor, this is my third book for Moon Guides and Avalon Publishing. You can purchase the book on Amazon. Content: A group of young [...]
Another golden oldie, that old chestnut, the Phuket Vegetarian Festival, which I covered in 2005 for Fortean Times and several other publications. Never mind the flash resorts, sleazy bars, high rise condos and MacHolidays on offer on Thailand’s largest and most overdeveloped tourist island. Phuket also has culture. Every year, men and women have their [...]
This is not a particularly hands-on story, nor did it involve any courage on my part. Better reportages on the same subject have surfaced in the media in recent days. And I am by no means a Burma expert, merely a writer who has worked in Southeast Asia for a decade and a half. But [...]
Here’s a first preview of the cover of my forthcoming guide to Angkor Wat, including Siem Reap, Battambang and Phnom Penh, published by Moon Books in the US in November 2012. It’s been a great project to work on and I am just dealing with the final edits for the book. Photographs will be supplied [...]
It was two years ago today when Thaksin Shinawatra’s Red Shirt supporters confronted the might of the Thai military and were dispersed from downtown Bangkok, following months of occupation, confrontation and violence. Since then there’s been a change in government in Thailand and Thaksin’s sister Yingluck is now prime minister. The deputy prime minister allegedly [...]
For all those armchair travelers who are worried about missing their creature comforts in exotic places…do not despair. Trekking in the Everest region between Lukla and Everest Base Camp , one passes shops like this one almost every thirty minutes, offering the same stuff that’s on your shelf of your local 7/11 or supermarket – [...]
In the mid-90s, I trekked around the Everest region of Nepal. Last month I returned, retraced my steps and found both the mountains and myself in good shape. Though a little more torn and frayed than almost 20 years ago. Everything changes quickly, even amongst the world’s highest peaks. And that, apparently, is the way [...]
British newspaper The Guardian reports that the Jarawa, a tribe of Andaman Islanders who number just a few hundred, have been coerced by Indian police to dance naked for tourist ‘safaris’. Unfortunately, this has been going on for many, many years. When I visited the Andamans in 1997 and 2000, Indian VIPs, speak politicians and [...]
I have just published a feature on Thailand post floods tourism in the Daily Telegraph. Bangkok: After the deluge, back in the flow is now online. Read the full text here. The image on this page was taken by me during the height of the floods and did not run with this story. I also [...]