WORLDWIDE | Tuesday, 6 Mar 2012 | Views [367] | Scholarship Entry
Sticky sweet syrup drips down my chin and drops to the dirty street as I bite into a jalapi. The traditional Bangladeshi sweet is little more than deep fried sugar – essentially everything bad for you in one delicious snack. I ordered it from the bemused ... Read more >
Tags: Travel Writing Scholarship 2012
BANGLADESH | Tuesday, 15 Feb 2011 | Views [633]
Leaving Bangladesh is an adventure all of its own.
Outside the airport is chaos. Visitors must bay an entry fee
to the airport if they want to wave off their loved ones, so most stand in
front of the entrances having emotional farewells and blocking ... Read more >
BANGLADESH | Monday, 3 Jan 2011 | Views [409]
Booa is always the first to arrive at the office. She is the cook and cleaner so isn’t deemed important enough to carry a key. She sits and waits in the car port for the other staff to come and let her in. She is always dressed in a ratty orange sari, ... Read more >
BANGLADESH | Sunday, 24 Oct 2010 | Views [580]
Well it’s been three months and I’m still going strong and actually enjoying Bangladesh, despite the heat, traffic and constant illness. If it’s not food poisoning, it’s sunstroke or a resurgence of my long gone asthma thanks to the thick pollution.... Read more >
BANGLADESH | Wednesday, 20 Oct 2010 | Views [448]
When my colleague invited me to her wedding I was over the moon. I was picturing beautiful dances, laughter and joy, but the reality was different. In true Bangladesh style, I did not receive the invite until four days before the wedding. It takes ... Read more >
BANGLADESH | Wednesday, 13 Oct 2010 | Views [377]
It was only as I was trying to leave Dhaka that I realise how much I needed a break from it. It was almost three months into my stay and I thought I’d take the opportunity to have a break and visit my cousin Kate and her husband Paddy in KL for a ... Read more >
BANGLADESH | Tuesday, 21 Sep 2010 | Views [554]
Shortly after we arrived in Dhaka and started work, it was time for the month-long Muslim festival of Ramadan. Ramadan is the strangest celebration I've ever seen in my life. To start with, it's 30 days long, it takes a lot of stamina and perseverence ... Read more >
BANGLADESH | Monday, 16 Aug 2010 | Views [572]
We arrived at Zia International Airport, Dhaka, in the middle of the night. We didn't need to stand in the foreign passport aisle for everyone to realise we weren't from around here. 17 young Aussies clutching bags of duty free alcohol from Singapore ... Read more >
USA | Monday, 21 Jun 2010 | Views [525]
After a couple of days walking aroudn the newly abandoned Olympic stadiums in Whistler and vAncouver, I flew into LA. I got the most expensive taxi ride of my life past billboards advertising lap band surgery on one side of the road and fast food onthe ... Read more >
CANADA | Monday, 21 Jun 2010 | Views [473]
After a month of minus 30 degree weather, searching for jobs and facing the very real possibility I wouldn't have anywhere to sleep on New Years Eve, everything finall fell into place, two days before Christmas. Louisa was offered a job at one of the ... Read more >
CANADA | Monday, 4 Jan 2010 | Views [529]
After a 16 hour bus ride from
Vancouver, we stumbled off the bus in Banff tired, groggy and not
fully comprehending that this snow coated village was about to become
our new home.
We headed down Lynx St on ... Read more >
ITALY | Monday, 23 Nov 2009 | Views [488]
After a few days rest and relaxation in
Cologne, Louiisa and I headed to Berlin to meet up with Andy and
Blake again.
Berlin is an amazing city but it
stinks. The name literally means “Swamp City” because ... Read more >
GERMANY | Tuesday, 6 Oct 2009 | Views [517]
After a whirlwind tour of some of the
major cities in north Western Europe, we headed down to the south of
France for some R and R.
Louisa and I arrived in Bordeaux
feeling exhuasted and not wanting to do ... Read more >
FRANCE | Thursday, 17 Sep 2009 | Views [525]
The speedy part of our trip has begun.
In the past 8 days we have been to 4 countries and are off to a fifth
in a few more.
We arrived in Copenhagen on September 2
and met up with Jo again. We had just one ... Read more >
UNITED KINGDOM | Thursday, 17 Sep 2009 | Views [2624]
The past month has been a whirlwind of
sight seeing, visiting family and friends and eating, lots of eating.
We arrived in London at the start of
August to stay with my cousin Kate and her fiancee Paddy. ... Read more >
CAMBODIA | Tuesday, 23 Jun 2009 | Views [680]
The second month of our trip has been eventful. We've passed 2 borders, had 2 20 plus hour bus rides, seen a lifetimes worth of temples and are ready to hit Thailand.
We spent over a week in the north of Vietnam basing ourselves from Hanoi and heading ... Read more >
VIETNAM | Thursday, 21 May 2009 | Views [550]
Well after a few tough days of lying on the beach, we continued our journey north to Hanoi where we arrived this morning. This stage introduced us to sleeper buses, which are a Vietnamese term for sitting in the most uncomfortable seats you can imagine ... Read more >
VIETNAM | Thursday, 14 May 2009 | Views [573] | Comments [1]
We are now in Dalat – the honeymoon capital of Vietnam. most of the tourists here are loved-up Vietnamese couples who seem to have a strange sense of what they like to see. The region is famous for its waterfalls but most are decked out with fake ... Read more >
VIETNAM | Monday, 11 May 2009 | Views [641]
Well we are a week in and despite what everyone
predicted there have been no major dramas.
We arrived in Saigon tired and overwhelmed
on Monday morning and mistakenly took the first taxi we saw. We thought he said
it would be 50,000 ... Read more >
Tags: louisa in saigon