Journalism

I write feature stories for a wide variety of publications, on travel, culture, counter culture, the environment, the arts and politics in South and South East Asia. My stories have run in The Economist, The Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The South China Morning Post, The Far Eastern Economic Review, Marie Claire, The Diplomat, Geographical etc, as well as in tattoo and other niche magazines.

On assignment in Cambodia

I’ve been destination expert for The Daily Telegraph‘s travel section for eight years and am a regular contributor to The Nikkei Asian Review. Other recent clients include MERIAN and The Mekong Review.

Interviewing German photographer Ralf Tooten

Selected past work:

Read My Second Skin, Made in Thailand for Nikkei Asia, 2023

Read Smashing down walls for Asians in Hollywood for Nikkei Asia, 2023

Read Fiction debut exposes dark side of Thailand for Nikkei Asia, 2023

Read Doing laps with the Chinese ’emperor’ for Nikkei Asia, 2023

Read The conflict in Ukraine and Thailand’s cost of living crisis – for FES, 2022

Read Thai cave rescue drama returns to screens, again, in Nikkei Asia, 2022

Listen to A Thai pop star uses her music to critique her homeland, in The Economist Podcast, 2022

Read Siem Reap, reinventing the arteries of Angkor, in Nikkei Asia, 2022

Read A forest saved? – Cambodia’s Phnom Tamao Protected Forest escapes logging but faces an uncertain future for Eco-Business, 2022

Read A Thai pop star uses her music to critique her homeland in The Economist, 2022

Read Asia’s Coral Gardener in Eco-Business, 2022

Read From France to Thailand on Foot in Nikkei Asia, 2022

Read Southeast Asia’s sinking cities: can they be saved? in Eco-Business, 2022

Listen to Pleasures of the Flesh – and the Mind in The Economist podcast, 2022

Read “What kind of person wants to be in power?” – An interview with Hugo in Roadbook, 2022

Read Pleasures of the Flesh – and the Mind in The Economist, 2022

Read Thailand has Cannabis Fever at Eco-Business, 2022

Read Two decades on, ‘The Beach’ faces fresh problems at Nikkei Asia, 2022

Read For creative protest, in Thailand the writing is on the wall at Nikkei Asia 2022

Read Bangkok museum highlights curious fame of serial killer at Nikkei Asia, 2022

Read Headwinds buffet Thailand’s ‘sea nomads’ at Nikkei Asia, 2022

Read ‘Very Bangkok’ becomes face of Thailand at Nikkei Asia, 2021

Listen to Die Geschichte des berüchtigten „Bikini-Killers“ Charles Sobhraj at Travelbook, 2021 (German)

Read Singapore startup seeks to preserve Papua New Guinea biodiversity in Nikkei Asia, 2021

Read My chilling encounter with serial killer Charles Sobhraj in The Daily Telegraph, 2021

Read Ko Pha Ngan: Thailand’s tropical refuge, then and now at Travelfish, 2020

Read Conservation activists urge post-pandemic tourism reset in Thailand in The Nikkei Asian Review (with Laure Siegel), 2020

Listen to In Kolkata with Tom Vater at Talk Travel Asia, 2020

Read Thailand’s holiday hotspots have become dystopian ghost towns in The Daily Telegraph, 2020

Read Guidebooks in the Age of Covid-19 in The Nikkei Asian Review, 2020.

Read Thai tropical paradise finds opportunity in adversity in The Nikkei Asian Review (with Laure Siegel), 2020.

Read Bangkok, an insider guide to Thailand’s colourful capital in The Daily Telegraph, 2020.

Read A year in the life of a travel expert in The Daily Telegraph, 2020.

Read Going ‘wild’ in Cambodia’s Cardamom Mountains in The Nikkei Asian Review (with Laure Siegel), 2019.

Read After The Quake – 5 Years after the Nepal Earthquake in The Mekong Review, 2019.

Read Will cleaning up Thailand’s most famous party street improve it, or kill its soul? in The Daily Telegraph, 2019.

Read Belt and Road reaches Nepal’s wild north, winning China influence in The Nikkei Asian Review (with Laure Siegel), 2019.

Read A Prison Encounter With Charles Sobhraj, Asia’s Most Infamous Serial Killer at Hardboiled Wonderland, 2018.

With Nikkei Asian Review editor Gwen Robinson, journalist Laure Siegel, fixer Jan Supatra and Chaloem Changthongmadn, president of the Motorcycle Taxi Association of Thailand (AMTT) at the Foreign Correspondents Club Thailand.

Read Hard Choices in the Andaman Islands in The Nikkei Asian Review, 2019.

Read Darjeeling’s tea king wants an organic agricultural revolution in The Nikkei Asia Review, 2018.

Read India’s ‘Middle Kingdom’ faces winds of change in The Nikkei Asian Review (with Laure Siegel), 2018.

Read India’s decaying ‘Little Europe’ gets a facelift in The Nikkei Asian Review (with Laure Siegel), 2018.

Read Laos sees marked shift in tourist appeal in The Nikkei Asian Review (with Laure Siegel), 2018.

Read Vang Vieng, Laos: From party capital to eco-adventure paradise at CNN Travel (with Laure Siegel), 2018.

Read Circus shows temple tourists another side of Cambodia in The Nikkei Asian Review (with Laure Siegel), 2017.

Read Bangkok’s ‘motorcycle mamas’ roar into men’s world in The Nikkei Asian Review (with Laure Siegel), 2017.

Read Kolkata places to visit: Tips for exploring the city in three days at CNN Travel (with Laure Siegel), 2017.

Read Japan’s love affair with Alsace grows stronger in The Nikkei Asian Review (with Laure Siegel), 2017.

Read India’s Odisha gradually opens up to hardy globe-trotters in The Nikkei Asian Review (with Laure Siegel), 2016.

Read Balancing tradition and protest in Borneo in The Nikkei Asian Review (with Laure Siegel), 2016.

Read Not easy rock ‘n’ roll — the saving of Srey Thy in The Nikkei Asian Review, 2015.

Rise Tattoo Magazine on Nepal

Read Nepal earthquake: What does the future hold for tourism? in The Daily Telegraph, 2015.

Read Kathmandu — a city in shock in The Nikkei Asian Review, 2015.

Read Trembling Kathmandu — an on-the-ground view in The Nikkei Asian Review, 2015.

Read Thailand ministers try to tempt tourists back in The Daily Telegraph, 2015.

Read Thailand: Murder in the Land of Smiles in The Diplomat, 2014.

Read Thailand: Is the party over for now? The effect of the curfew on tourism in The Daily Telegraph, 2014.

Read Fred Branfman – obituary in The Daily Telegraph, 2014.

Read Spiritual inkings – Thailand’s sacred tattoos in The Nikkei Asian Review, 2014.

Read Thailand shooting: are Ko Phangan parties safe? in The Daily Telegraph, 2013.

Read Phnom Penh’s cultural revival in The Guardian (with photographer Conor Wall), 2012.

Read Bangkok: After the deluge, back in the flow in The Daily Telegraph, 2012.

Read Shangri-La Is Lost Again in The Wall Street Journal, 2011.

Read New Horizons – Kep, Cambodia in The Wall Street Journal (with photographer Luke Duggleby), 2010.

Read Vann Molyvann, Cambodia’s greatest living architect in The Wall Street Journal (with photographer Luke Duggleby), 2010.

Read A Home Alone – India’s Havelis and Their Fabled Frescoes in The Wall Street Journal (with photographer Luke Duggleby), 2009.

Vang Pao obit in The Times