- 16 Apr 2023
Protected: The City & the Village Part I, a short story from China.
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
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"Short stories and travel reports from my life adventures around the globe".
Category: history
- 02 Apr 2023
Once Upon a Time in Leuven.
Once Upon a Time in Leuven, Belgium. September 2004 – August 2007. Cover photo courtesy of Fonske. The Belgian university town of Leuven will always be a special place to me. I arrived in the autumn of 2004 feeling excited by the prospect of a fresh start. I was in the midst of an […]
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- 05 Mar 2023
Endearing Encounters at Sukhothai Historical Park.
Endearing Encounters at Sukhothai Historical Park. May 2015. At the end of May I decided it was time to say goodbye to the south of Thailand. Having re-entered the country for another thirty days following my adventures in Singapore and Malaysia, I had intended on spending a few more weeks island hopping. But all it […]
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- 15 Feb 2023
Once Upon a Time in Essaouria.
Once Upon a Time in Essaouria, Morocco. October 2008. Cover photo courtesy of Klim Levene. I’m unlikely to ever forget my chaotic arrival in the Moroccan city of Essaouira. The rain started during our bus trip from Marrakesh, coming down harder and harder as the trip progressed. By the time we’d arrived the situation had deteriorated from […]
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- 08 Feb 2023
Once Upon a Time in Marrakesh.
Once Upon a Time in Marrakesh. October, 2008. When I look back on my adventures in Morocco, I always think of Marrakesh as the trip’s dazzling centrepiece. Everything they say about the city is true, it is nothing short of intoxicating. Indeed Marrakesh is a feast for the eyes, a place that is overflowing with […]
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Casablanca Nostalgia.
Casablanca Nostalgia. October 2008. I’m so glad I put aside some days to explore the underrated Moroccan metropolis of Casablanca. As I’ve hopefully shown in my previous articles, the city is well worth a trip. Even if one only takes a day to visit the wondrous Hassan II Mosque before enjoying dinner at the unmissable Rick’s […]
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- 01 Feb 2023
Here’s Looking at You, Rick’s Cafe.
Here’s Looking at You, Rick’s Cafe. October 2008. I fell in love with the movie Casablanca when I first saw it as a teenager. Strangely, and quite unlike many of my favourite movies, I have often struggled to explain why I feel it’s such a magical picture. This is a bit pathetic when one considers I […]
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- 29 Jan 2023
The Spectacular Hassan II Mosque.
Hassan II Mosque, Casablanca. October 2008. Cover photo courtesy of Smartyzs. In the autumn of 2008 I had just gotten married to my first wife, S. Try as I might, I cannot recall how we settled on the idea of Morocco for our honeymoon. But I do remember insisting on spending some time in Casablanca. […]
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- 21 Dec 2022
Snippets of Goa.
Snippets of Goa, India. April 2004. There comes a point in just about every cross-country trip when you are in desperate need of a rest. We had battled the manic crowds of New Delhi and hit the historic sights of Agra. We’d survived the festival of bad luck that was Jaipur and journeyed by camel through […]
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- 18 Dec 2022
Snippets of Jaisalmer.
Snippets of Jaisalmer, India. March 2004. Cover photo courtesy of StoriesOfKabeera. If the urban sprawl of Jaipur had betrayed us with its misleading Pink City tagline, we were handsomely compensated by the extraordinary Golden City of Jaisalmer. This, dear friends, was my favourite place from my cross-country jaunt around India. In fact, Jaisalmer delivered on […]
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- 14 Dec 2022
Snippets of Jaipur.
Snippets of Jaipur, India. March 2004. Cover photo courtesy of Chinmaykp25. Even within the parameters of my scaled down snippets series, this collection of memories from Jaipur has been particularly hard to pull off. This is due to the fact that 1: I have very few photos of our brief stay and 2: We had […]
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- 11 Dec 2022
Snippets of Agra.
Snippets of Agra, India. March 2004. Cover photo courtesy of David Castor. After an intense week in India’s frenetic capital, New Delhi, my travel mate Allan and I jumped on an equally hectic train to the city of Agra. Almost everything about my India trip thus far had felt like a relentless assault on the […]
Read MoreWho is Leighton?
Traveling the world, one country at a time.
R.I.P. Leighton Literature 2014-2019
