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An on-going collection of Graham's encounters with unusual characters, usually in colourful places in Elsewhere.
Crescent City, California: Redwoods and dead wood
So, he said leaning over me in a slightly menacing manner, how do you get to meet people when you travel around? "Just like this," I said, and the big man looked puzzled. "By coming into a bar, buying a drink and talking with people. Like you." The big man with the bleary look paused just long enough for it to be uncomfortable, then realised what I was saying wasn't... more >>
Added: 14 Mar 10
Sydney, Australia: I'll be back. Or not.
My recollection is this, that after having interviewed Arnold Schwarzenegger for some ludicrous and subsequently unsuccessful movie I went back to my room overlooking Sydney Harbour and read the booklet about my expensive hotel's many merits. Among them was a cigar bar and -- having talked cigars with Arnie -- I decided this might be a nice place to adjourn to after a dinner on Circular... more >>
Added: 14 Mar 10
Nye, Oregon: The man who could draw air
He introduced himself at breakfast as Hippie Mike -- his business card had a nuclear disarmament sign on it -- and told a story. "One time I walked into this bar with my walking stick, wearing my big hat, and moccasins and the whole place went silent. You could hear a pin drop, man. " I believed him. Mike stood two metres tall, had long thick greying hair down to the middle... more >>
Added: 1 Mar 10
Golden Triangle, Thailand: Paradise without the soundtrack
What is that wise old saying: be careful what you wish for, you might just get it? Raymond got a wish come true, but I suspect it was mine. I met him at the luxurious Anantara Resort and Spa in Thailand's Golden Triangle where my room with a private terrace overlooking the steamy jungle cost around $1200 a night. After I had relaxed in the pool-sized bath with its rose petals and... more >>
Added: 7 Jan 10
Innsbruck: The imagined mountains
For about four years, from when I was maybe 10, I carried a photograph of Innsbruck in my wallet. Of course at that age I had very little else to put in a wallet and I can't remember what else might have been stashed in the thing. But the picture of Innsbruck I can still conjure up. It was highly coloured -- the sky an impossibly vivid blue -- and showed a view down what I took to be the... more >>
Added: 13 Nov 08
Bako in Sarawak: Monkeys, metaphysics and heavy metal music
There are many things you can expect at the famous Bako National Park in Sarawak, some 40 minutes from the capital Kuching by car then a small boat across the river. At Bako you could expect proboscis monkeys, biting ants the length of half a matchstick, the Borneo bearded pigs which are so solid you feel you could throw a saddle on them, poisonous snakes, vibrant blue skipper mud crabs in the... more >>
Added: 10 Sep 08
Samoa, USA: What's in a name
The mere name of a place can act like a magnet for the curious traveller -- and not just those evocative and familiar ones like Paris, Barcelona, Beirut or Beijing which have been burned into us since childhood. But when you finally get to such familiar places they can look . . . well, pretty familiar. Years of watching movies set in them, seeing photographs in magazines, or getting... more >>
Added: 5 Jun 07
Taipei, Taiwan: Red room for a blue man
I wish I could remember the name of the place so I could recommend it -- but then again, maybe it's best I can't. I had spent a tiring week travelling around Taiwan by myself, negotiating train timetables and ticket offices, and finding hotels, temples and places to eat. By the time I got back to Taipei where I could count on a tiny bit of English being spoken I was weary and just wanted a... more >>
Added: 19 Sep 06
Rarotonga: A moment in the frame
Every now and again -- if we are really lucky -- we realise we are in that postcard perfect world we have lingered over in the pages of glossy magazines, but images which we persuade ourselves only the combination of weather, a talented photographer and PhotoShop could allow to exist. But then, suddenly, there we are. We are the person just beyond the frame of perfection frozen in the lens.... more >>
Added: 7 Sep 06
Sydney, Australia: High, wild and gone
Frank was never going to make old bones. He was an Aussie wide-boy and after a wild, suburban youth and service in Vietnam he'd returned to Sydney and become a stuntman. He was stocky, but larger than any room he occupied. His speaking voice terrified children and his raucous laugh set off car alarms, but he was gentle with his young daughter. Frank was likeable and tough, but you also... more >>
