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About Us

Asia & South East Asia

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Country editors: Asia and South East Asia

Jon Brown - Singapore Editor
Hi, I’m Jon, I’m 19 and currently in my first year of law at the University of Central Lancashire. In between studies I love to snowboard, play guitar, write, have fun with friends, and generally day-dream about far-off places.

I'm pretty outgoing and determined; and I know for a fact that I’m slightly mad! After having an amazing gap year pre uni (travelling and doing various other things) it’s all hard work, debt and beery-times for the next few years before I swan off around the world again.

Countries visited

Australia, Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Singapore.

Unusual experiences

1. Ate fish-ball noodle soup and liked it.
2. Caught and sheered sheep whilst working on an Aussie farm.
3. Placed hand in a giant clam’s mouth and waited for the result.
4. Held a baby-croc and a snake...at the same time.
5. Been chased by an angry tram inspector and then had an argument with him... and the Hungarian police!

Top five tips

1. Courtesy of Tom’s: ‘Before you go’ and my top tip - make a list of all your important details; e.g. flight information, bank details, hostel details, insurance details, and any other things you think are important and give your parents and most trusted friend a copy. If you forget anything (I kept forgetting my internet banking number) or you need the info in an emergency, you simply phone them up and hey presto!
2. Put the bulk of your money and cards etc. in a money belt and keep a small amount of cash in your wallet. This will stop you from having to be extra cautious every time you reach for your wallet which is bursting at the seams with local currency (or the remains of your overdraft!). If the worst happens, you can always hand over the wallet and not have to worry too much.
3. Separate your clothes by putting all your t-shirts, trousers etc. in separate plastic bags inside your backpack. Instead of rummaging through the depths of your rucksack at 2am and never being able to get it all back in, you’ll find those beloved y-fronts you’re after with ease!
4. Book your first night’s accommodation in advance - by the time you get to your destination you’ll be tired and hungry; the last thing you’ll want to do is trek around with your heavy bag looking for a room.
5. Get your self a decent camera - I took my dodgy old camera to Oz thinking that it would be less tempting to thieves. I was right...but it broke half way up the coast and I was forced to buy lots of expensive, rubbish disposables - darn’it!

Cara Grayling - Indonesia Editor
I enjoy good food, meeting people, music, and socializing. I am also into conservation, wildlife and environmental issues. I don't dislike many things, other than rude people and globalization (I want to go travelling to experience different things, not another McDonald’s thanks).

My motivation is to keep experiencing new things; my nightmare is to have the same office job for 40 years! My motto is ‘life is what happens when you have other plans'. Nothing ever happens how you planned it, that's the good thing about life. I find myself learning from the unexpected things..

Countries visited

Australia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand.

Unusual experiences

1. I’ve been jungle trekking.
2. I’ve climbed a live volcano!

Top five tips

1. Pack as light as you can, you will acquire stuff on your travels.
2. Do what you enjoy, not what other people tell you or think you should do. If you don’t like a place, leave. Life is too short.
3. Trust your instincts always (and don’t get totally drunk/off your face, as then they don’t work!).
4. Don’t follow your guidebook too religiously, it’s not the Bible.
5. Spend the extra money if it means doing something amazing. Worry about paying your debts off later!

Emma Gould - Laos Editor
After graduating from university I realised that the thought of getting up early and working every day scared the life out of me! Travelling is the perfect solution!

I love visiting new places, experiencing different cultures and meeting new people. I thought my year in Oz would give me time to think about my future career but instead it just proved to make my feet well and truly itchy! I now live to travel and in-between do temping work in Ipswich to raise the funds.

Countries visited

Australia, Cambodia, Fiji, Kuwait, Laos, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam.

Unusual experiences

1. Sitting in the middle of an inner tube and floating down a river in Laos, stopping at bars in the middle of the river on the way.
2. Harold Bishop saying he'd like to introduce me to his mouth organ!
3. Rolling up my trousers and walking up a river for half an hour to see a waterfall.
4. Bartering with Customs Officers on the Thai/Cambodian border over the price of a visa.

