I love to travel, solo or together with friends. I’m writing this blog in part to remind myself of where I’ve been and what I’ve enjoyed about this wonderful world of ours, and in part I hope to help other travellers by sharing my experiences. I’m happy to be contacted for further information and appreciate your following my blog.
Koh Panang is one of dozens of islands in Thailand, located along the east coast in the Andaman Sea and off the west coast in the Gulf of Thailand. Like most of them, Koh (meaning island) Pha-Ngan is a holiday destination for flocks of beach goers from all corners of the globe. Popular with backpackers, families, solo travellers, snowbirds and the like, the islands are accustomed to foreign visitors and have really smooth operations that get you from airports to ports, on to ferries, and finally out to the islands.
From my limited knowledge I would think that Koh Panang is fairly typical. White sandy beaches, lots of excursions and activities and plenty of partying, especially notable as we were there for New Years. As evidence of some free spirited behaviour we same many bandaged people on the beaches following the celebrations.
The main transport around the island are rented scooters and motos, which accounted for many of the bandaged limbs and heads we spotted after New Years.
After the heat and hard work negotiating our way through Cambodia it was nice to have a few days of sun, sand and delicious Thai food.Heather had a friend from the UK on Koh Pha-Ngan and she was there with friends from New Zealand. They were a lively bunch of family and friends and were so much fun. The usual FB friends invites transpired and hopefully our paths will cross again. They come to Koh Panang yearly, for several months at a time, and I think this is true of many of the island visitors.
We stayed at the See Through Boutique Hotel which did not live up to the photos on Hotels.com. It was OK but not great in terms of the rooms themselves, in definite need of some upgrades and paint. But you couldn’t beat the location and for a small fee we moved from a standard hotel type room to a bungalow which had a veranda with hammock, a fridge and air conditioning. Right on the beach it was a short walk to their beach front restaurant which served a decent breakfast but not so great after that. Massage of course is a main event and at about $15.00CAD I enjoyed a couple of sessions.
And now on to the real job of traveling and seeing the historic and cultural sites of SE Asia. With Cambodia done my next stop is Yangon, Myanmar, formerly Rangoon, Burma.
Phnom Penh is a capital but in comparison to other SE Asian capitals it is still relatively easy to get to know and travelling about in Tuk Tuks, armed with google maps, proved an economic and efficient means of getting around through the crowds and traffic.
The city is situated along the Tonle Sap and Mekong Rivers which eventually empties itself into the Mekong delta in VietNam. The Okay Boutique Hotel our home for four nights was off a main artery, up a narrow alley and very close to the places you want to visit in Phnom Penh. The lobby of the hotel, heavy and dark with carved and filigreed highly polished wood and tiled floors glinting with gold coloured floral designs is quite elegant. The giant Buddha, leather furniture and water ponds with floating lotus combine to make you feel like you are snuggly inside an old wooden jewelry box.
We noticed a change in city folk right away, as one would expect. It took a little longer to get friendly service and the warm Cambodian smile, but generally we faired once we learned we had to bargain and make certain that we weren’t overcharged by the Tuk Tuk drivers that hangout in front of hotels. Money in Cambodia is interesting as the US dollar is dispensed in ATM’s, accepted everywhere, given as change and can be mixed at will when paying or getting change. The rate while for us was 4000 Cambodia Riel to 1USD. The mix of currencies was fairly fluid and easy to keep track of in the end.
Our hotel was close to most of the main attractions; the Royal Palace, the Royal Museum and the main Watt, the Silver Pagoda. We spent our mornings out and about but admittedly were driven back to our hotel and the pool by the afternoon heat. Up on the 14th floor the pool afforded a great view of the surrounding city, a patchwork of jumbled together shorter buildings, alleys main thoroughfare and an ever growing number of glassy modern towers. Cambodias main exports are agricultural products and fabrics/clothing. Tourism is growing and there is evidence of economic growth in the hustle and bustle.
