Tweet There has been a recent spate of travel writing about North Korea, once of the most secretive and brutally repressive countries in the world. I’ve found some of the stuff I have read unusually naive and glossy, but just ran across some welcomed developments casting always needed light, starting with the best piece of [...]
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The Highs and Lows of Indian Roads
Tweet “You best watch out for that car, missy. My friend broke her toes on this street yesterday!” The woman’s voice was high pitched and nasal; an American tourist I would’ve spotted a mile off, despite the fresh-from-a-stall hippy pants and the Buddhist prayer beads hanging from her neck. The throng of static cars in [...]
Siem Reap, the Tourist Town that I Love
Tweet One of the unexpected things I have learned in my recent years of travel is how much I love tourist towns. A city like Venice, which exists purely for tourism these days — love it. The little beach town of Sihanoukville, Cambodia, which is basically 90% there for tourism — feels comfortable. Cuzco, Peru [...]
Brief Stop in Bejing on #UTC11: Great Wall
Tweet This time through China, I was in an even bigger rush than I was during my RTW trip back in 2009-10. Then, I managed to stay in Beijing, a city I surprisingly like, for almost a full week. This time, since we were in a bit of a rush to get to Saigon [...]
Little Oddities in China on #UTC11
Tweet One of the things that I love about China is the slightly off English that you see in signs and hear from people. “Clinglish” or “Changlish” or whatever one calls it (similar to Spanglish, which was supposedly an actually good Adam Sandler movie, though I’ll never know), China was one of the last [...]
Angkor Wat: A Photographic Taster
Tweet I have been spending a bit of time in Siem Reap, Cambodia, working on some new photography skills with an excellent photographer and friend, Holger of Vel el Mundo (I see the world). I am learning a ton from him. Get ready for time lapse movies coming soon from Angkor Wat, and then many [...]
Trans-Manchurian Video for the Ultimate Train Challenge
Tweet I wanted to post this first on the Ultimate Train Challenge website, so I did — on this video post of the Trans-Manchurian — but I figured I would put it up over here also. It is my first video effort. More of the story on the link through… and a link there to [...]
Trans-Manchurian Thoughts
Tweet Six days and about 150 or so hours on trains tends to give you enough time to get bored to do some good thinking about the meaning of life. Or enough time to delve into your spare hard drive’s video collection and become a vegetable. I did a little more of the latter than [...]
I took off in December of 2008 to circle the planet with no reservations and without leaving the ground. Sixteen months later, I succeed. My permanent travels have just continued from there. Feel free to email me at: michaelshodson@yahoo.com
Michael Hodson
