The Meditating Monk: Overcoming Fear on the Cliffside Walkways of Phu Tok In the far northeastern province of Bueng Kan, Thailand, a sandstone outcrop juts out from the flat Isaan plains like a monolith dropped from the sky. Known as Phu Tok (which translates to “Isolated Mountain” in the local dialect), this rugged mass of … Read more
Bangkok’s Ghost Tower: Where the Skyline May Have Crossed the Spirits Bangkok has no shortage of dramatic buildings, but Sathorn Unique Tower may be the only one that seems to have offended both bankers and ghosts at the same time. Better known as the Ghost Tower, this 49-storey unfinished skyscraper sits in the city like … Read more
The Inmates of Tarutao: How a Penal Colony Became Pirates Paradise Over a Graveyard If you board a speedboat from Pak Bara Pier today, Koh Tarutao appears as an untouched tropical paradise. Emerald rainforest tumbles down steep hillsides to meet powdery white sand, and the Andaman Sea washes over ancient coral reefs in shades of … Read more
Hellfire Haunting of Konyu Cutting If you walk down into Konyu Cutting today, the first thing you notice is not what you can hear, but what you can’t. The jungle is there. You can see it pressing in on both sides. But inside the cutting, the sound seems to fall away. The wind doesn’t reach … Read more
The Rocker in the Execution Room: The Dual Life of Thailand’s Last Executioner To look at photos of Bangkok in the late 1960s is to glimpse a city caught in a whirlwind of cultural transformation. As American soldiers flooded Thailand for Rest and Relaxation (R&R) during the Vietnam War, a vibrant, neon-lit rock-and-roll scene exploded … Read more
Why I Avoid One Thai Road When we planned our road trip to the coast of Prachuapkirikhan last year, it should have been simple. Travelling from anywhere near Bangkok there’s an obvious route that online maps will tell you to follow, and it looks perfectly reasonable and logical on the screen of a smartphone. Instead, … Read more
How We Survived Thailand’s Big 2011 Flood Yesterday there was a six-lane highway outside our front gate. This morning it had disappeared beneath a fast-moving brown river. Within minutes, water was exploding under the compound wall and racing towards our house. We had just enough time to climb upstairs and watch our world disappear. Some … Read more
The Mekong River: Where Myths, Monsters and Mystery Still Flow During my years of exploring this intriguing country, some of Thailand’s greatest mysteries have taken me to remote temples, forgotten villages and hidden mountain forests. But every traveller has one journey that remains unfinished. Mine leads back to the Mekong and what many consider its … Read more
A Dog, Mickey Mouse and 3000 Holes A Geological Mystery and… Mickey Mouse? On one of my earlier trips to the far northeastern edge of Thailand, where the country kisses the border of Laos along the mighty Mekong River, I found a remote place where the earth suddenly gives way to an almost alien landscape. … Read more
Are These Sea Gypsies Really Dolphins? No doubt some of you have visited the so-called Sea Gypsy islands in Surin National Marine Park in southern Thailand, or at least you may have heard of it. But there are some things utterly unique about these former seafaring nomads which is like something out of a sci-fi … Read more