I could give you GPS cooridinates or stick a placemark on a Google Map for this but that would be too easy. Plus why would anyone give up a chance to draw a secret map in Microsoft Paint?

From the main entrance to Angkor Wat walk straight through to the rear entrance, walk across the earth causeway over the moat and turn left at the end of the causeway so you are walking with the moat on your left and treeline on your right, keep peeking into holes in the treeline and you will eventually find it. If you can’t, head back to the end of the causeway and ask one of the tuk tuk drivers who are no doubt having a snooze or chat with each other.

If you are afraid of heights this isn’t for you, it’s about 7-9 platforms up if I remember correctly. The constructions was pretty sturdy when I climbed it but make your own call about how safe it is. At the top the construction is covered in Khmer graffiti which makes me think this isn’t something a lot of foreigners find. The view isn’t spectacular, there is a very obscured view of Angkor Wat but you still get to see a sunset from a secret tree-top canopy which I think is an experience in itself.

I believe there may actually be a few of these tree-houses around the Angkor park, do you know of any others? Have I just broken a travelers code for secret places? Let me know what you think.

Related posts:

1. Angkor Wat Without The Crowds
2. The Secret To Remarkable Travels

Weather

Cost of Living

Lifestyle

I live in Tasmania, the island south of mainland Australia, it’s winter, it’s cold and I kind of resent the place. This time of year you leave for work an hour or so after sunrise and get home at sunset, it sucks. I love warm weather, I hear Queenslander’s (a Northern Tropical state) complain about the heat and humidity but give me that over this damn cold any day.

I recently got my motorycle learners permit and a bike, it’s one of the best ideas I’ve had, but the cold and wind makes weekend trips this time of year downright dangerous and less than appealing. Tasmania is a beautiful place… for a holiday.

Australia is stupidly expensive.

Finally the media here has taken notice of what I’ve known for since I first started travelling, Australia is ridiculously expensive. I’ve been renting a basic bedsitter for $800/month. Real estate here is according to a number of sources the most over valued in the world. The bubble is starting to deflate but only the fact that demand is high and supply is low is keeping it from falling into something shocking. There is a plethora of reasons why costs are so high in Australia but relatively high wages, tariffs, rents and simple price gouging is a big factor. Thankfully Australians are waking up and are flooding to online shopping, it’s costing local jobs and killing business but the fact of the matter is enough is enough and people are voting with their wallets. Australia weathered the GFC pretty well, they keep telling us our economy is the envy of the developed world and while I’m no economist to it looks like we are shaping up for a well deserved kick in the stomach. Energy costs are skyrocketing, Tasmania which gets the majority of it’s power from Hydro has been amongst the worst. Somehow this low cost renewable energy has become more expensive than coal.

Further on money, debt was a big thing I needed to sort out in that original post as well as creating online income. Right now I still have debt, mainly because I took out a loan for the bike, but… My online income is looking good, I’m seeing numbers on or not far off my goals. When I’m ready to move the bike will be sold, where I live the market is quite small so bikes tend to hold their value very well. Overall I’m very confident as far as money goes, the only thing that worries me is all of my online income is in one basket so I need to work on spreading it out.

The Cost/Benefit Analysis of Expatriatism

I’ve been reading a bit from people like Simon Black and I think there is a lot of truth in what they are saying, although it has been getting a bit Alex Jones lately and there is some hypocrisy creeping in. I really don’t get the american obsession with owning guns, I’m not anti-government and I think most investors are not productive members of society, they are in fact part of the problem. However he makes an excellent point with this quote.

The idea is simply to be able to choose… to make an honest and complete appraisal of the situation and decide from an entire universe of options– “are the financial and freedom costs I’m paying in this country worth the lifestyle benefits, especially considering the future trends and my international options?”

Weighing the options and making a conscious, informed decision to stay in one’s current situation with a solid backup plan is certainly a valid choice. Sentencing oneself to geographic captivity out of ignorance, indolence, or arrogance, however, especially without a credible backup plan, is just plain foolish.

I often hear people say we are fortunate to be in this country. The fortune to me is being from this country and the fact that it can afford me being more fortunate out of it than in it. I think there is something inherently desirable about being an expat. Friends and family who have little or no desire to travel or live abroad boast of their friends and family who do. Come to think of it, that is just more keeping up with the Jones’ bragging. If they are in Europe, US, Singapore, etc they are boasting of perceived financial success. Others in places like Thailand, Vietnam and Central American/Caribbean countries are acknowledged as having more desirable lifestyles.

