Archives: Guide

As we looked down upon the map the red lines that crisscrossed the route we were to take looked ominous on the page. It was with trepidation that we checked to see their description as ‘dangerous’ in the key.

We were on the air-conditioned minibus traversing from Vietnam’s Hoi An passing through smaller city Qui Nhon on the way to Nha Trang. We kept to the bigger cities and the cleaner rest stops.

Finally, my family and I were going to be expats in Asia. An adventure I had dreamed about all those years, holed up at work in my shoebox of an office trying to save the world. I had spent our last year at home gathering...

Something wasn't quite right. It took me a couple of minutes of sleepy fumbling to realise I had not imagined the extreme discomfort I was currently experiencing in my boxers. Kicking off the heavy bed covers I reached...

It was my first close encounter with wildlife. And the last, I was telling myself. I had been to jungle treks and mountain climbing which were understandably strenuous but never dangerous.

If you mention Via Plebiscito to a Catanese, they look askance. "You shouldn't go there. It's dangerous." For the three months since I arrived I've avoided it. However, tonight my sense of direction has failed me and...

Sometimes I feel warm and safe. The atmosphere envelops me and mysteries and dangers seem only theoretical. Nothing is psychically haunting. But I cannot maintain this state, and I come upon a cold exposure.

I could sense the impending danger ahead. Dread rushed through my body, creeping right to my fingertips. Who knew what deadly creatures lurked beside us? Or how long we would be trapped here?

The tiny traffic light stood before me. The airport was busy; there wasn't time for me to take anything in. I shuffled my feet forward, one anxious step after another. We'd been on Mexican soil for less than thirty minutes...

There are obstacles, and then there are elephantine obstacles. In the summer of 2010, I was driving from Mysore to Calicut in South India - through the Bandipur wildlife sanctuary.