The Banyaks are an archipelago of tiny, barely inhabited, palm fringed islands, surrounded by coral and abundant marine life off the southern coast of Sumatra. It’s textbook paradise and so remote you feel like you’re really at the ends of … Continue reading Banyak Islands, our Robinson Crusoe experience
The next unfathomably huge and mysterious country on our list to be tackled was Indonesia – a place whose vast expanse and insurmountable geography boggles the mind as you stare at it on an atlas. Places like Sumatra, Papua and … Continue reading Bukit Lawang – Close encounters of the orange kind
So far, every place we have visited has its unique raison d’etre. Nepal has its humbling landscapes. India is imbibed with history and deep religious culture. Vietnam is a mecca for your taste buds. It’s pretty safe to say the … Continue reading Philippines vs Yogurt – our search for a unique culture
Read any guide book on the Philippines and you’ll be sold the fairy-tale paradise that is Boracay. You’ll read about its miles of dreamy white sandy beaches and picture postcard sunsets. You’ll be told it retains a laid back island … Continue reading BORE-acay
What defines a tropical island ‘paradise’? Most people’s check list would include a white sandy beach, amazing ocean life, incredible sunsets and beer on tap. Thumbing through the Lonely Planet in search of somewhere to go between Coron and Cebu, … Continue reading Paradise is an island called Pandan
Coron Bay, Philippines: sheer rock cliffs tower above pristine blue lagoons, beneath the waves, mysterious Japanese shipwrecks await underwater exploration. This stunning setting is the main lure of Busuanga Island, North of Palawan in the Bacuit Archipelago. The seven hour … Continue reading Coron – underwater adventureland
On the way to the Philippines, we must have slipped through a disturbance in the time-space continuum. Yes, we stepped onto a short haul flight in Hong Kong, but somehow we lost several hours and landed in a place where … Continue reading Palawan – paradise lost, then found again
Hue may be famous as the old capital of Vietnam, but the surrounding countryside offers a huge variety of far more interesting, unusual and memorable sites, especially the mysterious abandoned water park and the gruesome tiger arena. Taking Royalties The … Continue reading Hue – enter the dragon
Phong Nha is a ‘must see’ on the traveller trail due to its enormous caves and spectacular rock formations. Until its designation as a national park in 2003, it was little more than a sleepy little mountain town about fifty … Continue reading Going Underground in Phong Nha
We knew Inle Lake was a special place as we saw the sun rise over its misty waters from the window of our bus. As with all the best destinations in Myanmar, they’re enjoyed through a robust caffeine haze after … Continue reading Inle Lake: Waterworld on the cheap
Mawlamyine is a small city only a few hours south of Myanmar on the extremely comfortable Burmese bus network. Historically it’s interesting as the old colonial capital and home to the prison in which George Orwell once worked as a … Continue reading Attack of the 600 foot Buddha – Mawlamyine
Touching down in Myanmar, we expected North Korea lite; an isolated, impoverished county ruled by a military junta imprisoning anyone challenging its authority. Indeed, when we both last travelled in South-East Asia in the mid-noughties, Burma was generally off limits to … Continue reading Yangon a minute – where are we?
Ant and Will's World Tour 