The horror of the Khmer Rouge all but sent Cambodia, once one of the jewels of the orient, back to the stone ages. All commerce, religion, ownership, personal freedom or political choice were forbidden by Pol Pot and his regime and 25% of the population died between 1975 and 1979. By the time the Vietnamese Government helped establish a new style of communist government in the 80’s, not so cruel as the Khmer Rouge, all families had suffered loses and many had fled the country. Today you do not see a lot of old people in Cambodia with the largest population group being under 30. At the killing fields we saw large school groups being lead through the history of this dark time with a reminder never to let history repeat itself in the same way again.
We were warned frequently to watch our bags and we had read in our guide books that tourists had been robbed and even shot so we were very cautious at night, carrying only what was necessary and sticking mainly to the busy areas along the Mekong River or surrounding the markets.
The markets are worth visiting if only for the street food. The Night Market was our first and we ate barbecue at several stalls. You pick your food with tongs, place it in a basket and hand it over for cooking. Not as spicey as Thai food, Cambodian spicing is more subtle, lots of lemongrass and capsicum.
We visited the “Russian Market” as it is known, it is a newer market but the passage ways are very narrow and it is really crowded with food sellers in the middle and dry goods people surrounding them. Not easy to negotiate and we found most of the merchandise was low quality. We didn’t stay long were glad we went.
The Central Market is another story. A permanent dome structure covers the market and the passageways are wider and the stalls organized according to merchandise, it’s earlier to find what you’re looking for and seemingly you can buy just about anything but be prepared to barter.
Along the shore of the Tonle Sap River is the Sisowath Quay where Cambodians picnic, exercise and enjoy the cool night air surrounded by a vast array of coloured lights on boats and building. Very pretty and colourful. We ate and people watched in a few restaurants in this area and our last night at a seafood restaurant near the Russian market. It was a longer ride from our hotel, but well worth it. We dined on a wonderful lemongrass and shrimp stir fry with rice followed by a peppered crab stir fry with glass noodles. Very good. We have found that ordering two dishes and sharing family style works really well.
On the whole Cambodia is very inexpensive, a Tuk Tuk in the city is generally 2 or 3USD to get you where you’re going, and a meal with a beer or a G&T around 5USD. We stayed a little upmarket (50CAD) but it was worth it to have a quiet place off the main streets with a pool.
Gentle, kind and beautiful my travels in Cambodia have been made easy and enjoyable by the people. I’m traveling with my friend Heather for a few weeks before she returns to work in England. She kindly met me at the international airport in Bangkok after a long flight from London. We transferred to the smaller airport and flew off to Siem Reap where we stayed at a lovely little guesthouse off the noisy tourist streets. Chheng Residence Hotel was lovely with a garden pool area and very helpful staff. Always good to have somewhere to cool down the body temp after a long hot day of exploring.
Siem Reap Psar Chas area by day
After dinner and a swim, we wandered out into the evening and strolled down the avenues to the river and into Psar Chas, the old French colonial heart of Siem Reap. There are markets, restaurants and bars tucked away in the old French-era shophouses and the Main Street of the area is known as Pub street. There were tons of tourists and it was crowded but still somehow manages to keep a small town feeling. Lots of travellers, vacationers mingling with the Khmer people as the Cambodians and their language are called.
Other than the pretty zip of this little town people come to Siem Reap to visit the Angkor Temples, impressive monuments to the greatest ancient civilization in SE Asia. These 12th century temples were originally built as places of Hindu worship and later over the eons converted to Buddhist Temples. There are more than one hundred monuments spread over 3000 acres that mark where the Angkor era was born and marked by huge building projects. We managed to visit Angkor Wat, Angkor Thom and Phnom Bakheng for the sunset. After repeated attacks from Siam in the 15th century the city was abandoned and lost to the jungle. An extraordinary set of ruins one can see where the early people of Cambodia lived and worshipped and displayed their wealth and culture.
