2023 2023

UKUWELA, SRI LANKA: Every since I randomly ran into the genius that is Sri Lanka's Fine White Wine Man on a run to the local liquor store 4 years ago, I've dreamt of running into him again, to actually sit down for a drink this time. I planned on visiting him again 3 years ago but world events took a turn for the worse.

Now, a full 4 years since I first saw him, Sri Lanka has finally opened again and you can roam around freely from state to state without wearing mandatory excess garments over your face. Freedom at last!

So upon touchdown in Colombo, Sri Lanka's capital, I immediately got my hands on a motorbike, so I could journey up to Ukuwela where the last sighting of the fine white wine man occured some 3 years ago.

Does he still live there? Is he still into white wine? Is the wine store even still there?

HIKKADUWA, SRI LANKA: Some hotels deliver beyond expectations. This luxury 3 bedroom hotel room with a private pool on your balcony overlooking Sri Lanka's Hikkaduwa beach certainly falls into that category. At $200 a night, seeing as you could technically have 4 people sleep here, each even in their own room (even 5 if someone's willing to sleep on the balcony), I'd even classify it as a bargain given how spacious and well equipped it is.

After a tour of this amazing luxury beachfront hotel, I set out for Hikkaduwa's fish market to buy fresh tuna and chase down Freeman, the owner of the Airbnb I stayed at exactly 3 years ago this week. Business for Airbnb owners and people employed in Sri Lanka's tourism industry have been incredibly rough ever since I last visited. So how is Freeman and his family doing? That and more in this little tour of the Hikkaduwa most tourists would find hard to get to experience.

KATHMANDU, NEPAL: Over 3 years ago, upon my first visit to Nepal, I ran into Sunil, who grew up in Nepal but is now living in America. He'd returned to help fund cancer treatment for kids whose families could not afford it. Fast forward to today, and his foundation has now helped over 122 Nepalis get treatment. Many have survived!

One of the first people he helped was a guy called Pradip. He now lives on a mountain which is about a days journey from Kathmandu. Rather than take a bus or motorbike I thought it would be more interesting to buy a bicycle and journey up there on my own to visit him and his family to congratulate him on surviving cancer.

KATHMANDU, NEPAL: It's been over 3 years since me and Kumar went on an epic journey to pizza hut on the outskirts of Kathmandu. So what is Nepal's greatest ever taxi driver and english speaker up to these days?

Is he now President?

Is he still best friends with Christiano Ronaldo?

Does he regret leaving Bayern Munchen?

Is he still as proficient in the English language in 2023 as he was in 2019?

Does he still like pizza? Or is he now a burrito man?

And more importantly am I allowed to eat at Kathmandu's Happy Burrito?

So many questions.... that this warrants a brand new video with Kumar: Nepal's Native English Speaking Presidential Hopeful Taxi Driver

COLOMBO, SRI LANKA: Four years ago I visited Pettah market in Colombo for the first time. The market is huge, incredibly cheap and have all kinds of fake western brands on offer. Shoes, bags, polo shirts, Levi's jeans, adidas shoes... you name it, they sell it.

Since it had been so long since I filmed here, I thought it was about time your favorite German embarked on another shopping spree to hone his bargaining skills.

Too often though in my market videos I wander around and simply buy random stuff without any sense or purpose. Well not today.

My goal for this shopping journey was to spend exactly $100 US and see just how many things I could get before setting off towards the railway tracks to give everything away to someone who deserves it. Given how cheap this market truly is... it actually turned into quite the struggle to spend it all.

SRI LANKA, ALAWATUGHODA: Cruising around Sri Lanka in June 2019 on my way from Kandy to Sigyriya on my derelict rental moped, I stopped in a small town called Alawatughoda because Google Maps said there was a newly opened luxurious hotel in between these two towns. Google Maps was right so I booked it for a night.

What Google Maps failed to mention was the price of a beer in the minibar at the aforementioned luxury hotel... hence why I cruised back into the nearest town after checking in to buy some entertaining beverages at a more affordable price.

That's how I met the Fine White Wine Man... who greeted me and gave me a tour of his local liquor store plus an adjacent restaurant. He has been a legend globally ever since!

