Tagged: round the world

The Reunification Express

The Reunification Express

We flew from Manila into Saigon last week, the day after Ho Chi Minh’s birthday, and rode the Reunification Express 1600km or so upcountry to...

Bright white explosion as a firework goes off in the night sky.

Working Girl

MJ’s been working bars since she was fifteen. Standard shifts. 6pm to 6am. She was an Avon Lady before that, but this pays better. She’s...

Imperial Japanese Navy ship Akutsishima

Full Fathom Five…

There is a sepulchral magic to a shipwreck. Viewed from underwater, with russet filigrees of sea ferns flourishing on the fractured edges of a shell...

Cargo Boats and Commandos

I’m a great fan of authenticity in travel. Travelling, where possible, as the locals do, which, given the wealth divide in the Philippines, means either...

A Serpent in Paradise

The labyrinth of reef-fringed karsts around El Nido, Palawan, must be one of the best island-hopping destinations in the world. Whether above water or under...

Maritime Woes

Maritime Woes

There are many things unique and wonderful about the Philippines. But the boatmen here are phenomenal in many of the wrong ways. Right now, sat...

View of the beach, Sabang, Palawan, Philippines

Here Comes the Rain…

Maybe it’s El Nino. Maybe it’s climate change. Maybe we’ve brought the English summer with us. But it feels like the rains have come early...