Famously crowded
Angkor Watt
Our Lovely Guide
Angkor Watt with Tuk Tuk Driver/Guide
We had a nice mix of town/country while in the Siem Reap area by shifting from the Chheung Residence to the Bong Thom Forest Lodge about twenty minutes by Tuk Tuk outside of Siem Reap. A beautiful resort hotel it had proximity to some of the lesser visited temples and was a nice respite from the hustle and bustle of the city. The food was great and we were given a “certified” cooking lesson on how to make mango salad and the national dish of fish amok, a coconut cream base mildly spiced dish served with rice.
There are buses and vans etc that will get you from Siem Reap. To Phnom Penh the capital, but since hiring a private car was a $100USD option we decided on that and it would allow us to make a couple of stops along the way. Our driver was great and our first request was to stop and see the floating villages on Tonle Sap Lake. Interestingly, the people who live in the floating villages are mostly stateless ethnic Vietnamese fishermen and their families. The homes are pretty basic and the lake is not somewhere you would want to swim but it is pretty nonetheless and bordered by green rice fields. We stuck to the land roads but you are able to catch one of many boat tours that take you up and down the lake and to a variety of villages, some genuinely floating and other on poles. We also tried to visit some Monks who live along highway 6 near Kompong but our driver was unable to locate the school where a Canadian friend had volunteered. It was a long day in the car, broken up by a couple of stops and a great lunch we finally entered Phnom Penh as dark was settling in.
For me, there is no place like a big city before Christmas kicks off, and London is no slouch when it comes to lighting up for the festive season. Everywhere you turn there are trees, streets, buildings and anything else that doesn’t move, festooned with bright lights, making even the usual things to do all the more enjoyable.
Sights and Sounds of London with Christmas Flair
Luckily, I spent the first few nights in Kensington at the Holiday Inn. I say luckily because this was a complimentary upgrade from Hotels.com as my original hotel (not nearly as swank), was overbooked. A lovely predicament….my room was big by London standards, indeed I could have swung a cat by the tail in a complete circle without touching a wall. It even had a comfortable queen size bed and was in a great location. Shops, restaurants, the underground and great wandering, all right out side my door. I’m oddly happy that it gets dark in pre-Christmas London, because the holiday lights are fantastic.
Staying in Kensington I was close to Hyde Park so I took in the Queen Victoria exhibits celebrating the 200th anniversary of her birth in Kensington Palace. There were exhibits of her toys including a huge dollhouse and puppet theatre. Of course it sounds lovely to have it all and live in a palace but at what cost to personal freedom. Her history as a grownup was covered in the the crown exhibition including jewels (pretty ornate) and her story as a woman (apparently she opposed the franchise for women), mother (lots of children), wife (adored Albert by all accounts) and monarch (long did she reign).
Using both the internet and TKTS ticket both in Leicester Square (best place to get discounted same day tickets), I was able to see a number of productions. In a small theatre just off Leicester Square I saw Miss Kiddy and the Cads, the ultimate in vintage sophistication but with a modern twist giving a jazz beat to contemporary hit tunes. The audience included a couple of avid fans that never miss a Miss Kiddy show, one of whom came miles to see her. Lots of fun.
In contrast, the next night I ventured out to the Royal Albert Hall for the BT Christmas Concert featuring the Royal Symphony Orchestra with the BT choir and the London Community Gospel choir which rocked the house. People were on their feet singing, dancing and clapping, “taken to church” by the great vocals.
Seeing Hamilton in the Victoria Palace Theatre, was a highlight. Had great seats 4 rows from the stage so could see the details of the action. A real homage to the long forgotten roll of Blacks in gaining independence from England and in the writing of the US constitution.
A new musical called & Juliet was playing at the Shaftesbury and I got to witness William Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway attempting to sort out their flagging marriage by cowriting a very different ending to the Romeo and Juliet. Lots of fun and quirky twists and best of all the music was chosen from contemporary hits sung to complement the story line which caused lots of laughter in the audience. Picture Juliet (not dead) singing I’m On Fire. And to cap off a perfect evening, just wandering my way through the West End, China Town and surrounding streets to and from the theatre was pleasure in itself.
