You were the first real relationship I ever had. You were fun, a talker, full of ideas. I sometimes wish we had spent more time together when we had the chance. It was while you were around I had my first kiss, graduated high school, went to formal and first tried alcohol. I shared my…
Hundreds of hot air balloons rise with the sun as Bagan, in central Myanmar, wakes to the steady drone of electric motorcycles. Thousands of tourists travel upon them, making the dusty journey to towering temples far from the centre of town. Many Australians are within the tribe of Westerners ascending the narrow brick steps of…
On Echo Beach in Canggu, an Australian graffiti artist finishes a geometric mural on the back of a warung, a traditional Indonesian restaurant. Down under, he will often be commissioned thousands of dollars for his murals, but here in Bali, he’s painting this wall for free. He finishes as the sun sets, packs up his…
Our roommate, J, told me this was the coldest winter Tokyo had experienced in 48 years. He told this to Gemma, too. Information from Jonny is taken with a grain of rice, but there’s no denying that it has been exceptionally cold. Almost-50-year-storm cold? How would I know?
J had the propensity of cornering us…
The coffee is slightly too sweet, the windows hang heavy with legs of cured meat, the central streets are choked with sunburnt tourists, and I have to watch out for pickpockets on my way to work. Barcelona’s cobblestones bring back a childish imagining of European cities: there is a richness to every step, like my…
I am sobbing as surreptitiously as I can in a scungy Indonesian bathroom, clutching two strawberry daiquiris bigger than my head. My cleavage is blistering beneath someone else’s Bintang and outside, Rihanna is shrieking at some fleshy Western youths to “WOOOOORK!” as they jump frantically under orange strobes.
I want to stab myself in the…
The night air was thick and warm as the streets of Vietnam’s Ho Chi Minh City pulsated with energy. I slipped into a local supermarket to grab some last-minute snacks, something that had become a ritual when prepping for an overnight bus ride. The supermarket aisles were just as relentless as the motorbike filled streets.…
I recently booked a return flight to South America. I’m flying in and out of Peru, but the country I am most anticipating is Colombia - and no, not for the reasons you’re assuming. I want to trek through the Amazon jungle in the same country as I can lie on a sugary-white Caribbean beach.…
Are you a wannabe travel writer or an aspiring freelance journalist with itchy feet? Do you want to explore the Land of the Rising Sun whilst getting real-world writing experience and wrapping your tongue around a new language?
Sink your teeth into the best bits of Japan with Global Hobo, from the buzzing lights of…
“14-hour work week, why would I ever want to leave this glorious life? *crying laughing emoji*”
I met this guy on Tinder, and this is how he described his job as an English teacher in Shanghai. Because, spoiler alert: basically every white guy living in China is teaching English in some capacity.
Know why? The…
“Terima kasih. Terima kasih,” I repeat over and over, till my throat goes dry and the Indonesian words of gratitude become a meaningless, Australian-flavoured gibberish.
I wince. And fiddle with the label of the plastic water bottle that Ketut pressed gently into my hands. Made chucks me a toothy grin and tells me to breathe…
"You can’t be into surfing because you’re Asian."
Oh yes, you got me. Everything I do must actually fit your racist stereotype of what an Asian girl must do. It doesn’t matter that you don’t know me at all. That I am allowed to be, and am, into surfing. No, I’m just Asian.
Growing up…