Edwin Fairbrother
Stories (2/0)
Amazing Journeys: The Mae Hong Son Loop - Thailand
The north of Thailand has a charm like no other part of the country. Most people holidaying here will flock to the islands and beaches of the central and southern regions but I enjoy the north just as much; for its culture, nature and epic scenery. These aspects I appreciated most the last time I visited this region at the very end of last year. I'd heard about a driving route that comes out of Chiang Mai and into the gorgeous surrounding mountains and loops back into Chiang Mai from the north, the full loop being around 600km of tarmac (and sometimes dirt and dust). Once I'd heard about this I simply had to go and do it for myself as I love being on the open road driving through beautiful mountain scenery, and that's exactly what this trip was! The first time I learnt to drive a motorbike, or scooter rather, was in Chiang Mai the previous year so I was slightly familiar with the place. So I convinced a friend of mine from school to come on this trip with me and spend about 5-6 days driving through the beautiful rural mountains of northern Thailand. Even though he hadn't driven a scooter before he decided to come and do it, and because we're both such excellent drivers we both returned in one piece with not even so much as a scratch.
By Edwin Fairbrother4 years ago in Wander
Cambodia's Dark History
This is Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, as captured in the sky bar of a fairly decent hotel. This was my second time in Cambodia, but my first visit to the capital Phnom Penh. This city is a bustling, dirty, smelly metropolis full of rubbish, colonial French buildings (and food), and most visibly DEVELOPMENT. I'm sure the skyline looked very different not so long as 5-10 years ago. This is what I'm told by friends who have visited this country often or live here. It's developing rapidly like many East Asian cities, this rapid development can also be seen in the southern coastal town of Sihanoukville, to some criticism. Wealthy Chinese investors have almost bought out the small city, buying land and then developing huge casinos and hotels catering almost exclusively to Chinese tourists. I was told by a friend this is called $0 tourism (or something along those lines), in which Chinese property owners make profit from much of the establishments in the city, meaning Chinese tourists are coming on holiday and spending their Chinese money in Chinese owned establishments, with a limited amount of tourist money going into the local economy.
By Edwin Fairbrother4 years ago in The Swamp