I am a British writer. Over the
last 15 years I have been commissioned and published (with an emphasis on travel) by major magazines and newspapers in Europe, the USA and Asia. With datelines from all over the globe, the work
has ranged from the robust, 'gonzo' genre of the British 'Lads
Mags', such as Loaded and Maxim to the more sedate
requirements of The Guardian travel section and Marie
Claire. I have also worked on guidebooks and political
commentaries as both a writer and an editor. For a time I was also editor-in-chief of the now defunct Absolute Phuket magazine. In 2009 I researched and wrote the new Frommer's Guide to Cambodia and Laos, published in February 2010.
Previously based in London and Paris, I have been based in Bangkok since 2002. In my spare time I ride small motorcycles over long distances, to obscure places.
All words are strictly copyrighted and
may not be reproduced without permission of the author or his
agent.
Route 13 from Vang Vieng to Luang Prabang in Laos is one of the most spectacular journeys in Asia - especially when the journey is made on a motorcycle.
A travel piece about the small West African
country of Benin for the travel section of The Guardian newspaper.
Lodged between Togo and Nigeria, Benin has had a troubled history.
Now it is blossoming as a tourist destination.
A travel piece about Cambodia for the travel
section of The Guardian newspaper. Cambodia has
undergone immense change over the last ten years as it recovers
from years of bloodshed. A journey through this troubled country
reveals truths about the past and some hope for the future.
The Hindu holy men, or Sadhus, of India often
follow paths that could be considered eccentric at best and downright
painful at worst. The reasons they follow these paths are often
due to religious traditions that go back centuries and, yet,
the ideas that drive them are as fresh and relevant today as
they were at the time of Alexander the Great. Bizarre magazine talks to them in order to discover the motivation that
drives ordinary men to extraordinary feats of self-mortification.
At the end of the last century Indonesia was
in turmoil. Neighboring, newly independent, East Timor was under
attack from vicious Indonesian sponsored militias. Indonesia
itself was undergoing the last, collective upheaval following
the reign of the dictator, General Suharto. Maxim magazine
took a look at an archipelago in turmoil.
A travel piece about Indo-China for the travel
section of The Guardian newspaper. Until recently it was
impossible to follow the Mekong river by boat from the Cambodian
capital of Phnom Penh to Saigon in Vietnam. Now, after thirty
years of warfare and its effects, it is possible to navigate
the river once again. The Guardian newspaper travels from
one capital to another on riverboats through the former battlefields
of Cambodia and the Mekong Delta in Vietnam.
The northern hill tribes of Thailand are under
threat from a growing lawlessness fuelled by the drug trade.
Their salvation has come from within the heart of their own culture
and its crusaders are Buddhist child-monks riding divine horses
and kick-boxing their way out of trouble.
In 2001 a small town on the banks of the Ganges
in northern India was host to the largest gathering in human
history. The Maha Kumbh Mela takes place in Allahabad once every
12 years. Maxim magazine gets lost in the crowd.
Seeing the Best of Thailand on Two Wheels - Tourist Authority of Thailand
When it comes to motorcycling, Thailand has it all. Dan White experiences the glories of this most beautiful of countries by motorcycle.
A travel piece about Bangladesh for the travel
section of The Guardian newspaper. Bangladesh is better
known for floods and cyclones than tourism. The Guardian takes a look at some of the cultural riches on offer to those
who make the effort.
In the small West African country of Benin
Voodoo is the recognised, national religion. Bizarre magazine
follows a rocky trail to the heart of all voodoo.
If it ever feels like there is a fly in the ointment, it usually turns out that it isn't a fly at all.
The story of a 12,000km motorcycle trip covering every corner of Thailand in order to make the photographs for the coffee table book 'Buddhist Temples of Thailand' published by Marshall Cavendish.
Pilgrim's Progress - The Guardian
A travel piece about Galicia in northern Spain
for the travel section of The Guardian newspaper. The
windswept, Celtic north-west of Spain is very different from
the rest of the country. Although deeply Catholic the region
has retained many vestiges of its Celtic past. The Guardian attends one of its strangest annual festivals.
Phnomenal - Bizarre Magazine
Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, was once
one of Asia's most serene cities. Even after years of war and
political strife it retains a languid, tropical charm. It is
also an increasingly popular tourist destination. Bizarre magazine passes 24 action-packed hours sampling what the city
has to offer.
Northern thailand is one of the most spectacular areas of the world to ride a motorcycle. Travelhappy takes a spin on one of the best roads there is.
Poms
Away - Planet Syndication
Once a year Daytona Beach in Florida hosts
the All America Cheerleading Championships. For those not initiated,
it is a piece of untrammelled Americana that takes some working
out.
An interview with Thailand's most famous cowboy
for a Bangkok based literary magazine.