Top five tips

1. Don't plan too much: talk to other travellers about places to visit and just go with the flow.
2. Try and learn a few words in the native tongue, its amazing how much friendlier people become after you say hello in their language.
3. If a deal sound’s too good to be true then it is!
4. Whilst in Asia always take toilet roll everywhere with you.
5. Take a tuk-tuk once for the experience then don't bother, they're just too much hassle and taxis are the same price anyway.

Adrian Slack - Malaysia Editor
I'm a pretty lazy person. When I'm travelling I don't feel the need to see all the sights. I just like having a laugh and enjoying myself wherever I am. Admittedly that's easier done on a beach in Thailand than in an office in London, but hey that's life! I like all the usual stuff - sports, music, beer etc so I guess I'm just a pretty normal guy!

Countries visited

Australia, Fiji, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, Thailand, USA.

Unusual experiences

1. Got Food poisoning in Bangkok? - Not unusual
2. Jumped out of a plane in Australia? - Not unusual
3. Met some mentalist in LA? - Not unusual
Guess I can't think of any.....

Top five tips

1. Take lots of Cash - You'll need it and finding a job isn't always easy!
2. Don't rely too heavily on guide books. Word of mouth can often be better - If a place is naff people will tell you.
3. If you're put in a group of people try to get to know them as soon as you can. It's a pain when you make a really good mate just before they head off somewhere else.
4. Try new things. You'll regret not experiencing the food and stuff once you're back home.
5. Be very careful with drugs etc. Nobody wants to end up in a third world hospital or prison!

Indu Shakya - Nepal Editor
I would prefer myself to be called an avid follower of humanity. I always wanted to live a meaningful life and do something useful. My aim is to help all the less fortunate people in the world by bringing them technology and interaction with good people around the world. I think people respect me the same way I do them. I'm a spontaneous person and willing to adapt to new circumstances. I'm researching wireless networks and I hope to find a solution that provides flexibility to wireless terminals so they can connect to virtually any network and access information from any corner of the world: I'm seeking harmony between science and human philosophy.

Countries visited

Armenia, Belgium, Holland, Nepal, Russia, UK.

Unusual experiences

1. I remember it was early 1992 when I was 17 and I was a fresh student at Armenian State Engineering University. I had never had alcohol before. We had Nepalese New Year party and I drank for first time. I drank so much that I finished nearly 6 bottles of cognac. I did not remember any events that night and next day I found myself sleeping on rubbish wrapped all around me.
2. In 1994 I decided to leave Armenia because the country was in critical condition due to war with Azerbaijan. I with my three friends, made it all the way from Yerevan to Moscow on the train spending a whole week. We passed through Georgia, Azerbaijan, Chechnya, Ukraine, and Byelorussia. It was amazing to find us alive despite all the wars and violence going on that time in many parts of countries of the former Soviet Union.

Top five tips

1. Don’t trust young people while you are in new place. They are more likely to take benefit of your little knowledge of area. Instead always ask old people and don’t hesitate to talk to more than one person if you have sufficient time.
2. Don’t buy or sell anything with street vendors. They are the people who can waste your time or cause you in unnecessary inconveniences.
3. Always keep some staple food and water while travelling on buses and trains.
4. If possible do not sleep unless you have found a proper place to take good rest. It’s likely that you may either miss important events or find yourself in awkward situation when you are awake.
5. Ask people before taking pictures or joining some particular events you are not aware of.

Emma Gittens - Vietnam Editor
Emma is supposed to be travelling around Asia but got fed up of carting around a backpack that weighed more than she does so now lives in Hoi An, Vietnam. She doesn't have a motto but was recently advised "Don't sweat the petty things and don't pet the sweaty things" and wishes she'd been told this before getting involved with more than one of the latter. She loves ca phe sua da (Vietnamese drip coffee served with ice and turn-your-teeth-inside-out-sweet condensed milk) and hates the people you wind up sharing a dorm with who declare you're not a proper traveller unless you've eaten sweet and sour dogs' legs and circumnavigated the moon on the back of a donkey with no eyes.

Countries visited

Czech Republic, France, Scotland, Spain, Sweden, USA, Venezuela, Vietnam, Yugoslavia.

Unusual experiences

1. Featured in the Guinness Book of Records as a participant in the world's longest Strip-the-Willow, Edinburgh Hogmanay 2003.