Prior to heading to St. Martin’s in the Field, I was given a personal tour of the palatial Foreign Office, built to impress, by a young friend who works there. A lovely young woman, Liz and I even had a peek at No. 10 Downing as we exited the Foreign Office before heading to dine in the Crypt of St. Marin’s. St. Martin’s is another personal favourite thing to do, the acoustics are fantastic and the world class Academy of St. Martin’s performed Vivaldi’s “Winter” and were joined by a children’s choir for Christmas Carols. As at Royal Albert Hall the audience was invited to sing-along at least part of the time. London audiences love this participation element and you’d never know they had just experienced a terrorist attack on London bridge or that the UK was on the brink of a national election that might see them exit the EU. (We all know the results as I edit)
Close to St. Martin’s is Covent Garden with the Royal Opera House, Christmas markets and restaurants and where opera singers are the buskers. Cold but relatively clear, it was a good night to wander the streets all the way from Covent Garden, through Trafalgar Square, Up Regent Street and along to Oxford Circus.
Last accommodation was a tube ride away from Kensington on the Piccadilly Line to Finsbury Park where I met up with friends Dawn & Craig in a rented air BnB. Not the fanciest digs but a basic two bedroom flat with a kitchen was fine as we spent most of our time out and about. A trip to the Christmas Market on the Southbank, Harrods and Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park were great fun.
No trip to London is complete without visiting the zebra cross-walk where the Beatles famously strode their way to the Abbey Road Recording Studio. Close by is the Regent Canal and Little Venice where you can take a longboat to Camden Locks and the market and shops that were home to punk rockers but are now mainly touristy. Packed with Christmas shoppers it was cheek to jowl on the tube back to the flat.
Saying goodbye to Dawn and Craig (they left for Scotland) and I headed out to a hotel close to Heathrow for a couple of nights before I fly off to Bangkok. Another London chapter concludes!
Get to know this fabulous world capital in all its glory.
The first thing many people think when you say “Mexico City” is big, dirty and dangerous. In my opinion you can visit Mexico City safely and enjoyably and not sacrifice your independence if you are a solo traveller or in the company of others. The few common sense tips that follow will hopefully assuage the anxiety that might stop you from getting to know this fabulous world capital in all its glory.
Airport Arrival: Once you’ve fetched your bag, head to the taxi booths and book a taxi direct to your hotel. Just follow the signs that point to the taxi booths that are inside the airport, not out on the street. They take credit cards and will guide you to where the taxis are waiting. It costs considerably more than a taxi off the curb but it will get you where you are going swiftly and safely. My Mexico City friends assure me this is the best way to ensure personal safety. Be sure and have the name and address of your destination written out to show the taxi drivers. Study maps before you get to Mexico City to get a sense of where your hotel is and how long it should take to get there. Know at least a few basic words in Spanish, por favor and gracias go a long way.
Hotel/Accomodation: The important choice of where to stay in Mexico City is based on what you want to see and do and also on your budget. I find that most hotels in Mexico City are cheaper and just as nice as those in Canada. I haven’t used Air BnB in Mexico City so I won’t comment and I always use the same hotel booking app because it offers a free night for every ten nights you book through them. (Hotels.com) For someone headed to the city for the first time, I would recommend staying in and around La Reforma Close to the Historic Centre. Generally, highly touristed areas, like La Reforma, are the safest given you use all the usual safety precautions you would in any large city. This area is modern, lots of cafes, restaurants, great movie theatres, museums, galleries, antique stores, specialty markets, shopping and access to transportation. For first-timers the easiest way to see many sights is to use the Mexico City “Hop on Hop Off Bus”. The bus is great, has English audio, frequent stops and can be ridden for a full loop to get an overview and then used to go back to the places at the top of your list. I haven’t used it for a few years but as a Mexico City “beginner” it was my go to to get myself oriented.
