Travelogue
The Road from Koh Kong in 2006 - 22 January 2025
I’ve traveled the road between Koh Kong and Phnom Penh several times over the years in both directions starting in 2006. The first time was from the Thai border to Phnom Penh in a Cambodian taxi the durability of which was testament to Toyota’s engineering skills. Last month I made that journey again in the opposite direction starting in Cambodia’s capital. The interesting factor was that in all that time the condition of that road has come full circle. Last month from the turn-off on the new road to Sihanoukville along route 48 the road was broken, pot-holed, rutted, dusty, and in some places barely a road at all. For those in the coaster bus who thought a road could be no worse than being shaken, deafened, rattled, bounced and bogged, it can. Because it was even worse than that 18-years earlier on my ever first trip. This is the story of that first ever trip. My first trip to Koh Kong was in 2006. After spending two months touring Southeast Asia from Thailand to Laos to Cambodia to Vietnam, I’d flown back to Thailand from Hanoi and made my way to Ko Samed (or Samet) a Thai island about four hours dive from Bangkok thinking what to do next. I decided to return to Cambodia and set up base there. Rather than fly, someone on the island mentioned getting a taxi to the border with Cambodia. I hadn’t considered this but it’s what the expats living in Thailand do regularly to renew their visas to stay in Thailand, cross over the border of a neighbouring country for a
Kampot and Kep - Salt ‘N’ Pepper - 20 December 2024
I’ve been to Kampot in southern Cambodia a few times over the years but this was my first trip back there since the pandemic. I was interested to see what had changed and more to the point what had not, because Kampot has historical charm that you wouldn’t want to see gone. What you would want is that charm maintained and hopefully restored in
The Aswan High Dam and the Temples of Philae - 10 November 2024
The city of Aswan in Upper Egypt is home like many of that country’s cities to much ancient history. Aswan though has something different, something other Egyptian cities do not have; a monument of more recent times which, like those from antiquity, is an equally awe-inspiring feat of engineering. I find some examples of engineering fascinating
The Valley of the Kings and George Bush - 1 September 2024
My first visit to Egypt was to the Sinai Peninsula a journey down the coast as far as Sharm El Shiekh. The second trip a couple of years later was across the Suez Canal to the largest city by population in Africa, Cairo (if you count its neighbour Giza) and from there south to Luxor one of the oldest most continuously inhabited cities in the
George of Tahir Square and the Pyramids of Giza - 28 June 2024
The Suez Canal is just 193kms long and one of the world’s key waterways, a strategic asset, and also a choke point, a bottle neck. The canal connects the “Med with the Red” seas and separates two continents, Africa from Asia. The canal saves maritime traffic the 8900kms journey around Africa which takes most ships on average about 10 days, quite
Dahab, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Meaning of Cool - 30 May 2024
The Sinai Peninsula is a land bridge between Africa and Asia and is the only part of Egypt in Asia. Originally called Arabia Petraea it sits between the Mediterranean and Red seas and was once called Rome’s Arabian Province when annexed by the emperor Trajan. Trajan was famous for pushing the Roman Empire to its greatest territorial extent
Newcastle-upon-Tyne - 2 April 2024
I once spent time living in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the very north of England. What is today the city of Newcastle and the surrounding area of Northumbria has history going back centuries. It was under Roman occupation for 300 years marking one of the northern most extremities of Roman rule, the remains of which can still be seen today. Later
Byker in Newcastle - 2 March 2024
Byker is a suburb of Newcastle-upon-Tyne in the northeast of England which is not to be confused with Newcastle-under-Lyme which is much further south in Staffordshire near to Stoke-on-Trent in the area of England known as the Potteries. The northern Newcastle, much larger than the southern namesake, was once famous for its heavy industry, most
The Shetland Islands - 31 January 2024
The Shetland Islands are 170kms from Scotland, 220kms from Norway, and 360kms from the Faroe Islands. They lie on the border between the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea on the same latitude as Helsinki and Anchorage; far enough north that with clear skies the aurora borealis are visible. Just 16 out of the more than 100 islands of the Shetland