Anyway the point of this post is to point out that there might be a bunch of reasons to expatriate that we don’t consider. The digital nomad thing is appealing for sure but avoiding increasing taxes, nanny states, rising costs of living tips the pros/cons list too far to ignore it in my book. I’m under no illusion of Australia being the best country in the world, shockingly I feel no allegiance to it because of accident of birth. I know that the alternatives places I choose can/will face many of the same problems. But right now, I’m in a rut and the way out is north.

The final question is where? I don’t want to set anything in stone but Bali looks like a good first stop, ultimately Vietnam and Cambodia would be in the mix afterwards. I’m not so sure about Thailand, but I’m not ruling it out and in reality it will eventually happen.

More new posts? It’s not that I haven’t written any, I have, but I’ve got to the end of them and decided either the writing was just crap or the tone was overly negative. So look out for more coming soon.

Related posts:

1. My Plan to Move to South East Asia
2. Un-Plan Your Trip
3. Discover Tasmania: Tours by Water

Bokor Mountain

The appeal of Bokor is of course mostly the old French hill station left in ruins there, mainly the casino and its recent history as one of the Khmer Rouge’s last strongholds. There are a few building up there but the most prominent are the Casino and Catholic church. ‘Tiger’ was our guide and a real nice guy. He told the group about the Bokor history and the new development going on and the recent demolition of the old post office. This of course brings up the question, why? Why demolish one of Cambodia’s top tourist attractions? It was suggested that the other buildings will be demolished also but it’s still not clear if this is the case. The post office was in a very bad state of repair, probably the worst of all the buildings and it was not safe, is disrepair a reason to demolish a historically significant site? Why not demolish those Angkor temples overgrown and falling apart? (Let’s be honest, that’s not quite the same) Not to mention that this is supposedly a national park. Some of these questions were put to Tiger by a few in the group. It seemed to me he was offended. To us the demolition of this place and construction of a big fancy casino seems ludicrous, Khmer development is often gaudy and the construction on Bokor looks something akin to a Las Vegas casino which is no surprise in a country that sees a Hummer as the preferred way of expressing your wealth through a vehicle. I figured that Tiger sees things differently, to him a small broken down French town isn’t of any great importance, a big casino and hotel no matter where its located will provide good paying jobs in a country that needs them, maybe even for his own family.

The simple answer is this, we spent $20 per person to see Bokor. I have no inclination to visit when the development is complete but those who will are going to be spending significantly more than $20 and will stay for more than a day trip. Not to mention, while the site currently holds some historical significance the new development is basically just a modern version of what was already there, slightly hypocritical?

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However, Australia is one of the most unique continents you’ll ever visit with one of a kind wildlife and some pretty amazing people. But before you get out there and explore everything this unique landscape has to offer, we answer some of those pressing questions you have about everything “Aussie”:

1. Does the water really spin the other way when you flush the loo?

For many first time visitors, one of the initial things they’ll do once they check into their cheap accommodation in Sydney is head to the bathroom to flush the toilet. However, most travellers will probably be a little disappointed to learn that while in theory, the Coriolis effect does impact the way water drains, it’s not an effect that will be readily observed in a toilet bowl. The shape of the bowl and the rotation of the water will generally dictate the direction of flow.

2. How does Santa Claus travel without any snow?

Because Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, Christmas takes place in the summer months, so an Australian Christmas is all about seafood barbeques and games of cricket on the lawn. If you’re heading to Australia over the holidays, this is your opportunity to join the throngs of visitors that take to the beach to spend their holidays. As for the Big Guy in the Red Suit, it’s understood he trades the suit in for board shorts and gives the reindeer a well deserved break by enlisting some help from the local kangaroos.

3. Is it really true that of the 10 deadliest snakes in the world, 11 live in Australia?

Australia is definitely known for its venomous wildlife, with snakes, spiders, sharks and jellyfish being just some of the deadly animals to watch out for. There’s a lot of debate as to what constitutes a deadly snake, with most of the experts gauging an animal’s deadliness by the potency of their venom. Steve Irwin named his list back in 1998 and his list consisted solely of Australian reptiles. Meanwhile, other lists will include perhaps 9 out of 10 Australian representatives.

So pack your bags and get ready for the trip of a lifetime. Australia offers some amazing sites and cheap accommodation – Melbourne shopping, the Sydney Opera House, Uluru and the Great Outback are waiting for you!

