Outside Context travel writing has been featured on some of the world’s top websites. Articles have been purchased by Airlines, featured in iPhone Apps, published as questions in degree level English examinations and comments have been posted by everyone from Lonely Planet writers to US Special Forces Lieutenant Colonels!
FREE CHAPTER! Trials & Tea Ceremonies: Misadventures in Far Away Places
Basho2026-07-10T14:00:37+01:00
Critical Praise for “Trials & Tea Ceremonies”
Basho2026-04-09T21:21:43+01:00A hilarious and heartfelt journey for anyone who has ever wondered: "Is this it?" What happens when the life you've built no longer feels like your own? That's exactly [...]
Announcing my new book: Trials & Tea Ceremonies: Misadventures in Far Away Places.
Basho2026-07-27T12:53:36+01:00A love story disguised as a travel memoir. Or perhaps, the other way around. Selected as one of LoveReading’s "Indie Books We Love" If you love books that transport [...]
Things Will Change – a Basho travel film
Basho2026-07-27T12:53:44+01:00Things Will Change A travel film exploring humanity's journey through history, touching on themes of faith, nature, technological advancement, and the essence of human connection. [...]
Cloudy Bay Pinot Noir 2018 – wine review
Basho2021-03-31T19:19:37+01:00I wanted today to take you on a journey to the Marlborough region of New Zealand and elicit a taste of the feelings I have for this area. My [...]
Losing Control, Releasing Nature – The Directors Cut!
Basho2016-10-18T18:49:52+01:00In the last of my series of films re-examining my output over the last 10 years, I present the definitive edition of my film celebrating my wife’s silver gilt award [...]
50 Shades of Uluru
Basho2015-07-12T07:36:04+01:00Come see the ever changing colours of Uluru in all its unbelievably rich and mesmerising splendor at sunset. Followed by the next morning as the sun rises and the colours grow as the sun bathes the rock faces in light.
The Magnificent Temples of Angkor (Special Edition)
Basho2024-06-06T16:19:10+01:00The magic of the temples of Angkor are almost beyond imagination. I met many people on my travels who have claimed to be “templed out” – tired of seeing [...]
Wudang Mountain – Climbing the Dao in China
Basho2024-06-06T16:58:30+01:00A journey to Wudang Mountain; the small mountain range in the northwestern part of Hubei, China, just south of Shiyan. This film details the 20,000 steps up this magical [...]
New Zealand – Country of Contrasts (Special Edition)
Basho2024-06-06T17:03:48+01:00After watching LOTR for the first time I started a long journey of the heart. The first steps were the reading of the book itself, now and forever with the [...]
Endings and Beginnings – Basho and Cesca return home from their adventures
Basho2016-10-18T18:50:19+01:00Endings are actually beginnings too. This is what I told myself as I sat in the tiny, oh so tiny, room in Osaka. It's one of those glass half empty [...]
Kyoto, Nara, Himeji, green tea and finding inner peace
Basho2024-06-06T16:41:57+01:00I have written before about travellers wanting a point to it all, to travelling. In part this is perhaps seen as them wanting to justify the vast cost of [...]
Mount Fuji, Tokyo and the 200 mph Bullet Train
Basho2016-10-18T18:50:30+01:00I wallowed comfortably in the exceedingly warm waters, the balmy mountain air was cool and smelled of the rich wood my surroundings were constructed from. I was butt-naked and in [...]
Tsukiji Fish Market, Adventures in Sushi and the Edo-Tokyo Museum
Basho2016-10-18T18:50:30+01:004am in Tokyo, Japan trickled around and we were ready to go. We skipped breakfast and headed down to the famous Tsukiji Fish Market. It opened at 5:30am and back [...]
Tokyo: Akihabara, Asakusa and Shibuya
Basho2016-10-18T18:50:30+01:00Tokyo, like Beijing and especially like Delhi, is a city that one could spend a lifetime in and never feel a sense of completion. The Japanese way of doing things [...]
Arriving in Japan
Basho2016-10-18T18:50:30+01:00I have always looked at maps of the world and wondered if they skew perspective. America appears massive while Australia and India are diminished and Japan… well, miniscule. Even when [...]
Beijing and the Great Wall – Our final days in China
Basho2024-06-06T19:18:48+01:00"So," said Cesca loudly and clearly, just as I was drinking from a water bottle, "What's all this about China and Tiananmen Square?" I almost did a spit take. [...]
China’s National Treasures – Pandas and the Terracotta Warriors
Basho2021-03-29T11:05:20+01:00Everyone loves Pandas and at the Panda Conservation Centre near Chengdu, China is probably the best place to see them in the world. Watching them reminded me of the [...]
Tiger Leaping Gorge & Lijiang
Basho2016-10-18T18:50:41+01:00Flanked by several enormous mountains, Tiger Leaping Gorge is top contender for the deepest gorge in the world. The upper road of the gorge makes for some breath-taking hiking and [...]
Yaks for tea and Tibetan Temples. Living the high life in Shangri-la
Basho2024-06-06T16:59:50+01:00"You have to imagine," said the man in broken English, "that this..." he gestured his hands at the view in front of us, "big lake... flood wide and deep... great water!" He broke into a wide toothy smile.
China: Li River to Shangri-La
Basho2016-10-18T18:50:50+01:00At one point in our journey I actually advocated to Cesca that we skip China. That she didn’t listen, and talked me round, proves clearly that I don’t know everything and [...]
Hong Kong : The Most Photogenic City in the world
Basho2016-10-18T18:50:53+01:00Certain cities in the world are instantly recognisable from hundreds of classic movies that have been set there. No one could mistake Paris, New York or London on film, but [...]
