Ko Pha Ngan: Thailand’s tropical refuge, then and now – My long read at Travelfish

My latest reportage is a long read on the island of Koh Phangan in Thailand, with eye witness accounts going back to the 1940s. I arrived on Koh Phangan on March 17th 2020 to update a German language guidebook on the Gulf islands. A few days after my arrival, the update was canceled, thanks to […]

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Koh Phangan – Thailand’s Tropical Refuge Then & Now – out with Travelfish on October 1st

My long read, a lively history of Koh Phangan in Thailand, home of the infamous Full Moon Party and so much more, is out with Travelfish on October 1st. I interviewed numerous residents, both Thai and foreigners, providing eye witness accounts dating back to the 1940s, with great anecdotes and intriguing insights on island life.

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Vang Vieng, Laos: From party capital to eco-adventure paradise on CNN Travel

Sitting on the banks of the Song River, the rural town might seem serene now. But Vang Vieng has seen a tumultuous 15 years, evolving from an agricultural community to a hedonistic party capital when it was “discovered” by Western shoestring travelers in the late 1990s. Excessive drinking, drugs, trash, concrete construction and fatal accidents […]

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The Travels of Marco Yolo: Blazing Trails where Marco Polo Feared to Go

  My friend Marco Ferrarese has published his latest and very very cool travel anthology, The Travels of Marco Yolo: Blazing Trails where Marco Polo Feared to Go.   It’s a great read that jumps all over Asia and the Middle East, including some pretty obscure and remote corners, proving that good travel writing survives […]

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Cambodia: A Journey through the Land of the Khmer – Cover

Cambodia: A Journey through the Land of the Khmer has just been published. It’s currently only available in SE Asia but this will change soon. I am told the book will be available on Amazon soon. It’s been a great project to work on with photographer and publisher Kraig Lieb. And it’s the heaviest book […]

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