What questions do you have about Australia?

Related posts:

1. Discover Tasmania: Tours by Water
2. Seven Things To Do In Tasmania

This quote is from Gary Arndt, you might know his little site EverythingEverywhere.

Many people are afraid of the world beyond their door, yet the vast majority of humans are not thieves, murderers or rapists. They are people just like you and me who are trying to get by, to help their families and go about living their lives. There is no race, religion or nationality that is exempt from this rule. How they go about living their lives might be different, but their general goals are the same.

While I agree with what he says I disagree with the conclusion.

The statement “People are generally good” is simplistic and either naive or ignorant (I haven’t decided). Generalisations are about as useful as assumptions, and we all know what they say about them. Take off the rose colored glasses.

The reason? I’ve seen countless “generally good” people tread down on their fellow man in pursuit of those supposedly noble deeds of “just getting by” and “helping their families”, maybe I’ve even done it myself. I’m not suggesting those are bad things to pursue just that the conclusion that they are therefore good people makes a black and white situation out of what any traveller should know, that it is an extremely colourful world. You don’t need to travel the world to learn this, we all know someone at home who plays office politics, we all know the saying “Shit rolls downhill”. It really doesn’t matter if you are the victim or the perpetrator, you’ve probably been both. Getting ahead, for yourself or your family often means holding others down, no matter how small or unintended your actions are.

One thing I’ve learned from travelling is this…

People are not at the heart of it, good or bad, it is the good and bad they do that defines them.

image credit

Related posts:

1. The Travelers Perspective
2. Authentic Travelers Don’t Eat McDonalds

The plan is simple, rent a motorbike and see as much of the this (Google Earth .kmz) as possible plus a few other top secret things. I’ll head south first to the coast and do a sort of figure 8 of the country. If you take a look at the placemarks in Google Earth you’ll see a bunch of the stuff I want to see and do. If have any suggestions I’d love to hear them. The trip is a bit over 3 weeks, there is one highlight I’m keeping quiet and I’m really hoping I can pull it off, should be a lot of fun. Recently Cambodia has seen a lot of flooding, of course it hasn’t been in the media, not unless you were looking for it anyway, even Thailand barely garnered a mention until the water started heading to Bangkok. Of course I’ll be there in the dry season so I really shouldn’t need to worry about it, still I think the country is more beautiful in the wet but portions of this trip might not be possible during that period.

I’ll be snapping up a GoPro HD before I leave and hopefully I’ll be able to put together some nice videos once I’m done. This will probably be slapped on my new credit card, the Wizard Clear Advantage I mentioned in this post to avoid all the international fees most cards have. Of course with a new CC I ordered a new North Face Duffle. I have reduced my debt to a very manageable level now, this trip shouldn’t really effect it too much and it will all be gone not too much longer after I get back.

Once again I managed to get a full service airline for the MEL-KUL leg with Malaysia Airlines, I have no idea what they will be like. I’ve given myself enough time to see Batu Caves on the way over this time, I’ll get there if it kills me. Air Asia will be taking me on the return leg, reportedly with new seats.

If you are going to be in the area from the 18th Dec to 12th Jan let me know and I’ll make every effort I can to come and say Hi.

Related posts:

1. Travel in The Monsoon Season

If you’ve got a hankering for adventure travel, Europe’s highest peak Mont Blanc should make your

heart race: as well as climbing to the summit, you can hike and camp your way around the Mont Blanc massif, passing through France, Italy and Switzerland. Experienced high-altitude climbers will find Mont Blanc’s ascent and descent accessible, but still a test to their mettle.

Your starting point for all activities around Mont Blanc is Chamonix, the site of the first Winter Olympics in 1924 and France’s oldest ski resort. From here, as well as starting a climb to the summit you can go mountain biking in the Chamonix valley, skiing in Vallée Blanche or go for even more daring stunts like paragliding and white-water rafting.

With majestic yet rugged alpine scenery on an almost unbelievably large scale, Mont Blanc owns some of the most breathtaking views in Europe – which, luckily, can be best appreciated from a bird’s eye view. It’s actually possible to cross the entire Mont Blanc massif by cable car, with a stunning service from Charmonix up the Aiguille du Midi (3842 m) (where you can go skiing at Vallée Blanche) and another cable service from Entreves in Italy’s Aosta Valley going up the Pointe Helbronner (3462 m).

