It’s our first full day in The Solomons. We’re in Munda, having breakfast at the Agnes Gateway Hotel, just around the corner from our guesthouse. Sarah is having eggs, Samantha is having sausages. I’m the only one having fish. Because apparently, that’s the thing to do Read more
I’m not sure which one of us woke up first. Probably Grizzly. It had become tradition for me to lie in bed in the mornings, waiting for the sun to rise high enough to cook my tent until I couldn’t handle it anymore. Then I’d get up and rummage through my cooler bin, deciding Read more
He was sitting with his back to me, so I started with the outlines of his shoulders, then the back of his head, his shabby greying hair, then finally down his torso to his butt. It wasn’t often I had a naked guy sitting in front of me, but here it felt like just another weekday. Read more
The crowd was already huge when I arrived. I’d thought I was early. Thousands of people sat in a huge ring, surrounding the Temple of Ixam. It was scheduled to burn just after sunset. ‘Burning’ was talked about often in Tankwa- on the Binnekring during the day you’d Read more
The light woke me up. I was wrapped in three layers of clothes, expecting the desert night to be arctic, but I’d slept through the night comfortably. I hid inside my sleeping bag, staring at the peak of my tent. The grey was slightly brighter on the east side, illuminated by the Read more
When the bus dropped us at Welcome Road, none of us were really sure what to do or where to go. There was no booth, no person, not even a sign. Around us was nothing but desert. That was the irony of Welcome Road – it was hardly welcoming. I looked around. In one direction was the Read more
Penang has a reputation for being one of Asia’s foodie capitals, you could even say Penang prides itself on being ground zero for Malaysia’s best food, but how good is it really? For the first few weeks in Penang, I set out to try as many of Penang’s signature dishes as Read more
It’s 10 o’clock when I land. That’s the problem with booking the cheapest flight. It always lands late. “Take bus number 1,” she texts. “Our stop is number 422, in front of El Corte Ingles. You know, that shop you hate.” I haven’t Read more
Sending money overseas is more complicated than it should be. Bank to bank transfers are usually expensive, and most cash-pickup services are prohibitively expensive.
This has been a large issue for me over the years, as I am constantly sending and receiving money to and from foreign countries. I've tried most services online, all of them work fine, but many are costly and some take longer than others. I've had times where more than 10% was chopped off my transfer on the other end.
Food in the Ivory Coast was not what I expected. I recently spent several weeks eating my way through the economic capital of Abidjan, doing my best to sample as much of the local cuisine as possible. I was expecting some similarities to east African cuisines, which generally have soft and Read more
