The south was discovered and I wanted to have a look at the more remote north of Phu Quoc. My favourite travel agent helped me to the usual transport and on late Wednesday morning I was on my way. Surprisingly the road north is in very good condition and stretches seemingly endless through the countryside. […]
Morituri in Bhaktapur
Happy Nepali New Year, everybody! Around here, the first day of the new year is not greeted by littered streets and hungover masses. Instead, people flock to the holy places to bring offerings. I joined my guest family on their visit to the chariot, where they wanted to offer rice, fruits and a chicken. The […]
Cockfight
According to common folklore, baby Jesus was born some 2000 years ago. Considering how Christianity has brought two millennia of terror and suffering onto the world, why not celebrate the anniversary with a little bloodshed. Stage free for cock-fighting in the village down the road. Just as on the Philippines, the cocks have a single […]
A very diverse Day
Friday started with a visit to Cambodia’s recent history. The Tuol Sleng museum in town is a former school that was turned into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. They used it to ‘interrogate’ political opponents and interrogation here as the same meaning as with the catholic inquisition. Those unlucky enough to end up here […]
Bethlehem
Tuesday was supposed to be my lazy day. I had extended my 3-night stay in Ramallah to a 5-day one and wanted to spend my last day with doing nothing besides some writing and drinking coffee. Fellow traveller Nigel got in the way though. He’s working as a journalist and mentioned that he’d join an […]
Shivaratri
“Maha Shivaratri is a Hindu festival of Nepal and India celebrated annually in reverence of the God Shiva” (wikipedia). The guys at the house had gotten pretty excited about it, as it’s the one day were one can smoke excessive amounts of weed in the streets without being considered a lowlife. Yesterday it was that […]