Writing an article about Thailand has me q severely missing it!! Driving to Phuket's old town every Sunday for the night market became our weekly habit, and just one of the reasons I ended up loving that island much more than I ever expected ❤️🇹🇭
Rajasthan's borders might be closed but its museums and monuments are very much open and free of charge this week. We were welcomed in after a temperature check and hand sanitisation, and pretty much had the illustrious Amber Fort to ourselves. While lockdown here is far from over and is beginning to feel never ending, it's days like this I'll be grateful for forever 💞🇮🇳
MY FIRST LIL BOOK ALL OF MY VERY OWN IS IN THE SHOPS AND WHAT NOT NOW 💜 Writing about all that is great and good in London's music scene was an absolute joy and my hero editor Flo made the whole thing so easy and just plain fun, and it's a proper honour to contribute to the awesome @hoxtonminipress Opinionated Guide to London series.
Putting some of the places that are dearest to my heart in print like @recklessrecordsuk@nts_radio@thelexingtonlondon@corsica.studios@lovevinyllondon@shacklewellarms@mothclub & 50 or so more was the love letter to London I didn't know I needed to write and the whole thing made me a bit homesick, opening my parcel of books this morning.
Huge thanks (are in print in the back) to @froseal and the @crackmagazine family, @gwynforhowells@obispicks@max.luthy@eddie_fiction@paulbridgewater@hellomtthw@part.jess@dave_rowlinson@laurenjdown@katiesol@gemsamways@thefranwalker and Mr Fred, Geraint, Sonny and other legends who don't use social media but I love you all dearly - this one's for you.
If you have any pals moving to London or just like a good photo book (the photography is so LUSH) it's now available in book shops of the eastend and online via all nice retailers wooohoooo 🔥
My article on our incred trip to Botswana is live now @theweekmagazine - link in bio and all that. I didn't post photos at the time as I was in quite a grief puddle but it's been a joy to dig these out and relive the wonder. Seeing thousands of disco donkeys (zebras) and tall bois (giraffes) on their Great Migration was an extremely humbling experience. So grateful for the best squad, best lodges and guides (tq @desertdelta ) and a newly found love of one astounding country 🇧🇼
After years of hard avoiding Phi Phi I discovered @saii.phiphiislandvillage - THEE most heavenly eco-resort on the peaceful, north side of the island, which I've been fortunate enough to visit twice now. From planting trees in their local mangroves (best day of the year 2025™) to taking their longtail boat to Maya Bay to say hi to the returning black tip sharks, I'm a huge fan of their green minded activities and lush pools ofc. Thanks @saiihotelsresorts for having me back in Feb and making my Beach dreams come true 🩵 Article for The i Paper incoming xo
I've wanted to visit Songkhla and Hat Yai for years. So when Time Out sent me a few weeks ago, it was a wonderful but bittersweet story: sad but very hopeful to see the cities rebuilding after November's disastrous floods. Loooved learning about the southern Nora Dance and meeting fellow Thailand enthusiasts (whose Thai is much much better than mine). Huge thanks to @emilysrichala.blog for the interview and @dannyinbangkok & @jesszhengg too xx Story up on @timeoutbangkok now 🫶🏻🇹🇭
BTS / TMI / IDK. My mother died six months ago and, as you'd expect, it's been a rough old time. Fortunately I've been able to park myself pretty firmly in Chiangmai, surrounded by immense friends who've been there for the tears / goblinning, brought food round when I couldn't face it, taken me on adventures when I needed them, dragged me / been dragged on work dates and generally been tirelessly supportive on this untarmacked road to finding myself again. I'm a bit nervous about leaving home today, for a pretty lengthy stint, but thanks to these legends I think I'm strong enough to do it. The moments of daily joy are back, and I reckon the travel / learning / investigating bug is just about back too. Let's see. Love you guys. Onwards. Hope on, hope ever 🫶🏻⚓🛞
Happy Chinese New Year from SUPER inspiring Hat Yai 🎊 A multicultural city in the deep south of Thailand, Hat Yai has really been through it recently. Hit by a devastating flood last year, the resilient community held a vibrant celebration last night to welcome in the Year of the Horse. Their cute cafes, hip stores and cool bars are slowly reopening, restored after the colossal flooding. A real testament to Thai positivity. Thank you for hosting us @tourismthailand #amazingthailand
I WROTE A BOOK ABOUT SAUNAS AND IT IS OUT TOMORROW. I have a few things to say about this. Firstly: dream job, I can't thank Florence Ward @hoxtonminipress enough for trusting me to choose "Britain's Best Saunas" and sending me off around the country to visit them all.
Secondly: such a wonderful sauna community - HUGE THANKS to all the owners, founders, managers, dreamers, facilitators I met along the way. Your enthusiasm and dedication kept me going as I traversed the country.
Also: yes there are almost 600 saunas in the UK now, it's the country's biggest growth industry etc etc but THIS IS NOT A FAD. Bathing culture goes back millennia in GB and it's here to stay so get involved. Your ancestors probably did.
Lastly: you'd be surprised how hard it is to get photos of oneself in a sauna. These are just a few of the almost 60 saunas I went to in a month. And I'm mostly in ice baths here but you get the gist.
PS: MASSIVE thanks to my nationwide host pals coming in the next emosh post once I actually get my hands on a copy. Steve assures me it's in the post to Chiangmai as we speak 💜♨️✨🫶🏻
4 YEARS OF CHIANGERS, 4 YEARS OF LOY KRATHONG 🏮💜🏮🇹🇭 I landed here in early November 2021, spent 24 hours locked in a Bangkok quarantine hotel and got straight on a train headed north the next evening, supposedly for 90 days. I knew when I got off that train this was it, the best city in the world, the palpable magic hit immediately. It's not always easy living on the other side of the planet from family and friends, losing my mother and both grandmothers recently continues to turn me upside down, but I'm so incredibly grateful for my chosen family in Chiang Mai, I love you all endlessly xo
HUGE congrats to @thestandardpattaya who officially open their doors to the public on Tuesday 🥳 I had the great honour of being one of the first writers through the door (and second person ever in their glorious pool) reviewing this design haven for Wallpaper* - will put the old link in bio when it's live etc.
Here's a few sneak peaks of some of the GORGE interiors, art installations, staff uniforms and exceptional vibes to be found in South Pattaya. Make sure you book in this season, if it's not already sold out. The buzz, it is real 💜🏝️☀️
When I don't know what else to do, I sit in hot water. Chiang Dao's onsen was built by the local Japanese community in 2004 and is absolutely one of my favourite places in the whole of Thailand. 10 concrete cylinder pools of different temps of water, by a cold river to float in after. Best day during a much needed drive to the mountains. Not pictured: snakes, rabbits, sheep, very noisy ducks 💚✨♨️🫰🏼🇹🇭
