Travelogue
Flying High with the Bolivian Air Force - 6 May 2020
Travelling in Bolivia is a challenge of world-renown, one of those destinations your mother warned you about. The roads are rough, few are paved. The terrain is intimidating with high mountains and deep gorges best described as lethal. Transport infrastructure is rudimentary or was when I went in 1991, especially air travel. Safety leaves much to be desired. Up in the air you can be flying by the seat of your pants. The term was probably invented for the experiences the country has to offer. Bolivia is the country where just travelling from one town to another could be described as adventure tourism, and probably isn’t covered by your travel insurance, assuming you have some. To get from La Paz, Bolivia’s national capital, to Sucre, the country’s constitutional capital, it can be better to save time and fly. This is not only faster and less tiring but being a way to avoid Bolivia’s notorious road infrastructure. The distance between the two capitals is just 414kms in a straight line but given the country’s rugged topography not everything in Bolivia is in a straight line, certainly not some of the roads. The road trip takes more than 12 hours over 687kms via Oruro (though I’m assuming this is a guide only), and by air it took over two hours because back then the Bolivian Air Force flew antiquated turboprops. The benefit of flying is you can avoid some of Bolivia’s more bizarre tourist attractions, unless that’s why you came. Nearby La Paz are the Roads of
Aeroflot Skies - 4 April 2020
Back in the day in the early 1990s, the cheapest way to fly from Europe to Asia was on Eastern bloc airlines. Polish Airlines (Polskie Linie Lotnicze-LOT)) was one option, while Aeroflot was another. After the Berlin Wall came down LOT, previously known as Aerolot and one of the oldest airlines in operation, began moving back to using Western
Poipet - In a Galaxy, Far, Far, Away - 25 February 2020
The border crossing between Aranyaprathet in Thailand and Poipet, or Krong Poi Pet, in Cambodia is marked by a dying waterway, the Nam Sai, choked and putrefied with the detritus of modern life. The Nam Sai (which ironically means “clear stock” as in soup, in Thai) roughly marks the border. In some places it is the border, while in others it
Borderlands - Aranyaprathet and Poipet - 27 January 2020
In the early 2000s I made two trips into Cambodia by road from Thailand. These were my first ever visits to the country. The route I took was the same many visitors took back then, and many still do, from Aranyaprathet and Poipet, though much has changed in terms of infrastructure. I’ve heard it said peoples’ impressions of Cambodia are
Hotel Cambodiana on the River Mekong - 22 December 2019
One of my favourite pastimes in Phnom Penh is sitting poolside at the Hotel Cambodiana watching the river traffic go by. Norodom Sihanouk came up with an idea for the hotel and even contributed early drawings for bungalows, before it morphed into a full-blown hotel, then one of the biggest in town. It was built, but not finished, during the
Royal University of Phnom Penh - 19 November 2019
Most visitors to Phnom Penh entering the city along the road from the airport would not see one of the architectural splendors of a city once known as “The Pearl of Asia”. Probably because it’s on the other side of the dual carriageway, and more probably they’re not looking for it. The Royal University of Phnom Penh faces what is now known as
Living on Street 178 – Part Three – 5 October 2019
All the apartments I’ve rented in Phnom Penh have been on streets with a number ending in an eight. There was Street 108 (Oknha Ing Bun Hoaw Avenue across from Freedom Park near the old colonial quarter), Street 258 (Long Nget Street), and the three apartments I’ve had on Street 178 (Samdach Preah Sokun Meanbon Street). The last apartment I
Down on the Corner, Out in Street 178 - 2 September 2019
My second apartment on Street 178 was in 2007. I got the apartment through my mate, Kiwi Paul, who I had met earlier that year in the Riverside Bar on Sothearos Boulevard. The Riverside is a corner bar in a grand colonial building in rustic colours with white shutters, unlike many of the other colonial era buildings in Phnom Penh, which are
Living on Street 178 - Phnom Penh - 3 August 2019
Street 178 in Phnom Penh runs in a straight line west to east from one of the city’s main boulevards, Monivong, and finishing at another, Sisowath, at the Tonle Sap near the junction with the Mekong River. It is bisected by another of the city’s main thoroughfares, Norodom Boulevard – Street 41, which runs from Wat Phnom, from which the city
