My Teetotal Travels

Finally, at the start of July, my Costa Rica trip came to an end — the last stop being Manuel Antonio; The smallest national park in the country, yet one of the most densely packed in terms of flora and fauna. To say it was a sticky day would be an understatement. Between all of our phones, in my group, a conservative stab at the temperature was 92 ° F...with a 'feels like' temperature of 104 ° F when taking into account the humidity. Even walking around stark bollock naked wouldn't have made a difference - it was that hot. We had a guide - Walter - who was great, but even without him we would've spotted so many creatures, such was the abundance of wildlife. Even at the entrance to the park, white-faced capuchins traversed power lines that ran above us - chirping and chattering. We all knew that the one thing we definitely wanted to see, up close an personal, was a sloth. Yes, we'd seen them at points during the trip - but only glimpses. It's kind of what you co...

Alongside Angkor Wat, S-21 Prison and Killing Fields were what I came to Cambodia to see - or rather to revisit, 20 years later, with a more mature head on my shoulders. Both are stark reminders of what man is capable of doing to other men, women, and children. Both are stark reminders - in an ever more polarised world - of what happens when you seek the answers in extreme political movements. Both far left and far right are dangerous - be careful what you wish for. The Cambodian genocide was very different to what happened in/around Germany. Hitler and the Nazis were cold and clinical - methodical in everything they did. Pol Pot's regime was about sheer, blunt brutality - savagery...something almost animalistic. S-21 was a prison during Pol Pot's and the Khmer Rouge's regime - one of several prisons across Cambodia, but the most famous...or infamous. It was a school before the Khmer Rouge swept to power, in 1975. When they did seize power, and entered Phnom Penh, the peop...