Over the past few years, I’ve had the opportunity to partake in some incredible trips, resulting in countless memories – the good, the bad, and the mundane. Here’s a brief list of my top 10 experiences on the road, of which posts will be written in further detail.
- A motorbike tour in Central Vietnam that included being kidnapped by teachers for lunch and a birthday celebration with the drivers’ family for one of his daughters.
- Trekking in the Ecuadorian Amazon and partaking in a homestay with an indigenous family in Napo.
- Biking into the mountains in Nan, Thailand to meet hill tribes and witness their way of life.
- Witnessing the starry night light up the desert in Wadi Rum, Jordan after partying with a group of Jordanian Christians – spontaneous invitation and the host’s sister had lived in the same city I went to University in.
- Partaking in an 8-course feast of snake in the aptly-named Snake Village near Hanoi, Vietnam. Cheers’d a table of locals with bile (part of the meal) and in return, they bought beers as we all exchanged toasts in our native tongues and took too many photos to count. Note – always know the local variation of “cheers”.
- Watching Real Madrid play FC Barcelona live at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in the 2013 Copa Clásico in Madrid, Spain.
- Sharing beers with a formal FARC rebel after shooting a blowdart gun poorly in the Ecuadorian Amazon.
- Riding in a Trabant as part of a Crazy Guides Communism Tour in Kraków, Poland and being transported back to the days when the Iron Curtain imposed its will on Europe.
- Being nearly ran off an impasse in the Rif Mountains near Chefchaouen, Morocco due to coming close to entering a suspected opium plot and being run over by a herd of goats.
- Having to utilize google translate in Khmer to process an order and check on the status of my meal in a karaoke hall/biergarten in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I ended up with spare ribs and a fly & ant curry.
Dispatches by Alec 