Angkor Wat:

Angkor Wat – once again

16 April 2017 | Places

▲ It’s been 25 years since my first visit to Angkor Wat and things have certainly changed. For one thing you didn’t pay US$62 for a three day pass to visit the Angkor ruins back in 1992. ◄ On that occasion there were probably more straggling Pathet Lao troublemaker...

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Bucket List

5 August 2013 | Living

Travelling the Trans-Mongolian train from Beijing to Moscow last month put the final tick on a bucket list I drew up in 1992. I don’t think the expression ‘bucket list’ had been created back then, but the list I drew up had 15 ‘must do’s’ on it and 13 of them I enjoye...

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Banteay Chhmar – Cambodian Ruins

20 November 2012 | Places

▲  Last week I was in Banteay Chhmar , an Angkorian ruins site in the far north-east of Cambodia. I was there with John Sanday, the British archaeologist who has been working on this site for three years now. John was also responsible for a great deal of the preserv...

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Travelling the Karakoram Highway – Part 1

2 October 2012 | Places

Islamabad to Gilgit Way back in 1992 I made up a 15 line ‘must do’ list, I don’t think the word ‘bucket list’ had been invented yet. I visited Angkor Wat in Cambodia later that year and put the first tick beside the list. In 1992 Cambodia was still not a totally safe...

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The Sad Story of Balalae Island

28 February 2012 | Places

On my way north through the Solomon Islands and on to Bougainville in Papua New Guinea I flew in to Balalae or Ballalae Island. I spent a couple of nights at nearby Shortland Island before thumbing a boat ride to Bougainville with islanders heading to Buin for the Sat...

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