'Khatoey', or transvestite, cabaret is part of the mainstream of tourist entertainment in Thailand, thrilling the audience with music, dance and mime. Absolute Phuket takes a look behind the scenes.
Nong Toom may be a cross dressing transvestite,
but he is also one of Thailand's most successful kick-boxers - or at least he was until he surgically crossed the gender divide.
Loei province in the north-east of Thailand
is home to an increasingly successful wine industry. The high,
sunny plateau looks and feels like the south of France. A drive
through the vineyards reveals a remarkable story of entrepreneurial
imagination.
The rodeo may often be portrayed as a bastion
of wild-west machismo, but it is also a sport that attracts enthusiasts
from every corner of American society. Loaded magazine
takes a trip to Kansas City, in the heart of the mid-west, to
see the quirky side of America.
A day at the races in Saigon, Vietnam is a
day spent in a previous era. The races take place every weekend
in a crumbling French colonial stadium and the protagonists are
children riding miniature ponies in an atmosphere of frenetic
excitement.
Gator Aid - The
Correspondent
In Florida alligators are everywhere. They
get on golf courses, in ponds and near stables. They terrorise
the pensioners and chase the dogs. If a rogue alligator is sited
it is time to call in Lee and Ricky Kramer. They are the licensed
'alligator men' and they spend their days doing what others only
do in their nightmares - wrestling murderous reptiles.
Hurtling bovines get grumpy and win cash prizes at the intensely competitive annual Chonburi Buffalo Races. Absolute Phuket samples an exhilarating piece of rural Thailand before stepping out of the way of the stampede.
According to Cambodians Thai kick-boxing originated
in Cambodia and was stolen by the Thais when the empire of Ayutthaya
sacked the empire of Angkor. Now the Khmer are fighting to claim
back their sporting heritage. Loaded magazine gets a little
too close to the boxing-ring.
In 2003 nearly 3000 people died in a 'war
on drugs' in Thailand. No arrests were made. No trials were conducted.
The victims were killed by death squads. The streets of downtown
Saigon in Vietnam are becoming shooting galleries for hollow-eyed
heroin addicts. Cambodia, already fragile, is buckling under
the weight of a new wave of amphetamine addiction. Along the
banks of the Mekong drugs are wreaking havoc and it is along
the river itself that they are transported. Maxim magazine
takes a trip up the river from Cambodia to Burma, right to the
heart of the problem.
Once a year the tourist town of Phuket in
Thailand witnesses the 'vegetarian Festival' when 'spirit doctors'
from the area's Chinese population perform amazing feats of self-mutilation
and asceticism.
For those foreigners naive or stupid enough
to get involved with the drug trade in Thailand, a nasty shock
awaits. For those convicted a life sentence is virtually mandatory
and conditions in Bangkok's high security 'Bang Kwang' jail are
dreadful. There is doubt over the guilt of some. Jack magazine talked to some of those locked up.
Cock fighting is a massively popular gambling
sport in the Philippines. All over the country, every Sunday,
thousands of pesos will be won or lost on the outcome of a flurry
of feathers.
Absolute Phuket attempts to read the runes in a world where people drink from buckets and parade in pajamas.
That gentle tapping on the shoulder, the melting friendly eyes.... Then the daunting, insistent simulated croaking. The frog ladies are here and you will buy the frog. Absolute Phuket lives the terror.
At dawn the parks of Bombay in India are filled
with the middle aged and retired laughing hysterically for no
apparent reason. The laughter is refined into disciplines such
as 'birdy laughter', 'Lion laughter,' 'silent laughter' and 'argumentative
laughter'. They are practising 'laughter therapy', a technique
pioneered by the eccentric Dr Madan Kataria. Loaded Magazine
arrived in Bombay prepared to be cynical but left being utterly
converted. As Dr Kataria says, if we are laughing then he has
succeeded.
Written for The Observer in the mid-nineties,
this piece looks at a country emerging from behind the Bamboo
Curtain to face a future of mass tourism.
War
Baby - Maxim
Magazine
A commission from Maxim UK to ghostwrite
a six page feature based on the experiences of a French photographer.
In the wild regions of the Thai-Burma border mystical child guerrillas
lead an army of Christian soldiers against the Burmese government
troops. Unknowingly these twins are players in a game that is
largely about oil.
A commission for Maxim UK to ghostwrite
a six-page feature based on the experiences of a French photographer.
They robbed us blind then frightened us silly. Maxim crosses the southern Indian Ocean to meet the Jarawas – the Stone Age tribe that put the mania into kleptomaniac.
The elephant is the revered symbol of Thailand. Once a year in the Issan town of Surin both elephants and people gather to celebrate a relationship that goes back centuries.
Love it or hate it the tuk tuk is an international emblem of all things Thai. Absolute Phuket tries to work out why.
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