Articles written by Russell Smeaton

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About me - Russell Smeaton

Hi, my name is Russell. I've spent the best part of the last ten years shuffling around the world and have now come back to roost in my home town. Along the way I've seen and done many things, some interesting, some not. I thought I would try my hand at putting

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Travel > Travel Diaries & Adventures (Other) Travel journal or web blog, which is better?: 1 of 8

When I first started to travel there was no debate about blogs or journals. The option to have a web blog simply didn’t exist. Hotmail had only just come out and the vast majority of the countries I was travelling in had sporadic internet access to say the least. So I, like many others, wrote a journal. It was a great ...
Travel > Asia Destinations First time traveler's guide to China: 2 of 9

What I wanted to know when I left for China was about using the toilets. I'd heard a lot of horror stories about the shared squats and I have to say I was worried! Now, just to put you in the picture, I suffer from IBS. This means that I often get caught short when out and about. There's nothing worse than being in the middl...
Travel > Asia Travel Diaries Travel diaries: Tibet: 2 of 6

We came to Tibet from the west, via a small town called Golmud. Golmud has about two attractions - small cheap and delicious meat buns and a Tibetan office to get visas. Other than that, I couldn't really recommend it. We boarded the new super duper train at Golmud at around 3 in the morning. It was like boarding an airplane...
Travel > North & South America Travel Diaries Travel experiences: Venezuela: 1 of 3

The Roraima Mountain inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to write the Lost World and it's not surprising. A fantastic plateau that juts out of the rain forest, topped off with misty clouds swirling around the base takes the mind away with what could be lurking at the top. Well, it would take the mind away if the body wasn't so o...
Travel > Asia Travel Diaries On Safari in the Maldives: 1 of 1

Safari? Maldives? You've probably seen these two words together only when talking about the sea and the abundant fish that make their homes there. Today, however, this article is going to prove to you that you can have a non-fishy safari whilst staying in the Maldives. It might be stretching it a little so bear with me as I ...
Travel > North & South America Travel Diaries Roadtrip from Guyana to Brazil: 1 of 1

Guyana, The Land of Many Waters, is a country about the size of England with less than the population of my local town. The result? Around 70% of the country being untouched by humans, creating a rich and diverse area of some of the most spectacular rain forest still alive today. And no, it's not in Africa but near the top e...
Travel > Asia Destinations Travel destinations: Forbidden City, Beijing, China: 1 of 1

When people think of China, they have several images that come to mind. I would guess that most people think of the Great Wall of China, the Terracotta Warriors of Xi'an and the Forbidden City of Beijing (not to mention Pandas, great food and great hospitality). Most locals tend to refer to Forbidden City as GuGong, or Imper...
Travel > Asia Travel Diaries Public transport adventures in India: 3 of 5

India is such a vast country and so the question is: how do you get to see it all? The cheapest way? Train. The easiest way? Bus. The quickest way? Airplane. The comfiest way? Private car. The slowest way? Rickshaw. The coolest way? Motorbike! Sadly I am not cool so I went for the first five options. Each has their positives...
Travel > Asia Travel Diaries Travel experiences: Surviving a haircut in China: 3 of 4

When you move to another country a thousand and one things go through your mental checklist. Guidebook - check. Phrasebook - check. Spare underpants - check. I thought I had all angles covered and moved myself to China on a 9 month teaching contract. All well and good. I got myself settled in, got down to the fine art of tea...
Travel > Asia Destinations Travel destinations: Shenyang, Liaoning Province, China: 2 of 2

Situated in China's industrial north east, Shenyang is often overlooked as a tourist spot. It's not one of the more obvious places when people think about going to China and is certainly not covered in many of the current travel itinerary's. At first glance this is understandable. In Winter, temperatures plummet to a bone-ac...