Chris Backe's Blog, page 105

December 1st – Ao Nang (Krabi, southern Thailand)

24 Days. 24 Beaches.

Presenting One Weird Globe’s Advent Calendar – a new beach every day! Enjoy the countdown with sand, seas, and strange sights along the way. One new post every day from December 1st to Christmas Eve. See them all athttp://www.oneweirdglobe.com/24-beaches/.

Ao Nang, southern Thailand

The Krabi area’s most developed beach, Ao Nang is about a 20 minute scooter, songthaew, or bus ride from Krabi town. There’s plenty of restaurants, bars, and tailors across the street from the be...

December 1st – Ao Nang

24 Days. 24 Beaches.Presenting One Weird Globe’s Advent Calendar – a new beach every day! Enjoy the countdown with sand, seas, and strange sights along the way. One new post every day from December 1st to Christmas Eve. See them all athttp://www.oneweirdglobe.com/24-beaches/.

Ao Nang, southern Thailand

The Krabi area’s most developed beach, Ao Nang is about a 20 minute scooter, songthaew, or bus ride from Krabi town. There’s plenty of restaurants, bars, and tailors across the street from the be...

Destination: the Ko Lanta four island tour – Ko Ngai, Ko Maa, Ko Chuek, and Ko Mook

Nothing weird about these beaches and islands, but they’re still lovely.

Ko Lanta (Lanta island) is already a heck of a place to come. It has the aforementioned center full of cats and dogs, at least nine named beaches, and plenty of room to stretch out almost everywhere you look. The island is also the gateway to a number of other island tours; we went with a 4 island tour that involved snorkeling and lunch. So it’s clear, a number of local companies offer essentially the same tour for essent...

November Book Reviews: long-term travel, dangerous destinations, and more

Once a month, I put together the books I’ve readinto a single review post. Alternatively, see plenty of previous book reviews over here, or see how I rate books over here.

I’m a little late this month, but here arethree travel books you might be interested in.

Want to get your travel book reviewed?Send it for review over at oneweirdglobe.com/review-book.

Get Away Worry Free: Pre-Trip Tips for Long-Term Travel

While not precisely a full-length book, Sharyn Nilsen from catchourtravelbug.com has com...

Destination: Asian Civilisations Museum – carved skulls, guardians of hell, and a rubber duckie?

Peer into thousands of years of Asia’s history – including a lucky rubber duckie.

OK, so it’s not as weird as the Haw Par Villa / Ten Courts of Hell you’ve already read about. Instead, it’s a great look at the history of a diverse continent, complete with lots of exhibits you’re unlikely to see elsewhere.

Originally dedicated to “exploring the rich artisticheritage of Asia”, it opened in March 2003 and offers up a pan-Asian view of things. The building itself dates from the mid-to-late 19th cen...

What is weird?

As you might guess, I get asked this a lot.

Weird, in my book,has two pre-requisites:

It’s about weird places, not weird people, weird food, or weird cultural practices. People or food may well factor in, but it’s something you can see, touch, and/or experience for yourself.
It’s legal and safe to enter. Lest this sound like a no-brainer, a few of my more adventurous friends are urban explorers – the sort that hop fences and risk arrest to say they’ve been there or to get the picture.

After those...

Is Thailand the ‘world’s deadliest place to be a tourist’? An interview with John Stapleton and first-hand thoughts

We interrupt the usual string of awesome destinations and posts about traveling to offer an interview– and a warning.

In case you’re not tuned to the Thai interwebs, a controversial new book has just been released by a British fellow named John Stapleton entitled Thailand: Deadly Destination:

(I can’t prove it, obviously, but this photo definitely looks like it was taken near the Railay pier. For such a dour-sounding sort of book, the authorknows how to pick a lovely cover.)

The e-book was relea...

Getting started in Singapore: orienting yourself and saving money in the world’s most expensive city.

I recently traveled to Singapore to speak at the ITB Asia conference – a chance to talk about travel blogging and building an online community. Since that’s probably only interesting to a small percentage of you, I thought I’d write about saving yourself some time and money while in Singapore.

The BBC announced earlier in 2014 Singapore became the most expensive city in the world to live in. Your hotel is likely to be your biggest expense, but there are plenty of other ways to save money.

Stayi...

See the Ten Courts of Hell in Singapore – Destination: Haw Par Villa

So I went to Singapore recently to speak on a panel at ITB Asia, a conference dedicated to traveling. Three days of networking, seminars, and talking about travel – actually, I cut out on the last day to actually see Singapore. Laura and I arrived early enough the day before to take in one of the island’s mainstream – but still plenty weird – destinations.

The Haw Par Villa (also called the Tiger Balm Shrine and the Ten Courts of Hell) isn’t quite a hell temple – there’s no ‘temple’ here at al...

Why You, Your Mother, And Your Auntie Should Start Using GPS Coordinates When You Travel (A Manifesto)

Here at One Weird Globe, I use GPS coordinates to ensure I can find a place, give good directions, and know exactly where on earth I am. It makes a world of difference when getting off the beaten path, especially to places where well-written directions might otherwise be lacking. Simply put, if you have the GPS coordinates to a place, you can find your way there no matter how good or bad the street addresses are.

I’m a big – nay, huge – fan of anything that makes traveling easier. One aspect o...