Exploring Sydney Beyond the Opera House

See wild Kangaroos up close. Drink a beer with the locals in one of the fantastic ‘secret bars’. These are activities don’t appear in the Sydney guide books.

Backpacking in Varanasi, India: what you can expect.

In Varanasi, among the 2000 or so temples, is a charity-run hostel – Mukti Bhavan (‘Salvation House’) – where the guests come to die. The room tariff includes the wood for the funeral pyre.
To be clear, this isn’t a centre for suicide. Not an Indian version of Dignitas, the Swiss one-stop-shop for euthanasia. The very old and very sick come here, when death is imminent.

Backpacking in Varanasi, India

In Varanasi, among the 2000 or so temples, is a charity-run hostel called ‘Salvation House’. The guests come to here die.

Backpacking in India: unexpected dangers.

Danger comes from unexpected places in India. Perilous roads, the ever-present risk of shitting oneself.  We had a long list of potential hazards.  But little brown Geckos were not included.

Unexpected Dangers in India

In India the perilous roads, the ever-present risk of shitting oneself were both expected. We quickly learned that there are unexpected dangers too.

Backpacking in India: arriving in Delhi

Carried by a motorcade of tuk-tuks through the dark, dusty streets of Delhi looking for a hotel room. It was like we were caught up in a surreal Nativity Story interpretation. THIS was the adventure we wanted… wasn’t it?

Arriving in Delhi as naive backpcker

We were carried by a motorcade of tuk-tuks through the dark, dusty streets of nighttime Delhi on a frightening, fruitless search for a hotel room.

Visiting Syria: Damascus, Aleppo, Palmyra

As I turned the corner I came nose-to-nose with a decapitated camel.

My Syria Experience: Damascus, Aleppo, Palmyra

I turned the corner to come nose-to-nose with a decapitated camel, hanging grimly outside a butcher’s shop. A hook through the underside of its jaw.