"Short stories and travel reports from my life adventures around the globe".
August 2017. I hadn’t even thought of visiting Xiamen University, not until a friend of mine suggested it. “It’s one of the most beautiful campuses in China!” she claimed. So off I went, full of anticipation. When I arrived at the entrance gates, I was met by a long line of people snaking down Yanwu […]
Read MoreAugust 2017. It was an overcast afternoon as I slowly made my way through Bailuzhou Park in Xiamen, not a care in the world. A nomadic friend of mine once described China as a place with “lots of beautiful things to see, but nothing to do”. On more than one level, I know exactly what he […]
Read MoreFebruary 2018. Qingjing Mosque is China’s second oldest mosque and a major pilgrimage point for the country’s Muslim community. Dating back to 1009, all you can see today is a garden complex of ruins located on Tumen Street just a five-minute walk from Guandi Temple. February 2018. On the day of our visit we came across […]
Read MoreOctober, 2019. It’s getting chilly here in London as… unfathomably… yet another winter starts revving up its ugly engine. I swear the last time I looked I was in Belgrade with a special someone and the sun was beating down on the back of my neck. I guess time flies when you’re putting in 10-12 […]
Read MoreJanuary 2008. The pretty little Italian island of Burano sits in the northern Venetian Lagoon, just a forty-five minute boat ride from the city of Venice. Home to just two thousand residents, Burano is famous throughout Italy for its charming collection of multicoloured houses and lace production. In fact, this tiny little place often pops […]
Read MoreJanuary 2008. It’s still a bit of a head scratcher for me when I think about how little I’ve seen of Italy. Somehow I never got round to sorting one of my signature, month-long adventures, but rest assured it’s definitely on the list. Equally baffling is that my only visit to the land of Michelangelo […]
Read MoreIt’s been a crazy month for Leighton Literature…. uh, scratch that… Leighton Travels! (After five years it seems I’m gonna need as much time to adjust as everyone else). After domain name changes, logo creation, the redesign and relaunch of the entire site along with reformatting & extending old articles, I’m pleased to share another exciting new […]
Read MoreMarch 2004. If the urban sprawl of Jaipur had betrayed us with its misleading Pink City tagline, then we were more than compensated by the extraordinary Golden City of Jaisalmer, quite possibly my favourite post from those distant India travels. And it delivered on that aforementioned goldenness immediately on the first evening as we made […]
Read MoreMarch 2004. It’s easy to get excited all over again at the mere thought of my arrival in New Delhi over fifteen years ago. I was twenty five years old and at the beginning of my first bout of extended, independent travel. Not that I was actually solo, as I’d agreed to travel with a […]
Read MoreMarch 2004. 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. Just about everything about India thus far had been nothing short of a relentless assault on the senses, including the seemingly simple process of boarding a train. […]
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