A fishing village in Phu Quoc, Vietnam & Hin bus depot art gallery in Penang, Malaysia

Authentic Gems is an idea thought up whilst planning my route through Thailand, Vietnam & Cambodia for my first backpacking trip in 2017. However the philosophy behind it was developed over the few years previous; since starting work as a freelance designer. As a result of my work with independent creatives & startups I’ve been lucky to meet some amazing people. I have discovered the awesome things they are doing. While being inspired by the places they have created. I started to blog as a way to share & promote their creativity.

Authentic Gems is about discovering & shining a light on those people & places that make me believe that originality & authenticity still exists. As well as sharing their stories with whoever wants to listen.

Summer 2019 update

Having been nowhere near as active with this as I had intended to be. Whilst struggling to find my motivation after a bit too long travelling on my savings and not doing any work. I used authentic gems as a way to help get my inspiration back, and found myself writing a few more personal posts. It was at this point I come to the realisation that having a blog based on authenticity is a bit hypocritical if I’m not really being Authentic myself.

So I made a decision to try to be more open and share a more personal insight into the reality of my life as a solo traveller living with anxiety. Anxiety that I could easily have let stop me from beginning this crazy journey to begin with.

Photo of the Sunset in Ao nang, Krabi, Thailand by Hannah Cackett owner of Authentic Gems travel blog

I would love to hear your experiences of any of the places featured on Authentic Gems. Or if you have discovered any gems of your own, please do get in touch

hannah@authenticgems.co.uk
Or you can get involved on social media @authenticgems_