“Keep on chasing down that rainbow. You never know what you might find. Over the sunset on the horizon, it may be a dream but it tastes like poison. I’m going to take that tiger outside for a ride.” – Noel Gallagher. “A wee carryout, yeooo!!” shouts an Ulsterman! Another of my “must dos” in…
Read More
When backpacking in India, I decided to visit the country’s strictest “dry province”, that is to say, “alcohol free province”, the north western province of Gujarat which borders Pakistan. My reasons for visiting Gujarat dated back to a Michael Palin documentary where I remember Palin had to fill in a certificate or document to collect alcohol.…
Read More
“Down in a den in Bombay. Slack jaw, not much to say. I said to the man are you trying to tempt me? Because I come from the land of plenty” – Men at Work. Inspiration for my visit to Mumbai (formerly Bombay) came from a few sources. A Michael Palin documentary on BBC, a…
Read More
When I arrived in India for the first time in 2016, my first port of call was the capital city, New Delhi. I found out about the highly rated Smyle Inn Hostel and made this my base for my first three nights in New Delhi before night training it to Mumbai. When I Facebooked the…
Read More
My first stop in India was New Delhi and I loved it there. I was based in the popular Smyle Inn and Hostel. It seemed to be a perfect first introduction to Indian life. Delhi’s chaotic street life is a backpackers dream, my passion for travel was pumped vivaciously on the streets of this sprawling…
Read More
For whatever reason life dealt me, I ended up in the city of Shymkent in southern Kazakhstan recently and after negotiating my way across the Uzbekistan to Kazakhstan border despite not having a Kazak visa on the same passport, I finally arrived in this backpacker’s gem – Shymkent. You might have read how I found…
Read More
“A face like mine, bereft of dreams, and white” – Nicky Wire. Yes. I’m in New Delhi. I am in India! This is perhaps the biggest shock for me to date on my travels and I can’t explain it, it’s just the way it happens. From day one, I always said I had no intention…
Read More
Well the year is only two months old but I’ve already done a fair whack of travelling through some ice cool zones in Central Asia such as Karakalpakstan, Afghanistan and Gorno Badakhshan with more lined up. Basing this list on a few spots I’ve already been to this year and a few that are lined…
Read More
This is probably the first hotel review I ever do where I won’t mention the actual name of the hotel. There are security reasons for this of course and I was there on tour with a cool company and they sorted out my accommodation. I didn’t go online and book any hotels or hostels. In…
Read More
The very name of “Samarkand” in Uzbekistan rings through travellers ears and they think of sparkling architecture and striking images they have seen from professional photographers the world over. While all of that is true, we missed the point somehow. Samarkand is not about touristic spots, it is a normal, fully-functioning and thriving city and…
Read More