Without Words - A Final Hurrah to Asia

We at The Great Affairs arrived in England just one week ago and already our memories of Asia are dimming - cream teas, beef and ale pies, scampi, pasties, Guinness and perry cider have delighted our brains into forgetfulness. So before we start writing about our experiences in Old Blighty we want to share just a handful of images from each country we visited on our four month jaunt. Each photo was taken by camera enthusiast, Lara, and generously supported by Lara enthusiast, East. Enjoy.

Halong Bay, Vietnam

Inukshuks, Cambodia

Bangkok, Thailand

Phonsavan, Laos

Hue, Vietnam

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Koh Samui, Thailand

Siem Reap, Cambodia

Melaka, Malaysia

Vang Vieng, Laos

Vientiane, Laos

The Blogs We're Watching

In commemoration of The Great Affairs' rapidly approaching re-release date, we've decided to take a look at some of the blogs that inspire us, make us think or just down right amuse us. The following links include awesomeness:

In his own words, Ryan Paine flips the bird at answers on Socratic Ignorance Is Bliss:
http://ryan-paine.com/

Find a selection of Alec Patric's sensational poetry and prose at a.s.patric.Ink: http://aspatricink.blogspot.com/

Editor of page seventeen Tiggy Johnson shares the meat of her life and work: http://tiggyjohnson.blogspot.com/

Geoff Lemon gets into religion and everything in between on Heathen Scripture: http://heathenscripture.wordpress.com/

Not actually a blog; David Prater's updates on his work and Cordite Poetry Review: http://daveydreamnation.com/

Ashley Capes keeps us in the know on Australian publications: http://ashleycapes.wordpress.com/

And of course, it wouldn't be a list without a little shameless self-promotion. Lara S. Williams writes her first novel and invites you to come along for the ride: http://creatinginmemorium.blogspot.com/

There are many more blogs that deserve to be up here but it's late in steamy old Malaysia and we have to be on a plane to London tomorrow. So please, let us know what you read.

An Update

As many of you know, The Great Affairs has been rather inactive over the last few months. This is due in part to our lengthy stint through Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Malaysia (after all, who can consistently write such excellent cultural essays when there is Bun Bo to be eaten and Muay Thai Boxing to be watched?) Fortunately, all that is about to change. Our four months is up and we are finally on our way to the chilly streets of Edinburgh.

With our move comes a change to The Great Affairs. We're opening the blog up to other writers with travel stories to tell. Each month will feature a new writer with tales of adventure and discovery and their photos and biographies will be permanently stored on our contributor page. When we have a fancy backlog stored up, these pieces will be collected, categorised and uploaded onto The Great Affairs website! A new and upcoming quarterly travel journal featuring writers and images from all over the world.

Never fear, we will still be writing the zany, eye-opening articles you've come to expect. We've just decided to share the fun.


If you, dear readers, have a piece you think we'd like to take a look at then please paste it into an email and send it to the.g.affair@gmail.com. We will be reading for our bumper first issue (expected in 2012) until early November.