The day I met the Buddha, and killed him
Basho2024-06-06T16:55:30+01:00Delhi. Many people say they have “done” Delhi, but in all honesty they haven’t. They have perhaps done the tourist parts of New Delhi, or maybe [...]
Shimla mountains and a happy meeting
Basho2016-10-18T18:51:17+01:00When you travel through a country, especially if you are using a published travel guide, you are walking a well trodden path. Indeed maybe a thousand people are doing it with you simultaneously. This has a very strong effect over time, as more and more guest houses start catering only to the backpacker and spring up all along the route, which had myriad knock-on effects. Such as: taxi services who know the guide books better than you do and hordes of travellers at ever corner all "experiencing" the local atmosphere; all the time failing to realise that they are in a "bubble" like a Disney theme park ride.
Jaipur, the Kalka–Shimla Railway and onto Shimla
Basho2016-10-18T18:51:27+01:00I sat on the balcony and considered the view. The remote 7800ft high mountain town of Shimla flowed over the hills in front of our hotel. The roofs were the [...]
Hong Kong City Blues – Special Edition
Basho2021-03-29T11:05:47+01:00This is a “Special Edition” of my Hong Kong at night film. The beautiful skyline of Hong Kong at night! Come with us through the brightly [...]
Jaisalmer, sandcastle of India
Basho2016-10-18T18:51:28+01:00Jaisalmer is a town located 575 m west from the state capital Jaipur. It lies in the heart of the Thar Desert On the road, and neatly tucked into our [...]
It Shouldn’t Happen to a Backpacker: The Moth Story
Basho2016-10-18T18:51:34+01:00As a traveller you know, and even expect, the unknown to occur. You want this; for some it’s the whole point of leaving their home in the first place. It’s usually to do with the fun stuff like walking the Great Wall, eating Sushi in Tokyo Fish Market or jumping off a bridge in New Zealand with only an elastic band to prevent your death.
Agra and the Taj Mahal
Basho2016-10-18T18:51:40+01:00Ask a hundred people where in the world they would like to visit most of all and a significant percentage of them will say Agra, home of the Taj Mahal. [...]
Varanasi – City of the Hindus
Basho2025-05-03T11:55:21+01:00Many Indian cities are a jumble, a mix of the ancient and modern, but nowhere I have ever been compares in this regard to Varanasi. [...]
Tuk Tuk in the dark – A journey into Varanasi
Basho2016-10-18T18:51:47+01:00There was only one time in our journey around India that I didn’t feel entirely safe, one moment where I thought to myself, “Ah, this is potentially a dangerous situation” [...]
Bodh Gaya Part 2 and onwards to Sarnath
Basho2016-10-18T18:51:47+01:00Eating food in India is no joke. On one hand there are high-end coffee cafes that have prices that could only make sense to the gainfully employed. High-end coffee needs to be carefully metered out as it is too comforting and familiar a western experience to eat in such a cafe. Not only does it take you away from your local-encounters in this mighty country, but also takes a large amount of Indian coin from your purse and that directly affects how much you have to spend on the fun things.
Bodh Gaya and the Tree of Enlightenment
Basho2022-02-08T20:54:20+00:00“Who are your inspirational hero’s?” I asked a friend.“Dunno. King David, I guess, would be one.”“Awesome answer,” I said, impressed that he hadn’t picked a modern actor or, worse, a [...]
Kolkata (Calcutta) – the black hole of India
Basho2016-10-18T18:51:51+01:00There are two questions I am most asked about travelling the world. The first is, “What was our favourite place?” This is by far the harder of [...]
Varkala & Holi : Kerala part two
Basho2016-10-18T18:51:58+01:00Varkala is a very popular tourist destination with western travellers. Similar to Goa in many respects, it is a large beach front collection of Happy Bars and cheap hostels. Our [...]
Kerala, the heat and the wonder of Southern India: part one
Basho2016-10-18T18:51:58+01:00Kerala the beautiful; the green of a million palm trees, the blue of warm waters. Kerala the red of the sun at set; its light rays refracted to a ruby [...]
This Is India Podcast (part 2)
Basho2021-03-29T11:21:08+01:00Welcome back! This is the second podcast in the This Is India collection. It tells of Cesca and my journey high above the sweltering plains of India to the [...]
Mysore
Basho2016-10-18T18:52:11+01:00In India, catching a tuk tuk and negotiating the fare – or even the simple existence of the destination – is a national pastime. Not one driver, in three months, took us where we wanted to go without comment, argument or an all out fight. At first, this grates on the nerves and then you cant help but be brought down by it. Then you feel victimised for being western and (relatively) rich. You start to think that they are all out to get you personally. However, it is none of these; it is an official sport. Take it as a sport, a sparring match, and you suddenly find it fun.
Basho and Cesca visit Bangalore, and kind of wish they hadn’t
Basho2016-10-18T18:52:11+01:00Bangalore is a strange place because it is just like cities at home. Almost slap bang in the middle of India, it sits like a jigsaw piece put in the [...]
This Is India Podcast
Basho2021-03-29T11:22:44+01:00Hello and welcome to an experiment! Cecsa and I have sat down and recorded a podcast of our time in Anegundi in India. This is a total-first for us [...]
Outside Context New Zealand articles now on iPhone
Basho2016-10-18T18:52:19+01:00The most common question I have been asked by people after returning home is, “which was your favourite country to visit?” For Cesca and I it has to be the [...]
Goa: The Beach Life
Basho2016-10-18T18:52:20+01:00I lay on my back and tried to relax. The sound of rolling waves crashed back and forth in the distance, which helped. However, the sun was beating down, heating [...]
The Ellora Caves
Basho2016-10-18T18:52:20+01:00One of the unique things about India, and one that you never quite come to terms with, is the trains. I would even go as far as to say that [...]