Daniel Etherington

Back in Bangkok now, but flying to Sydney this afternoon. Remarkably, we made it back from the island painlessly – sod’s law the weather improved on the day we were leaving, but at least this meant the express catamaran ride was smooth to the point of being pleasant. Such a contrast. And such a relief. [...]

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Took a jet catamaran from mainland Thailand to the island of Kao Tao this morning (after an overnight bus journey, which itself followed a flight down to Bangkok from Hanoi).
A late monsoon gave rise to oversized unseasonal swell. Much vomiting ensued. In fact, the cabin featured something like a Mexican wave of nausea as one [...]

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Tourism in general – and tourism in countries poorer than your own – is based on mutual exploitation. You want something they have to offer – beach, food, interesting sites – and they want something you have, ie money.
This is totally fair enough and reasonable, but travelling in poorer, developing world countries can be a bit [...]

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Hawking
No, I don’t mean the “sporting” activity involving a big glove and a bird of prey in bondage gear, I mean the activity closely related to clearing of the throat.
Hawking is big in Asia, a major pastime. It’s something you can’t escape. On several mornings I’ve been woken up at 5am by that inimitable noise [...]

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We’ve just arrived in Ho Chi Minh City, aka Saigon, in southern Vietnam, after spending a few days in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
Although Phnom Penh is an interesting, bustling SE Asia city, with some old French colonial districts and a nice (if predictably litter-strewn) promenade alongside the Tonle Sap river, the tourist conveyor belt [...]

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Been doing a lot of what Fran’s mum, Margaret, calls “walkie walkie lookie lookie” since last post. But it’s been some of the best walkie walkie lookie lookie you could possibly hope for – because we visited the justifiably famous, rightfully UNESCO rubber-stamped Angkor (meaning “holy city” or “capital city”) in Cambodia.
The journey from Bangkok [...]

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Sorry, terrible title I know, but I reckon I’ll just sit here musing and not write the actual blog entry if I don’t just get on with it.
Now in Bangkok, in an internet place where you put money in a slot like a fruit machine. It seems like a pleasant city, and hopefully a few [...]

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Just as our domestic flight from Kerala to Mumbai arrived yesterday, a genial chap warned us to take care because of the rioting. It had kicked off across the country after a religious slight (I saw some news coverage of it earlier, but can’t find the details online now – maybe it’s just another dose of [...]

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