Documenting the 10 birds who have crapped on my head in just over two years of round-the-world travel.

Before jumping into my Burma coverage, I need to share a disturbing problem I’ve had on my round-the-world trip: birds love to shit on me. On this round-the-world trip alone, 9 birds have crapped on my head.

Most people do get sick on the road at one point in their travels. If you are lucky, your illness will require a quick trip to the doctor and some antibiotics or anti-parasite medication. If you are me, your illnesses will straddle several continents, a multitude of body parts and an exploration of Eastern and Western medicine – all in the span of one year.

Greetings from Melaka, Malaysia! I am still planning on doing a post on the wonderful three weeks I spent in Beijing (including all the delicious food that I consumed), but I wanted to post a brief update here.

Off your typical backpacking circuit, arriving in Mongolia at dawn via Train 362 was shock to the system.

There is something utterly spellbinding about the Trans-Siberian Railway. The brutally hot summers in the Gobi desert, the terrifyingly cold winters in Siberia and the sheer massiveness of 10 time zones in going from Point A to Point B all contribute to the magnetic appeal of the trip.