Getting to Mont Blanc: Paris and Lyon

It’s easy get to Chamonix-Mont Blanc if you’re travelling from Paris or Lyon. Both cities have international airports which allow for cheap travel by serving budget European airlines, and each has a connecting rail service to Chamonix. If you don’t want to simply rush through, find cheap hotel and have a few days’ city break time before heading out to the mountain.

Lyon is much closer to Mont Blanc itself, and is a lovely place to spend a few days. The whole city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with historic architecture ranging from Roman and medieval buildings through to Renaissance and modern. You can also guarantee finding a good meal, with bouchon restaurants on every corner serving Lyonnaise delicacies: think cheeses, duck pate, saucisson and wine from neighbouring Beaujolais and the Côtes du Rhone.

If you’re travelling from Paris, it’s worth exploring the French capital for a few days before heading on to Mont Blanc’s otherworldly peaks. Dump your kit at a Paris hotel and hit the streets: art-lovers can check out old masters at the Louvre and modern art at the Pompidou Centre, while those with more macabre tastes can tour the skull-lined Catacombs or visit Père Lachaise Cemetery where Oscar Wilde and Jim Morrison are buried. Round off by catching panoramic city views from the steps of Sacre Couer, or make the iconic journey up the Eiffel Tower.

Planning city stop-off on your way to Mont Blanc? Find and book cheap hotels Lyon or cheap hotels in Paris.

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Who gets the more authentic experience? The person with their picture postcard photos or the one who interacted with the crowd? That is a loaded question.

There is another experience I will never forget and that was watching the sunset over the forests at Angkor from the temple of Pre Rup, the solitude and beauty of it was the stuff that makes you take a deep breath and realise you are alive.

Same, Same...

...But Different

Granted my experience at Boro’ might have been very different if most of the other tourists were not Indonesians but to me it is a pointless to compare, not because it would have been different but because that’s not what happened, I don’t care what might have been.

Maybe authentic travel is more than just what you experience, maybe it’s accepting and appreciating travel experiences as they are and throwing away your expectations, just saying to yourself “it is what it is”. Authenticity isn’t how things should be, it is how things are. The idea of Authentic or “Real” Travel is usually based on the former rather than the latter.

In the moment, that sense of right here right now that travelers search for, it doesn’t matter if things aren’t as you expected in fact you might even revel in that fact. When you set off on your trip do you want to see the world as it is or how you’ve been told it is? If you are looking for real travel, or the real (insert country here) look right in front of you, it is right there.

Related posts:

1. Authentic Travelers Don’t Eat McDonalds
2. Angkor Wat Without The Crowds
3. 11 Beautiful Images of Pakistan

Recent media coverage of extreme sports and arduous expeditions seem to attract a largely negative response from the general public. Heli-skiers, Base jumpers and many mountain climbers and the like are generally deemed to be idiots and selfish morons, that is unless the achievement strikes a chord and the individual becomes something of a national hero.

Pemba Dorje Sherpa wants to take an 11 or 12 year old Nepali to the summit of Everest to keep the record in the hands of an indigenous Himalayan.

I’ll be the last person to suggest a nanny state wrapping everyone up in cotton wool. But that is not to say the dangers should be ignored and as these achievements go, youngest it pretty arbitrary. Not to mention that in their youth they must be completely focused on honing the skills needed to complete the expedition, the planning and fund-raising will be largely left to others to shoulder, forgive me if I am being captious but the I imagine the planning and other lead up to expeditions like this is quite involved, not being part of that would be a bit like inheriting millions rather than building that wealth yourself. Sure you would be ecstatic but you can’t know the effort it took to get there.

On the other hand these kids have an adventurous spirit that definitely should not be ignored or suppressed. The truth is if I was given the chance at 16 to sail around the world I’d jump at the chance, or at least the current ‘me’ would. What is more important to you? Your freedom or your safety? You have to ask…

What will the reaction be when inevitably someone sets a new record, the youngest ever adventurer to die on expedition?

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I look to the stars scanning for satellites or shooting stars. There is a satellite, and it’s moving awfully fast, and moving erratically, am I seeing UFO? Its light is pulsing, it’s crazy, nothing man made could move that fast. The light is getting brighter and closer, it seems to be coming right at me, my heart skips a beat and I realise it is. It is completely silent and the size, Fuck!

Huh? What is it? Buzzzzzzzzzzz right by me, an insect? It’s a god dammed firefly.

I’ve never seen one until now, but still I’ve been fooled by bug. I’ll just get back to worrying about my mauling; I’ve been spared the anal probing.

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