Hello travellers!

This month I’ve been working hard on something. There haven’t been many new blog posts published but I hope to have something to share soon…

If you follow me on Instagram, I’ve started to share a bit more about my life in Chiang Mai if you’re interested in that.

But I’ve also just got back after a weekend in China. Now that China is visa free for British Passport holders, it is easy to just pop to China for the weekend from Thailand.

I went to Kunming, a large city in the south of the country in Yunnan Province. I had been there before when I backpacked China in 2015 but this time I visited a friend and it was so nice to have a tour guide and translator to take me around the sites!

China can be tough to travel but going with someone made it infinitely easier.

We spent a few days in the city, exploring local parks, visiting some cool coffee shops and bars that I never would have found and strolled through a few museums.

And the food was incredible! (As you can see from the photo!)

We went to two restaurants that serve traditional Yunnan style food which varies a lot compared to the rest of China.

Keep an eye on my website for future blog posts and my socials as I’ll post about it soon or respond to this email and I can tell you more about!

With that out the way, lets dive in!

Nicaragua is the lesser visited neighbour of the very popular and touristy Costa Rica.

Costa Rica has nailed tourism with millions arriving every year to stay in luxury resorts, take eco tours or to buy property for wealthy foreigners to retire.

Which is why I decided to go to Nicaragua instead.

I knew the capital Managua wasn’t worth visiting so I decided to base myself in Granada for a month where I worked online.

The main square is flanked on one side by the stunning (and bright yellow) Granada Cathedral. In the evenings, the square is a buzz of activity and almost every weekend I was there, a stage was erected and some form of concert or festival took place.

It is also a must to climb the bell tower of the nearby Iglesia de Merced for views of the city and Lake Nicaragua in the distance.

Close to the city is Masaya Volcano and Laguna de Apoyo which are excellent day trips to see an erupting volcano or an incredible nature reserve.

The other major city in Nicargua is Leon.

With a totally different political past, it is important to see both Granada and Leon when you go to Nicaragua.

The highlight in Leon for me was the chance to go volcano boarding down the (still active) Cerro Negro volcano.

Whilst that was a highlight, in the same trip I had one of my worst experiences when travelling.

I lost my wallet.

Was it stolen or did I lose it? I don’t know. I was drunk so the only person to blame was myself.

In more than 10 years of travel, losing my wallet (and all my credit cards and drivers licence) is the only major incident I’ve had.

It put a downer (and a lot more stress) on the rest of my time in Nicaragua so I returned to London shortly after.

But I did enjoy Nicaragua and it is a great place to travel around. The people are friendly and it is a relatively compact country so it is easy to get around on the local chicken buses (yes they are really called this!)

Don’t let my bad experience put you off, Nicaragua should definitely be on your list of countries to visit!

I’ve been a big fan of Charlie Walker ever since I read his first book about cycling around the world.

I immediately bought his second book as well.

Now, he has just released his third book “On Thin Ice” which details his hike across Siberia and then his detention in a Russian jail as the war in Ukraine broke out.

I haven’t read it yet but I cannot wait to get started.

If you want to find out more or buy the book, click here.

Keep travelling and look forward to next month when I’ll be talking about one of my favourite islands in the world…

Safe travels,

Dan