Top five tips

1. Digital cameras rock! No more getting your photos back and realising when you took the once-in-a-lifetime shot of that hot chick in the string bikini on Ko Thong Song you had your finger over the lens. Though the memory cards are pricey you only need one as when it's full you simply find the nearest photo kiosk and have the images downloaded onto a CD. You can then put the pictures onto an Internet photo site such as www.ofoto.com so that your friends back home can view them and die of jealousy.
2. There's no need to take all your best CDs away with you, certainly in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City. There are CD shops all over the place selling everything from the Pixies' back catalogue to the latest Kylie album for about 40p each.
3. Internet connection abroad can be excruciatingly slow. When checking emails click once on each message and select 'open in new window' to save time and your own sanity. Also whilst composing your Pulitzer Prize-winning latest group email, regularly use the 'save as a draft' option, more than once have I been at the 'lots of love from...' stage only to have my PC crash on me (bearing in mind I live in a country where swearing at the monitor and collapsing in a flood of tears under the hard drive equals 'losing face', the very height of bad manners).
4. Don't let your itinerary be too influenced by your fellow travellers; everyone has a different opinion on where to go/avoid but it's all down to personal opinion and individual experience - would you walk into Virgin Megastore and ask all your fellow shoppers what the best CD in the rock/pop section was? For every person who thought Hue was the dullest place on the face of the Earth (i.e. me, who incidentally would point you in the direction of the White Stripes) there's someone who loved the place (though would you want to wind up at the sales counter with a Genesis box set?).
5. Never buy a bicycle from a man with a pencil moustache named Vinh in Hoi An.

Adam Lunn - Thailand Editor
Summing myself up.... I'd say I am easy to get on with, love meeting people and love getting wasted as much as everyone else! My dislikes include snakes, political correctness, George W Bush and the general public. I reckon that everybody should go travelling at least once in their lives.... it opens your mind up loads. Go for it!

Countries visited

Australia, Belgium, Fiji, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Singapore, Spain, Thailand, USA.

Unusual experiences

1. Eaten worms and kangaroo meat.
2. Been up the tallest buildings in the World! (Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur).
3. Sang 'My Heart will go on' on karaoke for some delighted Japanese businessmen in Kyoto, Japan!
4. Somehow wangled invitations to a party at the swanky Raffles hotel in Singapore, where we drank free booze all night and met some interesting people!

Top five tips

1. Look after your passport!
2. Don't be afraid to ask people if you are lost somewhere.
3. Try to meet people all the time - it’s what travelling is all about!
4. Do as much or as little as you want... it’s your gap year.
5. Gather info about countries from the internet, it’s a goldmine.

Amy Lambert - Prospective Cambodia Editor
I'm Amy, I'm 22 and have just graduated from Bournemouth Uni. Having decided I can't quite face the prospect of getting a 'proper job' just yet, I've finally taken the plunge and paid my deposit to go travelling in April (hooray!). I work in PR at the moment but spend most of my days dreaming about travelling and things such as Cambodia/Full Moon Parties/Orang-utans/Purple Camper Vans and the like.
I love travelling, shoes, my bed and just hanging out with my friends. I hate people who are rude or who only ever follow the crowd and can’t be original, and I suffer from incredibly bad road rage.

Countries visited

Australia, Bahamas, Cambodia, Greece, Italy, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,Portugal, Spain, Thailand, Vietnam and USA

Unusual experiences

1. Feeding a stingray, they're like big flat hoovers
2. Being used as an impromptu perch by about 6 parrots in a park in Perth
3. Drinking Portuguese 'fire water' (so strong I'm sure it shouldn't be legal)
4. Going down a near vertical slope in a Jeep

Top five tips

1. A funky headscarf will be invaluable for when having a bad hair day (which for me is quite often!)
2. No matter how much you love stilettos, don't take them! They’ll take up too much room, you'll probably never wear them, and if you do they'll kill your feet and you'll ruin them in the dust or mud or sand or sea...
3. Take a diary or journal with you so you can always look back on what a fantastic trip you had.
4. Remember to ring home regularly, parents and friends worry if you don’t.
5. Take copies of your favourite CDs, not the original ones, especially if they're old or rare. I lost mine in America and I still haven’t been able to replace them all...