Browsing author : Ben Reeves
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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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Phayun Beach Condo
Posted onMy Paradise Abandoned project returns, but in an unusual format. A couple of weekends ago, I flew up to the quiet Phayun Beach area of Rayong province, just south of Pattaya, Thailand. It was something of an odd variant of urbex, in so far as it bore a closer resemblance to urban warfare than urban exploring. I was there for an airsoft event.
By Ben Reeves
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The Expat Bug
Posted onLiving the expat life brings a lot of advantages and I would never choose any other. However, as much as I would like to continue with upbeat articles and share some more of the wonderful benefits to a life overseas, a friend was recently hit with some of the more endemic downers. I diagnosed The Expat Bug.
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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Why Being an Expat is Awesome
Posted onA lot of my recent posts have been rather negative about the expat life. Actually, a lot of my posts generally have quite a negative slant, but that’s an inevitable result of having been a journalist for a fair few years – you develop an innate cynicism which is hard to shift. Anyway, it occurred to me that one or two of my readers might be wondering why I would choose to live overseas if I apparently dislike it so much. The reason is simple: Expat life is awesome!
By Ben Reeves
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Why I Own a Tuxedo
Posted onI seem to recall reading or hearing some general life advice, at some point, which advised owning your own tuxedo. The suggestion was that it would save you money in the long run since renting them is expensive. I think that assumes that you would go to a great many high-society events in your life because I have owned a tuxedo since I was 21 and I think I’ve used it maybe twice in the decade since.
By Ben Reeves
