Ben Zabulis
Born to emigrant parents in 1957, Ben's early years were spent in Nottingham, UK. Aged 16, having endured a poor school campaign, an apprenticeship distracted from the rigours of further education. However, Ben re-gained academia some years later by undertaking an Engineering degree course at Nottingham Trent. Armed with a BSc and feeling liberated, a few jobs up and down the country failed to compete with a growing thirst for adventure and, surprising all, he applied (madly, most surmised) for a post in Nigeria; of course, nobody was more surprised than his parents who would easily recall how, as a child, Ben would fall lamentably homesick when barely a stone's throw distant.
So, Ben departed for Africa employed as a civil engineer to work on a variety of projects, typically a university campus, a biscuit factory refurb and a chicken farm. A baptism of fire they called it and they were right. Two and a half years later, sanity in tatters, Ben returned to civilisation to attain chartered status and buy a house, but that wouldn’t do. The call of exotica remained ever-enticing and, just a few years later (1990), a design job in Tokyo beckoned, needless to say, addicted to adventure, he was off. Japan would be totally different, clean, law-abiding and extremely photogenic, a must, to satiate his other great desire - photography. Although Japan didn't disappoint, the land of the rising sun's work ethic took some getting used to and, realising that any sort of a life was preferable to karoshi (Japanese for death by overwork) Ben jumped ship to work in Hong Kong; a different proposition entirely, east meets west, all the quirks of the Orient but with a rakish undertone. Seconded as a civil works advisor to China Light and Power it suited Ben for twelve years, long enough to morph slowly into an out and out Sinophile, enthusiast of all things Asian, gain the right of abode and meet partner Hilary, also from Nottingham - both having travelled to the other side of the globe to find each other!
In 2004, they both opted for a break and returned to UK. Being a keen reader of travel literature and with time - amid house decorating - to spare Ben decided to try himself. Not a writer per se, it was a daunting idea; could it really be done ? Ben was used to preparing engineering reports; anything else was limited to admittedly well-received, short articles for a company magazine. Nevertheless, the concrete foundations, so to speak, of a tale worth telling formed; afternoons thus spent fingers dancing busily upon a computer keyboard. Despite a cottage industry for the genre, travel would be key, an injection of personal experience and humour making the difference; to do for engineers perhaps what James Heriot did for vets. Consequently, it was only in 2012, after years of doubt, hesitation and re-writes, that a publishing consultant offered the thumbs up, as did a professional reader who suggested that documentary producers and film makers might even show interest; well, if it happened to Salmon Fishing in the Yemen it could happen to Chartered Territory - An Engineer Abroad.