Added: 27 Aug 06
Thailand and Vietnam: Things have changed
Good news came by e-mail: Raymond is in touch again. The last time I saw him was a year ago when he was managing a luxury hotel in Thailand's Golden Triangle. He was a young and handsome Swiss guy who had the world's best job: making sure the lodge ran smoothly, tasting imported wines, being nice to nice wealthy people, eating beautiful food, and watching the river flow. We hit it off... more >>
Added: 27 Aug 06
Singapore: A cheap treat
Singapore is awash with cheap eats and fine dining. From the outdoor restaurants in Chinatown and Little India to the exquisitely presented fine cuisine at the Zhang Jin Jei-designed My Humble House, it would be a hard heart or a cynical palate that couldn't find something interesting, if not outstanding. Local knowledge is always helpful when looking for a place to have dinner, so when my... more >>
Added: 16 Aug 06
Perth, Western Australia: Journey to the end of the world
For many years I thought Perth was in Western Australia. Then I went there. My recollection is this: up at around 5am to get a taxi to the airport to wait two hours before departure, three hours to Melbourne or Sydney or wherever it was to wait another two hours before the five hour flight to Perth. It seemed to take a couple of days to get to Perth, and when I arrived it was the middle of... more >>
Added: 16 Aug 06
Fiji to Vancouver and beyond: My life lovin' friends: Parts One and Deux
Part One: Travel isn't usually conducive to long-term friendships. Any fork in the road can mean you and your new-found companions may part company, paths never to cross again. Which made is such a rare pleasure that I have seen Bob and Mary (from then-Vancouver and now-Victoria BC) a couple of times since we first met on a cruise around Fiji's Yasawa Islands one February. Bob'n'Mary... more >>
Added: 24 Jul 06
Abbey Road, London: With the Beatles
Long before you reach the most famous recording studio in the world you can hear the sound. But it is not music coming from inside the walls. It is the squeal of tyres as another car or truck slams on its brakes because a tourist -- and often a whole group -- has stepped onto the nearby pedestrian crossing to have a photo taken in imitation of an iconic image shot here on a late summer's... more >>
Added: 17 Jul 06
Rome, Italy: The healing doll
There are few churches in Rome more interesting, or more overlooked, than Santa Maria in Aracoeli, tucked in beside the famous Vittoriano, the massive white monument which dominates Piazza Venezia and looks like an old Olivetti typewriter. But walk up a very steep flight of old steps and after a wheezing climb you enter one of the more fascinating places in the city. And tucked away in... more >>
Added: 17 Jul 06
Vietnam, China and Elsewhere: First cut is the deepest
Much in the way that I always take a photograph out of the window of any room I stay in when I travel (if there is a window, and often there hasn't been), it has also been a habit of mine to have a shave in a country I am passing through. It's always an interesting experience and, if a cut-throat razor is involved as it often is, then a very trusting one also. You may come out feeling crisp... more >>
Added: 6 Jul 06
Dallas, Texas: The shots heard around the world
A simple wrong turn and the pressure of traffic forced us to carry on down the road, looking for an exit. But then, through a set of traffic lights, we were there. "This it," I shouted. "Look. This is it." I drove on as slowly as the urgent traffic would allow but we looked around at the slow dip and curve of the road, so recognisable from that famous piece of footage... more >>
Added: 3 Jul 06
Florence, Italy: The passing strange parade
Ever been in a place where everything is the same, but different? Let me illustrate. It was close to midnight in Florence and after a fine dinner I went for a lazy stroll through the lamp-lit streets, then stopped at an outdoor cafe in Piazza della Repubblica for a nightcap of grappa. From across the broad square the distant sound of a woman singing opera mingled with the disco-dance... more >>
Added: 9 Jun 06
Southern Thailand: The untreated truth
The bamboo and thatch bungalows on the beach had the feel of a village: the family which owned them lived there, so did the staff of the small restaurant and their extended families, plus a few other unspecified people who came and went every day. I stayed a week or so in this quiet part of an island off Thailand's central east coast, initially eyed warily by an Australian new-comer, the... more >>
Added: 9 Jun 06
