I am happy to announce that I made the headlines at Tom Vater‘s website… check the piece here.
I recently met Tom in Bangkok; he is a travel/guidebook and adventure writer based in Thailand (check out his guides to Cambodia and Angkor Wat out on excellent MOON Publishing), and also former guitarist of Bangkok garage punkers Pussy and the Learjets. In brief, the kind of person I consider a hero. (more…)
Yep, I know I have not been updating this site for too long. I may write an emotional post on how things have gotten boring and sad lately, but I’ll spare it for the good of mankind. I start publishing instead a report of my May 2011 trip to the backwaters of Southern Thailand… I do not know whether or not there will be a follow-up, but some information on Hat Yay may be definitely worth for the world out there. Do not hate me. I have a monstrous writing block, lately, and things may have to stay this way for a while.
I said it before and I’ll say it again: the first time I traveled extensively in Southern Thailand in late 2008 I was badly impressed by the state of commercialization and flock of “Banana Pancake Trail” tourists ala “Tubing in the Vang Vieng” t-shirts. After I did my open water dive certification in backpacker heaven Koh Tao, although having visited less explored areas like Nakhon Pathom and Nakhon Si Thammarat, I decided I had had enough of the major islands of the Thailand Gulf. When I arrived in Penang for the first time, the change of atmosphere won me over for good, and touristy Thailand was quickly forgotten. (more…)
La Travel for Aid ha presentato la relazione dei 300 giorni di viaggio del progetto sportivo-umanitario “Dal Vietnam all’Italia in bicicletta per i diversabili”, che sta portando Matteo Tricarico a percorrere in bicicletta in solitaria la distanza di 30.000 chilometri dal Vietnam all’Italia. La finalità umanitaria dell’iniziativa consta nel sensibilizzare ed informare l’opinione pubblica sulle condizioni dell’infanzia disabile, andando ad incontrare i bambini in istituti per diversabili nei paesi attraversati.
In questi primi dieci mesi di viaggio sono stati percorsi oltre 10.000 chilometri, da Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam, proseguendo per la capitale cambogiana, Phnom Penh (ottobre 2009) e poi per quella thailandese, Bangkok (ottobre 2009). Di seguito, l’itinerario si è snodato nuovamente attraverso la Cambogia (novembre 2009) e a nord sino alla capitale del Laos, Vientiane (dicembre 2009) ed è continuato per il nord della Thailandia (gennaio 2010). Sono seguiti il Myanmar (febbraio 2010) e tre mesi in India (febbraio-aprile 2010) per raggiungere l’estremo sud del Subcontinente e ritornare a Calcutta, prima di entrare in Bangladesh dalla frontiera est. Due mesi (maggio-giugno 2010) in Bangladesh e indi il viaggio è proseguito verso nord al confine sud-est del Nepal e successivamente per la sua capitale Kathmandu, per un soggiorno di altri due mesi (luglio-agosto 2010). (more…)
A few hundreds of kilometers north of here, in Yala province, Thailand, we got the final proof that Thais totally smoked their brains out: a macaque or better a monkey has been recruited as a cop. A COP.
This story came to my attention by way of my best friend Carlo just around time of the results of the latest Italian political elections. I can see the monkey cop episode epitomizes perfectly what is happening back home. For as much as I dislike calling it this way, but home still is… but let’s go back to the monkey cop. (more…)
It’s good sometimes to discover that somewhere people are still doing good horror movies. And it’s not America!! This time is Thailand.
In a time when the Star Striped movie industry is dying on its last legs and “borrowing” (to say the least offensive) here and there, especially from the Asian markets, it’s quite inspiring to find that the source of if not original, at least brilliant thrills, is now centered in the East. (more…)
Bangkok’s airport looks like a cyberspace glass inferno, and I am typing with a Malaysian woman using my lap as a pillow, while I try to use a laptop to be awake, and not sleep.
It’s 1 am and as always happens when I have to spend a night in any airport in the world, I wish I was somewhere else.
I wish we were in Yangon already, trying to wrap our heads around the enigma that so far Myanmar has been to me, seriously wishing I won’t have to come back home for the umpteenth time with a sour smile on my face, for whatever reasons.
I decided not to expect too much, but being here at night sleepless and unable to do that even if I wanted just because I decided to be the best man I can for this girl, it’s hard not to at least WISH it will be great. (more…)
MM- You spent several years in SE Asia, can you briefly tell me, according to your perspective and experience, the best and the worst side every of the ones you lived in and visited has to offer.
The places that are the biggest adventures are those that have the least modern conveniences and comforts. So this is always the conundrum. Do you want to live like a human being or do you want the big adventure? You often can’t have both. Taiwan and Korea are extremely developed, so less adventure. Cambodia and Vietnam are still raw, so it’s exciting, but you have to deal with bad internet service, higher crime rates, dirty food…a lot of potentially uncomfortable situations and conditions. In Cambodia in particular, you want a local experience but local things are often so undeveloped or ill-equipped that you wind up going to foreigner things which cost as much as they do back home but with half the quality. People think living in a poor country is cheap. It’s not necessarily. For one thing, most products are imported, so they cost more than they do back home.
Thailand is by far the best place to train. There are 90,000 professional boxers in Thailand and probably 1,000 gyms with professional training and international fighting experience. The cost of living is also very low in Thailand. BUT bring your own money. There is nearly no way to earn money in Thailand. as a fighter you will some times get as little as $90 for a fight. As a teacher, most jobs only pay about $700 USD a month. (more…)