Fast forward to March 2023... I was back in Sri Lanka and wanted to meet this mythical character again. As most of you know... that mission failed... but as most of you also now know.... The Northman don't give up THAT easily

INDIA, CHENNA

INDIA, CHENNAI: Planing on surveying the lands of Chennai extensively in a single day I decided Iw as in the market for a bicycle. But not just any bicycle! The more rusty, ancient and archaic the better. A couple of days ago I ran into just such a cycle and tried to buy it. The owner refused to sell, possibly because he didn't understand I was being serious or as I wanted to complete the purchase using Dollars.

Buying a used bicycle in Chennai was going to be an uphill struggle I realized. On three more occasions I offered $100 for used bicycles worth maximum $5. Each time the owner laughed and said no!

Dejected, sitting in a rickshaw on my way to the hotel and on the verge or giving up my dreams of cycling around Chennai... a stroke of lucks ent from heaven.

I spotted a bicycle repair shop out the window. I saw the street name in Google maps and decided that this street and possibly shop would be my last chance at acquiring one....

INDIA, CHENNAI: Planing on surveying the lands of Chennai extensively in a single day I decided Iw as in the market for a bicycle. But not just any bicycle! The more rusty, ancient and archaic the better. A couple of days ago I ran into just such a cycle and tried to buy it. The owner refused to sell, possibly because he didn't understand I was being serious or as I wanted to complete the purchase using Dollars.

Buying a used bicycle in Chennai was going to be an uphill struggle I realized. On three more occasions I offered $100 for used bicycles worth maximum $5. Each time the owner laughed and said no!

Dejected, sitting in a rickshaw on my way to the hotel and on the verge or giving up my dreams of cycling around Chennai... a stroke of lucks ent from heaven.

I spotted a bicycle repair shop out the window. I saw the street name in Google maps and decided that this street and possibly shop would be my last chance at acquiring one....

INDIA, VARANASI

KOLKATA, INDIA: Sitting in Delhi pondering where to go next on this mini recognisance tour I'm currently on in India in order to ascertain whether a more colourful exciting state than Rajasthan exists, it dawned on me that I've been to the South, West and North of this country but not the East. Looking on the map Kolkatta as it is now called, is right on the border with Bangladesh. It's got plenty of history and a huge population. I figured why not and boarded a flight the next morning headed east.

I didn't know what I was going to do in Calcutta, other than cycle around to try food and see what the city looks like. As often happens though when time is limited your plans go out the window and you end up with a mixed bag of unexpected but fun memories....

RHODES, GREECE:

RHODES, GREECE

RHODES, GREECE

KATHMANDU, NEPAL

HIMALAYA, MANASLU: Trekking during the rainy season in Nepal, when landslides are as ubiquitous as McDonald's restaurants in USA, is a hazardous ordeal. These landslides take entire mountain sides down with them, including of course any trail or road that may be in it's path.

I knew this before I set out on this trek up the Himalayan Manaslu circuit and I was indeed looking forward to it. But once I saw these landslides up close they were even more fun to traverse than anticipated.

Some of them however were so wild they looked and I thought them impossible to cross....

HIMALAYA, MANASLU: Having survived the most treacherous landslide I've ever had the pleasure of scaling followed up by spending a night in an old classic Nepali potato attic, the trek continues further up the Manaslu circuit. We set out as early as possible as we didn't know exactly just how far up the mountain we were going this day.

One thing I did know though; during rainy landslide season in the Himalayas... there is a right and a wrong path! Being hungry for adventure I obviously once again made sure we ended up taking a wrong turn and land on the most treacherous path possible thus ensuring we could expect the unexpected....

HIMALAYA, MANASLU: In the villages of the mountains of Nepal, a locally brewed drink called Roxy is incredibly popular. It looks fairly simple to brew as long as you have the proper cauldrons, enough firewood and ground down corn or millet.

As a huge fan of this beverage, I've always been curious as to the exact method of its production. As I was preparing to trek the Manaslu circuit earlier this year, I ran into a woman who've been brewing for decades. The method was handed down to her by her father, who in turn learnt it from his father. Village life in the mountains of Nepal is obviously no walk in the park and one of the ways this woman have been able to raise her family despite being a widow, is by brewing and running a bar for local porters and passers by entirely on her own. Fascinated that a foreigner took such a keen interested in how Roxy is made in these remote mountains, she invited me to brew from scratch...

HIMALAYA, MANASLU: Going up alone against a massively challenging and dangerous peak whilst also seeing how locals live are my two favourite aspects of trekking the himalayan mountains of Nepal.

