Hewer's VirtualTourist Home Page

I don't actively use this site much anymore, hence it all seems a bit old now that I look over it. The information is still fairly accurate but many of my sentiments are not. I was trying a bit too hard to be Tony Wheeler for much of it but ended up resembling Ed Wood with a bunch of frequent flyer miles. The pages on Miri and Mandalay are close to the mark, but other pages like Bang Saen (and indeed the chapters below) have enough travel clichés in them to start a dictionary.

So I apologise for the cringes that will follow if you look into these pages too deeply. I also apologise for the shirt I'm wearing in the photograph above. One day, when I have a lot of time, I will go back and correct some of this.

Happy travels,

Craig Hewer

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Dan the Man was born on February 10th, 2006. There were a couple of anxious moments but in the end all was well. It's a whole new experience (and a trip in itself) having him home with us. He's a big, strong lad and we are very proud of him. He behaves himself too which is a bonus! Newborn babies are supposed to scream their lungs out and squawk and keep everyone awake aren't they? Not Daniel - not yet anyway. He gets restless sometimes, but instead of crying to get attention, he makes noises, almost like he's calling out to us. If he's really hungry, the noises just get more urgent (think Dan Ackroyd in Coneheads). Anyway, it's still a novelty when he does decide to cry for a change!

Born: February 10th, 2006, Osaka University Hospital
Weight: 10lbs, 9 oz (4.792kg)
Length: 21 inches (54 cm)

"I still believe in paradise, but now at least I know it's not some place you can look for, because it's not where you go, it's how you feel for a moment in your life, and if you find that moment, it can last forever..."
- Quote from "The Beach"

I remember first hearing that quote and I thought the writer was definitely on to something. I wished I'd come up with it myself. Travelling is in many ways a search for new experiences and moments that will never be forgotten.

My last trip was to Laos and Thailand, in October 2005. A very chilled atmosphere, which is a great change of pace from Osaka.
I'm fortunate enough to have done my share. But I've barely broken the surface and that's the fun part - there's always one more road to cross and hill to climb... if anything just to see what's on the other side. It sounds a bit cheesy and it is in a way - not that I mind.

I enjoy the journey as much as the destination. I like picking out two points on a map and plotting the journey in between. I've had some interesting experiences by not taking the shortest route.

I seem to be either asleep or pretty close to it in each of my HP pictures. Fairly indicative of my pre-vacation mode. I'm in the midst of a long holiday at the moment - a time to relax, reflect....and get my VT pages in order. I've been meaning to get my pages up and running from my last trip (Barbados and Trinidad in May and June). The Barbados pages pretty much wrote themselves, but still on Trini-time for the Trinidad pages. Now there's an interesting concept - does page writing speed match the country you are writing about?

Trinidad is about to be "lapped" in a VT-sense because I am heading off on my next trip. Yet to really begin the page of my last destination before I travel somewhere new - tsk tsk! Is that the unwritten rule of a dedicated VTer? Maybe I'm just lazy. So, onward to Laos! Lao Beer and a Mekong sunset :-)

It's the little differences. A lotta the same **** we got here, they got there, but there they're a little different. - Quote from Pulp Fiction.

It doesn't matter where here or there is. It's great to experience anything different - it doesn't matter if you're visiting an old building or popping into the supermarket - everything is interesting about an international trip because the little differences are everywhere. And I think that's what I get the biggest kick out of when I travel.

This list will never be satisfied because when one place drops off (i.e. because I go there) another promptly takes it's place. It's be a sad state of affairs if you couldn't think of any place worth visiting. Here it is anyway:

1. India
2. Iceland
3. Las Vegas
4. Laos
5. Jamaica
6. Pakistan
7. Florida
8. South Africa
9. The North (Liverpool, Manchester etc)
10. Ghana

India has occupied the Number One spot for about two years, a bit like Roger Federer. Laos is about to drop off the list because I am going there next Saturday.

Here is another, slightly more obscure list that some people may or may not be familiar with. Here is a list of places I want to go back to at least once in my life. If anyone ever reads this list and has been to any of these places, I would love to hear about it.

1. The kebab shop opposite the cinema in Hamm, Germany. I'd like to continue the conversation I was having with the owner.

2. The bar at the end of Bang Saen Rd 1 in Bang Saen, Thailand, preferably when a Premier League match is on.

3. The Fish and Chip shop on the main street in Wallsend, Newcastle, Australia. Best hamburgers in the world. Hard to believe I know but I guess you'll have to go there and see.

4. The Alamo in San Antonio, Texas . Now there's a landmark in this list that people actually go to. Each to their own but in my opinion the most emotional building I have visited. I haven't been to Tokyo Disney so this may all change.

5. The roof of Temingar pagoda near Bagan, Myanmar . This is probably the place in the list I'm least likely to see again. I have seen my share of ancient monuments and ruins and heard the stories that go with them. This place is special. Pagodas all around like stars in the sky.

6. The London Hospital Tavern near Whitechapel tube station in London, England . I was 17 years old when I did my first international trip by myself - starting with a week in London in 1993. I did a lot of my planning by the pool table upstairs at this bar. I was drinking orange juice of course.

7. The novelty telephone aisles on the ground floor of the Mustafa Center in Singapore. This is my favourite shop in the world, bar none.

8. Rechnoy Vokzal metro station in Moscow. I had an idea of what Russia would be like before I went there and this place fitted the bill. Legendary stuff.

9. Slattery's Pub, Rathmines, Dublin, Ireland . Similar reason to #6

10. Uluru in Central Australia. Everybody should see it once. I lived there for three years so I looked at it several thousand times but I would still like to go back. Specifically, to the fire trails between the Outback Pioneer Hotel and the edge of the National Park. Noone else really goes there.