It is not about flash photography In 1512, Pope Julius II held a special vespers service. It was an evening event that was held to inaugurate the Sistine Chapel after Michelangelo had finished four years of toil painting frescoes on the ceiling. It is now the most visited room in the world. If you have…
I am currently in Perth, Australia, and recently went to Rottnest Island to see the quokkas. There was information I would have liked to have known in advance, and I thought it might be helpful to share it. What are Quokkas and where are they found? Quokkas are marsupials and are roughly the same size…
I just got back to Thailand after six weeks from the UK. I hadn’t been back to Blighty for around two and a half years and the difference was a bit of a shock. Nothing major, but enough to possibly be of interest to anyone travelling in either direction. I was in a Bangkok bar…
I am currently doing this weird thing called travelling abroad. People used to do it all the time, but it has fallen out of favour the last couple of years for some reason. Being something of a contrarian, I went from sunny Thailand to London. In March. I hadn’t left Thailand since 2019, so I…
Haunted Thailand now has a new book cover! You probably guessed that from the headline and above picture. It was a necessary purchase as the old one made me cringe every time I looked at it. I consider myself a creative person, I write and draw, but creative or graphic design is sadly not one…
I finally got round to getting a new book cover done for my ‘Australia, Morocco, Thailand’ travel stories collection. The previous ones I did myself and I am not ashamed to say, were bloody awful. There is a very talented lady on Fiverr who does them and it’s amazing what she can do with some…
I am writing this in the Hilton in Hua Hin and thought I might as well write about it. I am not normally so rich and swanky but at the moment, no tourists are allowed into the country, they are doing up the lobby (until October 2020) and it is rainy season. Consequently, it is…
A month ago, I left sunny Bangkok for the equally sunny (but much less warm) environs of the UK, Lyon and Venice, where we saw the world famous Biennale. Which was great. I see a fair amount of art as I enjoy it, Mrs Word of Ward is an art curator and an ex I…
Following last week’s article and the joy of travel websites, I was feeling inspired. I have many passions in life beyond travelling, drawing and writing but those three sound cooler and more cosmopolitan than comic books, games and low budget scifi, so I thought I would indulge my more artistic side. I was debating doing…
Travel writing, when done well, is a joy to read. It transports you to somewhere exotic, giving you a taste of the sights, sounds and smells of exotic foreign lands. A glimpse of adventure, reminding you that there is a big world out to explore and here you are, probably just wasting your time at…
I have recently been mentally busy. This is the busiest time of year with seemingly everyone I know asking me to write or edit something or other. I am also in the last quarter of my novel and it is taking up a large chunk of my thought process with a corresponding dip in brain…
You read that right. Free books. My three books, to be precise. I have decided to put them out to share with the interweb because I am feeling generous and want to improve my Karma. Also, I would like some reviews. If you like Science Fiction or Travel Writing, please have a look. Here is…
I usually give the blurb I wrote but instead I thought it would be nice to include a couple of reviews written on the US Amazon website.
It is with sadness that I leave but also some excitement. Working in TV with a bit of freelance writing on the side was great and it paid for a degree and a shiny new pair of lasered eyes.
Sorry I haven’t written in ages but I was moving house and then had a delightful couple of weeks in the south of France.
Technically Britain is part of Europe but most Brits feel less European than say, a Frenchman or a German does. Actually, Brits consider themselves to be English/Irish/Scottish/Welsh and then, if pushed, British. We feel as if we happen to live next door to Europe and that it is a handy place for holidays and the occasional war.
I probably won’t be writing much for the next few days as I am in Florence. That’s in Italy, in case you are a tad geographically challenged. If you have never been here before, you should. It’s bloody gorgeous. One of the Assassin’s Creed games was set here and bizarrely, it helped me find my…
Over an hour later, there it was. Luang Prabang at last. A finger of raised land that sticks into the confluence of the mighty Mekong and Nam Khan rivers. I could see temples and bars all along its side high above the river. It looked like the promised land.
Our boat was due to leave Huay Xai at 11am and it was hot already. Easily over 30 celsius. Given that we were in Laos I was fairly surprised at the efficiency of the crew and the fact that we left just after 11:30. (I’m not being sarcastic, I have been to Laos before and timetables are like indecipherable hieroglyphs.) The first couple of hours you cruise down the Mekong with Laos on your left and Thailand on your right. The scenery is pretty with the occasional concrete or wooden village on each side of the low banks.
Our journey began in the mountains an hour outside of Chiang Rai, Thailand. My group consisted of myself, my wife Nim, my mother-in-law (Nim’s mum), her friend, a guide (who happened to be a student of Nim’s mum and was a local Chiang Rai businessman), and another guide who was from Laos. A lot of…