Backpacking South East Asia 2014

As 2014 was drawing to a close, I realised that I had a large amount of annual leave at work that I hadn’t taken. With the office closing over Christmas and some time off in lieu I figured that I had around 6 weeks to use.

I had received an invite from the CRP in Dhaka where I had previously volunteered to join them for a conference in early December and just like that an idea was born.

There was a gap in my calendar and a plane ticket to Bangladesh, so not wanting to waste an opportunity I started to look at how many other places I could get around locally.

So started my whistle-stop backpacking tour of 2014 covering 6 countries in 6 weeks.

Back to Bangladesh and beyond

November 19, 2014

Back to Bangladesh and Beyond Back in September I was recovering from surgery, twiddling my thumbs and wondering what I was going to do with my 3 weeks of annual leave that I still had left to take off work before the end of the year. It’s...

First couple of days in Dhaka

November 29, 2014

First couple of days in Dhaka It was the night before I was due to leave and lying on the floor in front of me were two packed rucksacks and my old wheelchair, solid tyres fitted and footplate held together with duct tape and cable ties. I was a bit...

Bye bye Bangladesh

December 1, 2014

Bye bye Bangladesh Every morning at the CRP I’m woken up at 5:30am by the morning call for prayer at the mosque that’s located next to me room. As much as I don’t like waking up that early in the morning, I have to say that the low rumbling of the...

Creatures of the night

December 4, 2014

Creatures of the night Other than the flight being delayed, leaving Dhaka was a smooth operation. I got on a small plane with wider aisles going through first class so I managed to take my chair all the way to my seat. Tricky transfer but definitely...

Off roading

December 7, 2014

Off roading I had an 8:30am train to catch from Hua Lamphong station in Bangkok and had arrived with plenty of time after I had accidentally hailed a cab instead of taking the metro as I had planned. As the other trains pulled in I could see the...

First impressions of Myanmar

December 13, 2014

First impressions of Myanmar Before leaving Thailand, there was one last spanner to be thrown into the works when my debit card was eaten by a rouge ATM. It’s not an issue right now as I’ve got enough dollars (the universal currency) to keep me going...

Central Myanmar – Bagan and Inle Lake

December 15, 2014

Central Myanmar – Bagan and Inle Lake I’d booked three days at the Yaga youth hostel before getting to Yangon and because of their cancelation policy I couldn’t get the money back for my last night, that’s thirty bucks down the drain but on the...

Kayaking down the Mekong River

December 20, 2014

Kayaking down the Mekong River Fitting Inle Lake into my travel plan was going to be a tight squeeze and it was. I had to be in Yangon for 6am on Monday for my flight to Laos. My first choice of getting there was by bus, but with only night...

Say hello to my little friend

December 23, 2014

Say hello to my little friend Early morning on the 20th I was waiting at the dock ready to leave Don Det and it seemed like everyone else had the idea. There was a mass exodus with about fifty people all leaving for the 8am boat that would start us...

Christmas in Kep

December 29, 2014

Christmas in Kep Before leaving Phnom Penh there was one more thing that I wanted to check out – the killing fields. I knew the story about what Pol Pot had done but there’s definitely a sense of reality that’s brought by walking round the compound...

Good morning Vietnam

January 3, 2015

Good morning Vietnam My original plan for Vietnam was always to head up to Haolong Bay for New Year. No particular reason other than the pictures that I’d googled looked fantastic. However, travelling needs flexibility and heading to North...