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Johan Smits

Freelance writer, translator, web content developer, author of the novel Phnom Penh Express and Tommy, a short story. Johan has travelled extensively since leaving his native Antwerp. He has lived in Taiwan, West Africa, Central Asia, Bangladesh, Cambodia and Thailand, where he now lives. Loves trying out local brews but tends to avoids noise. Chronically indecisive about where to lay down his hat.
5 Wonderful Festivals of Lights Not to Be Missed

5 Wonderful Festivals of Lights Not to Be Missed

The symbolic power of light has always played a powerful role in the world’s many cultural and religious traditions. But apart from their traditional significance, festivals of lights are also…

5 Unmissable Hindu Festivals of India

5 Unmissable Hindu Festivals of India

Considering its vast size and enormous population, it’s no surprise that India is an incredible diverse country home to many different ethnic groups and religions. And with each of these…

The Longest Beach in the World: Cox’s Bazar

The Longest Beach in the World: Cox’s Bazar

After crisscrossing Bangladesh by boat and bus, Johan Smits concludes his Bengal travel saga in Cox’s Bazar and gets away from it all on the longest beach in the world…

Travel Begins at 40 Guide to Carbon Offsetting

Travel Begins at 40 Guide to Carbon Offsetting

Thanks to Greta Thunberg, it’s all the buzz at the moment in the aviation world, but is effective carbon offsetting more complicated than it sounds? Travel Begins at 40 walks…

Into the Chittagong Hill Tracts: Rangamati

Into the Chittagong Hill Tracts: Rangamati

Johan Smits visits Rangamati Bangladesh in the travel-restricted Chittagong Hill Tracts – the country’s highlands and home of the Jumma people. I’m on my way from Chittagong, Bangladesh’s largest port…

Bangkok Attractions – A Nostalgic Journey

Bangkok Attractions – A Nostalgic Journey

In the second of this two-part series featuring his favourite Bangkok attractions, Johan Smits leads us off the tourist trail to five nostalgic gems. Bangkok Attractions: Scala Cinema Remember the…

7 Undiscovered Things to Do in Bangkok

7 Undiscovered Things to Do in Bangkok

In the first of this two-part series on things to do in Bangkok, Johan Smits brings us to seven of his favourite creative and green spots that Bangkok is hiding…

Bangladesh Travel: Rivers, Relics and Wrecks

Bangladesh Travel: Rivers, Relics and Wrecks

After visiting the capital Dhaka and taking a voyage to the Sundarbans mangrove forest, Johan Smits continues his Bangladesh travel by road, river and rail, encountering ancient relics and huge…

5 Great Mongolia Festivals Not to Be Missed

5 Great Mongolia Festivals Not to Be Missed

From horse-drawn sledges on a frozen lake to the world’s biggest camel race in the Gobi desert, Travel Begins at 40 has selected five great Mongolia festivals for 2020. Tsagaan…

Bangladesh Rickshaw Art : Photo Journey

Bangladesh Rickshaw Art : Photo Journey

Travel Begins at 40’s Johan Smits shares his love of the brilliant rickshaw art in Bangladesh with a series of colourful photos. To foreign visitors in Bangladesh, the ubiquitous and…

How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint When Flying

How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint When Flying

Travel Begins at 40 looks at how to optimise your carbon footprint reduction when travelling by plane is unavoidable. The aviation industry is increasingly painted as the black sheep amongst…

5 Wonderful Asia Off-The-Beaten-Track Destinations

5 Wonderful Asia Off-The-Beaten-Track Destinations

Travel Begins at 40 spills the beans about five themed and truly off-the-beaten-track destinations in different parts of Asia. When travelling in Asia, you may feel it’s getting increasingly hard…

9 Things to Do in Antwerp in Winter

9 Things to Do in Antwerp in Winter

Antwerp, one of Lonely Planet’s top 10 cities in 2018 and unofficial capital of Flanders, belongs on everyone’s bucket list. Home to Belgium’s best nightlife and filled with historical monuments…

The No Fly Movement and Flygskam: What Is It?

The No Fly Movement and Flygskam: What Is It?

Johan Smits discusses abandoning flying with flygskam or the No Fly movement in the UK and Sweden. Have you heard yet of flygskam, Swedish for ‘flight shaming’? It’s the No…

Voyage to the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest

Voyage to the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest

Taking an old paddlewheel steamer from Dhaka to the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest in Bangladesh, Johan Smits finds poetry, a lost city and a vast water forest. “What beauty, what shades…

Luang Prabang: Laos Past or Future?

Luang Prabang: Laos Past or Future?

Searching for peace, quiet and beauty, Johan Smits finds in Luang Prabang a stunning little town at a crossroads. One tropical evening we find ourselves sitting in the nearly empty…