So then, aye, a full year of early retirement in Kampot. Has it been everything I'd hoped? Spose so aye. Can't overstate the gratitude I feel to be unencumbered by the trivial and mundane. Free of petty managers, mono-dimensional colleagues and insipid grind. A visa not contingent on thumbing-in-and-out of a prison. No longer a number on a ledger. A whole year. Free.
AWOL Geordie
Early Retirement in Cambodia.
Thursday, 31 August 2023
Thursday, 15 June 2023
17 years, Man and Boy
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Bokor Sunset |
Tuesday, 25 April 2023
Rotting in Kampot
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Lotus pond sunset |
- 1 year in Kampot
- 17 years in SEA
Sunday, 5 February 2023
The Xi'an Glimpse
It may have inadvertently started when a Manc septuagenarian began to (randomly) recite passages of Othello while downing cans of Black Panther. Auld Dave's as tough as they come having spent decades as a boxing coach. The last thing I was expecting was a broadside of Shakespearean prose as I scoffed me pie n chips - tremendous.
Monday, 2 January 2023
Don't go chasing Waterfalls

Kampot-time flashes by whereas Saigon-time wades, waist-deep, through putrid sludge.
How? Simple. Physics tells us that time dilates depending on an observer's relative velocity and/or location within a gravitational field. Clearly, Saigon must be orbiting a massive black hole at incredible speed giving rise to its lethargic clock.
Was grateful to visit TWO waterfalls on the back of antipodean Simon's AirBlade - like shit off a stick that thing. He rented "The Pumphouse" back in the day before escaping to Kep. A most convivial companion - perfect for splodging up jungle streams and clambering over slippery rocks to reach the refreshing ទឹកធ្លាក់វាលពួច.
Saturday, 19 November 2022
49 times around the buoy
Friday, 14 October 2022
Kampot Capers
Hunkered down in my $70 room sheltering from Typhoon Nora. On Wednesday the 28th of September it slammed into Danang after killing 6 in the Philippines a few days earlier. It reached the peak classification of Violent Typhoon with wind speeds of 255 km/h. Like most of SEA, Kampot was caught in the wash. The half dozen water buffalo roaming around outside the room bore the brunt of it, poor buggers.
Monday, 5 September 2022
ER2@48 - pulling the trigger.
Starter
September 2022 and I've only written two entries this year. Shocking. Saigon literally extracts the creativity from your soul. Meanwhile, I'm stunned to see the hit count approaching 500,000 ... quite something considering this blog is essentially the aimless ramblings of an eccentric loon.
Monday, 27 June 2022
Saturday, 26 March 2022
Retire@39 fail. Retire@49?
Sunday, 26 December 2021
Amor Fati - Luxury is weakness
Sunday, 31 October 2021
You never know what's round the corner
Friday, 3 September 2021
For this too shall pass
HoChiMing had already been locked down for 3 months when they decided to bring the Army in. We can't leave our homes - not even to shop. If the coof doesn't get you - starvation and depression will. Welcome to the planet's most draconian lockdown.
Monday, 26 July 2021
Lockdown blues

In lockdown - bad.
HCMC has entered the mother of all lockdowns whereby we're only allowed out to the nearest grocery store. Given that I live in a windowless bed-n-bog, I've been eating anything that doesn't need cooked.
Dreams of clean mountain air in Dalat quickly evaporated leaving a residue of ham sandwiches and youtube.
Friday, 11 June 2021
15 years in Asia
I was 32 then. 47 now. I didn't plan to stay away this long, it just happened. Let's take a peek through the murky telescope of history at this roller coaster.
Saturday, 5 June 2021
20 types of western teacher in Asia
Friday, 4 June 2021
21st Century Diogenes - a tribute
Sunday, 21 March 2021
Pedagogical BS
Flow
I haven't written much lately. Working 50hrs/week impedes the flow of creative juices. Weekends are for recuperation. Additionally, there's not much here to inspire a man with an adventurous soul. This is hardly the Himalayas, Borneo or the Mongolian Steppe. This is Ho Chi Ming - a chaotic city of 10M souls. Why would humans willingly subject themselves to this much noise and depressing concrete? Is the gr$$n stuff really that powerful?
Friday, 1 January 2021
Celestial Maneuvers in Mui Ne
Saturday, 14 November 2020
Sunday, 30 August 2020
Megalopolis
Monday, 20 July 2020
Batshit in Battambang. Vacuous in Vietnam.
Monday, 4 May 2020
Why I'm celibate and teetotal
Monday, 23 March 2020
Early Retirement and Minimalism in Southeast Asia

Not a twatpacker to be seen - they must be visiting the bat caves or something. Motionless palm trees remind me I'm in the tropics - mint.
The coffee's minging though - like mud.
Saturday, 1 February 2020
Battambang Bliss
Thursday, 26 December 2019
New decade. New life.
Christmas night. Battambang. 32 deg celsius. A vindaloo settling - aye, there's an Indian here! Sat in my new apartment mulling over the last 3 months of retirement. Feels like a lot has happened since quitting the last spirit-crushing-teaching-job in Chiang Mai. I had $4,300 in a Thai bank on PDR (pay-day-runner) day. I now have $2,500 in a Cambodian bank. So $1,800 spent. Or $600/month. However, much of that was on unavoidable expenses. Let's take a look:
Wednesday, 27 November 2019
Battambang

No 90day reports, no TM30s, no border bounces, no waiting for hours in immigration - ever, no landlords involved, no spirit-crushing jobs, no financial obligations.
Simply pay $300. Forget about it. Enjoy life in the tropics. 12 months later, pay again. Simple. Sabai sabai (Khmer style).
After my latest dealings with Thai immigration I'm sat here thinking I should've jumped ship earlier.
Tuesday, 12 November 2019
Cambodia 1
Felt sad leaving the rice fields of HangDong. Had an awesome October cycling around the sticks. And not being at work. Caught my first ever Uber to ChiangMai Airport. Spent my final Thai weekend in Krungtep Maha-Nakon (Bangers).
Thursday, 10 October 2019
Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE)

The first thing to note is that I started with nowt. My parents (both passed) were far from affluent. I'm not complaining - I had a great childhood. Just stating a fact. I left school at 16. Joined the Royal Navy. Was trained as an Electronic Engineer and served on HMS Coventry (Balkans conflict 1994) and HMS Victorious (a submarine designed to rain nuclear horror on innocent civilians).
Wednesday, 9 October 2019
Why I'm leaving Thailand after a decade
Having sold the CBR500 for $3,500 and replaced it with a $50 bicycle I've been living a life-of-leisure since quitting the latest spirit-crushing job. I've decided to forfeit today's 40km cycle in favour of penning my reasons for leaving Thailand after a solid decade in the Kingdom.