Anna Maria Espsäter

Writer's Biography

A native of Sweden, Anna Maria has lived and worked in Holland, Mexico and is currently based in London, United Kingdom where she works as a freelance writer and translator. She has a passion for independent travel, particularly around Latin America and Asia, but there probably isn’t a single country in the world she wouldn’t visit given the chance. Having survived earthquake, tropical disease, armed robbery and assault while on the road she still hasn’t given up travelling and has the scars to prove it. When not writing or travelling she enjoys cooking, sampling the delights of London and watching Buffy the Vampire slayer.

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Featured Travel Stories in Oriental Tales Magazine

Pusan, South Korea: "Slumming it" in Korea - Story by Anna Maria Espsäter
- 5th Online Issue

The truth is I didn’t know the first thing about South Korea. I’d had one of my mad impulses again and decided to jet off by ferry to the port city of Pusan, or Busan as it’s also known, with a friend of mine while on a two week trip around Japan. Thus we arrived with no information, no hotel booking, no map or even the slightest grasp of Korean. One day I will learn my lesson and simply buy a guidebook to every country surrounding the one I’m actually going to, as I’m always prone to these spur of the moment dashes. Still, arriving without a guidebook can be an adventure in itself and not always a bad idea.

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Myanmar: My Man in Myanmar - Story by Anna Maria Espsäter
- 4th Online Issue

It simply couldn’t be done. That’s what every travel agent in Bangkok told us. It just wasn’t possible to travel overland into Myanmar from Sangkhlaburi in western Thailand. We were going to have to book expensive flights from Bangkok to the capital, Yangon with a specialist travel agent who would arrange our visas and we’d have to part with $100 a day to be able to pay a visit. Never mind the fact that this was way over our budget, my friend and I also had no particular desire to pay cold, hard cash straight into the pockets of one of the world’s most notorious military regimes. Instead we decided to risk it and make our own way up to the border town of Sangkhlaburi to see if we could make the crossing - despite the warnings.

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