Browsing category : Travel
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Not Being Lonely in Hanoi – Part 2
Posted onIn my last post, I talked about my plan-less plan to see the north of Vietnam, arriving in Hanoi and rescuing a young girl’s balloon in a random act of kindness. Now that first evening in the country continues as I approached the Old Quarter.
By Ben Reeves
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Not Being Lonely in Hanoi – Part 1
Posted onAnyone who has ever asked me if I get homesick while living the expat life has always been given the same answer: Only at Christmas. Having grown up with big family Christmases, suddenly finding myself alone and thousands of miles from my homeland hits me hard. This year, I decided to force myself into a situation where I wouldn’t and couldn’t think about it. I also needed to use up the last of my annual leave allotment for the year, so I booked a holiday in Vietnam.
By Ben Reeves
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Playing the Tourist in Phuket – Part 3
Posted onWhen I last posted, an ungodly amount of time ago, I left the story of my long weekend being a tourist in Phuket on the drive back from a cruise around Phang Nga Bay. The minivan dropped my friend, Malinda, and I at my apartment at about 6 or 7pm. We decided to immediately go and look for something to eat.
By Ben Reeves
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Playing the Tourist in Phuket – Part 2
Posted onMy weekend of looking at Phuket through the eyes of a tourist, instead of an expat, continued with a trip to one of the most famous and impressive parts of Thailand – Phang Nga Bay. This has been on my bucket list for much of the four years I’ve lived in Phuket for yet, just like the Big Buddha, it has taken me the better part of all four of those years to get around to it. If it’s always going to be there, what’s the rush?
By Ben Reeves
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Playing the Tourist in Phuket – Part 1
Posted onDuring August, I had the opportunity to play the tourist and look around many of the key points of interest in Phuket. The reason was that a good friend of mine was visiting from Bangkok – Malinda. She was coming to celebrate my birthday with me, though she also wanted to do some surfing since Phuket is virtually the only part of the country with any descent waves.
By Ben Reeves
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Overlander: Day 5 – On the Road
Posted onAlas, it’s not really an overlanding trip without travelling long distances by road. Several days of my adventure through Southern Africa in 2011 were just getting from point A to point B, and Day 5 was the first of these.
By Ben Reeves
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Overlander: Day 4 – Fish River Canyon
Posted onWhen I awoke on the fourth day of my adventure through Southern Africa with Dragoman, I still had the same energy boost travel always tends to give me. I don’t really like sitting and watching people labouring for my benefit, so I volunteered to help Dougie out with making the bacon-and-eggs breakfast for everyone.
By Ben Reeves
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The Last Ride of Lady Macbeth
Posted onI owned my 1997 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo for a grand total of 306 days, of which I estimate that she was on the road for maybe half. In spite of that relatively short ownership and my limited time driving, I still miss the old girl to this day. We had some…interesting adventures together, among the best of them being her final voyage.
By Ben Reeves
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Overlander: Day 3 – Springbok
Posted onMy recounting of my adventures in Africa with Dragoman must begin with an apology. In the previous post, I said that our group was introduced to the truck – Helena – in South Africa. As I’ve continued to read through my old journal of the trip and dredge up memories from over seven years ago, I now recall that we did not meet her until we arrived in Namibia on Day 3. Up to then, we had ridden in a perfectly comfortable but perfectly ordinary and less fun bus.
By Ben Reeves
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Remembering Why I Love Thai People – The Hard Way (Part 2)
Posted onWe return to the sorry story of the complete mess I made of a very simple journey, which we started in the last part. Having made the idiotic mistake of leaving my passport at home and not realising until I’d just arrived at the airport, I was now well behind schedule for the rest of my planned journey to Kanchanaburi for an airsoftevent. Last time, we concluded with a slightly bumpy landing at Bangkok’s Don Muang International Airport. The story continues…
By Ben Reeves