Today was my lucky day as I was able to experience both in one and the same day. After first walking up a steep mountain path to a village to see how locals there live, I continue on my own to scale a mountain peak that has not been conquered before.....

MARPHA, MUSTANG: Nepal, although geographically a rather tiny country perched up on the Himalayan plateau, sandwiched in between India and China, is still home to countless older Kingdoms. One of these is the ancient Kingdom of Mustang which dates back all the way to 1380 and wasn't fully merged into Nepal politically speaking before 2008.

Although it doesn't technically exist as a sovereign state anymore, and it's capital Lo Manthang was in Upper Mustang, it's borders extended past the little town of Marpha, whose ancient Thakali culture is very much alive today. Religion, customs, architecture and food have been remarkably well kept alive here in all its glory.

Some of the buildings in Marpha, although of modest construction, contain materials that are 400 years old. The city is also home to a Tibetan community which adds to the history on full display here.

HIMALAYA, NEPAL: Right on the border between lower and upper Mustang, in what is known as the dessert of Nepal, sits a remarkable little village. It looks more like a favela than a village or town. Where one house ends and the other begins is impossible to discern. The rooftops and alleyways blend into one another so you never really know when you're walking on someone's rooftop or an actual alley. It's essentially a village with the aesthetics of the favelas of Rio de Janeiro high up in the Himalayas. Naturally this was something I had to investigate.... but how do you get to this Himalayan Favela when all you see is a sign but no path?

That was no easy task... especially seeing as I started of (as usual) with a horrible wrong turn which turned out to be a near fatal mistako.....

BHAKTAPUR, NEPAL: The Kukri knife, which is actually more akin to a sword despite Nepalis usually preferring to call it by the former, is Nepal's national weapon. It's also one of the most difficult knives to make due to it distinctive curved shape said to mimic the mountains of Nepal's Himalayan mountain range.

Finding a blacksmith who not only knows how to make one, but uses the best and strongest materials thus ensuring you'll end up with a top quality knife, was no easy task. Half a year ago I failed doing so. This time in Nepal I tried again. The first blacksmiths we visited were using old melted down bicycle wheels and melted down scrap metal to make their knives leading to a low quality product.

By chance, with only 3 days left in Nepal, my friend stumbled upon Mr. Purna from Bhojpure's workshop, whose grandfather once made a knife for the King of Nepal and who taught him the tricks of the blacksmithing trade.

BHAKTAPUR, NEPAL; Six months ago I went with President Kumar to see one of the buildings where Sunil houses families undergoing cancer treatment. Downhill Doggo was there too

INDIA, CHENNAI: I've stayed in many high end luxury hotels now over the years but few of them actually offer good value for money given their exorbitant price. Sure they are for the most part memorable and ultra luxurious but you're paying through the nose for your hotel room. Leela Palace Hotel in Chennai was different. Although a 5 star hotel, I actually felt I got great value for the money I spent. From the breakfast buffet, to the gym, pool and other restaurants. The amenities, the service and everything at The Leela Palace was unrivalled and offered exceptional value for money.

Hence what was supposed to be a two day stay, ended up becoming a week of incredible wining and dining at the beachfront in Chennai's biggest city Tamil Nadu.

KOREA, SEOUL

Seoul, South Korea: Le'Escape Hotel Seoul, where I spent my first night in the country was excellent. But I still felt jet-lagged the next morning and not at all ready to go sightseeing around Seoul. I needed another night to revel in five star luxury to recover from my flight. Preferably somewhere with several restaurants, a gym and a swimming pool.

A quick search on Booking.com lead me to Conrad Hotel, a five star sky-rise hotel owned by the Hilton group. The price was high but it is what it is. Luxury is never cheap so I decided to go for it. My goal for the day was to spend over $1000 USD on living life to the fullest.

To make the day more interesting I decided to take the metro to the hotel. That proved easier said than done....

Seoul, South Korea: I am a huge fan of exotic, weird and strange culinary delights. On a day to day basis I eat the same stuff over and over again, but when in lands where you can eat something strange and unique, I am all for it.

One of the weirder meals I've come across here in Seoul is live Octopus. Obviously this was something I had to sample. But there's a lot of exotic dishes that doesn't come from the sea in this city.

Cow intestines and bull heart. Pork ear and calf rectums. This was the night where we truly amde an effort to sample it all!