Tales from Southeast Asia
Working on a turtle conservation project on the island of Nusa Penida was the last leg of my trip and definitely the one I was most looking forward to. Who could resist a couple of weeks in paradise with fascinating sea turtles? As I approached the island by boat from the Bali mainland it looked idyllic, with lush vegetation and attractive wooden buildings. However as soon as I disembarked, I was dismayed to find myself in a rubbish filled shanty town drowning under a sea of plastic bottles. Thousands of tourists flock here every year to take photos at the famous Instagram beauty spots, but what you don’t see in these stunning photo shoots is just what the island looks like off camera. Me and my fellow new volunteers rattled along the unmade roads in an old truck, and, as I had requested a private room, I was dropped off…
Prior to going to my final project at a turtle conservation centre off the coast of Bali, I booked onto a guided tour of…
As a serial traveller I am usually keen to move on after a few weeks in one country, as there are always new places…
This week, to pass a quiet afternoon, I went to the APOPO Landmine Rat centre, on the outskirts of the city, and I learnt…
I am now in Cambodia. To be honest this is a country I was unsure about, probably because I associated it with its terrible…
The problem with moving between voluntary projects is that you only see a very small area of a country before moving on. I felt…
Thailand is known as ‘The Land of Smiles’ and I think it’s a pretty apt description. Thais are friendly people, and in every shop…
The biggest problem with going abroad to do voluntary work in a sunny climate, is that your family back home are convinced that you…
Well here I am in Hua Hin in Southern Thailand and 6668 miles away from rainy Surrey. My journey here was long, 23 hours…
When I started writing my travel blog 5 years ago I proudly called it ‘How Not to Have a Midlife Crisis’. To be honest…