Colonias: Mexico City is divided into areas known as Colonias, some you visit and some you don’t. As a general rule the closer you are to the Historic Zone the easier it will be to get around and stay safe. Over the years I have stayed right on La Reforma in the Colonia Centro, within walk distance of the Zocalo, the Plaza Meyor de Mexico. Very busy area and fun for people watching. There is often an event or an affair taking place in the Plaza and the giant Mexican flag flying above the square reminds you of the pride of the Mexican people. Close by are many sights such as the Mexico City Catedral and the National Palace of Mexico City, not to mention prehispánic ruins.
Over the years I have also stayed in Condesa, an artistic neighbourhood with some really great Art Deco architecture and next door to “Roma” recently made famous in the award winning movie of the same name. Roma is known as a Beaux Arts neighborhood and is one of the oldest in Mexico City. Both of these Colonias are very near to Chapultepec Park where you will find the Museum of Anthropology and Modern Art amongst others. There is also a palace museum on the top of a small hill and the history of Mexico is on display there. The park is full of amusements for families who take full advantage of this green space to enjoy Sunday picnics and family outings.
TheZona Rosa, a gay friendly colonia, is fun too and has lots of funky shops, restaurants and bars as well as antique markets that are fascinating and give a glimpse into daily life for a Mexican family in days gone by.
Coyoacan has been the most favourite of my colonias, but has recently gained a rival in Nápoles but they are very different places and they are favourites for very different reasons. I love Coyoacan, once a sleepy little pueblo south of the City it has long since been swallowed up but still maintains its charm and pueblo personality. Of course it is home to Freda Kahlo’s famous Blue Casa and not too far away, the house where Trotsky took refuge but still managed to be assassinated. And not to be missed is the Anahuacali Museum, conceived of and created by the famous Mexican muralist, Diego Rivera. Completed after his death this pyramid inspired building now houses his spectacular collection of more than 50,000 pre-Hispanic artifacts from various places all over Mexico.
Although I haven’t stayed in Xochimilco, it can’t be missed, at least for a day trip. City transportation goes all the way to this southern Colonia and it’s well worth the trip to hire a flat bottomed boat (trajinarás) and enjoy the Mariachis and traditional food. The shores are lined with nurseries and if you’re a plant lover this alone makes the trip worth while.
And now to my most recent stay in Mexico City in the Colonia Nápoles. One of the reasons I liked it so much was the proximity to the home of a friend and so we were able to meet frequently and I was able to learn much about the neighborhood. There is something surprisingly soothing about Nápoles once you leave the grid of the main streets and wander down the slower paced avenidas and calles where people actually live. It seems contradictory to hear birds chirp, children play and the sounds of family life seep from windows and doors given the relentless traffic noise of the main arteries. Nápoles is home to the Mexican world trade centre and was once was an area of more high-end single family dwellings which have given way to urbanization with apartments and condominiums. There are still survivors, colonial style mini mansions, tucked between their new neighbours, hinting at what Nápoles once was. My friends have lived here for 40 plus years and have watched the changes but unlike in the transformation of other large city neighbourhoods a sense of community does not seem to have been lost. Everyone seems to know their neighbours and my friends can’t take a walk without many friendly encounters. I stayed at a great little hotel (The Beverly) with friendly staff and colonial features that I really liked. I would definitely return and as a bonus the metro-bus is a block from the hotel and will take you anywhere you need to go.
Of course there are other Colonias and it’s easy to research the highlights of each of these. Some of the more lesser known and dangerous areas are now accessible on specialized tours that take you safely to markets and other points of interest. I think the Colonias present a good approach to breaking down the megalopolis that is Mexico City. Getting to know the Colonias individually overtime is perhaps the best way to have a glimpse into life for the more than 25 million inhabitants of the City.
Flying in South America is quite affordable given that there are many small budget airlines. We found a cheap flight from Montevideo back to Santiago Chile so we could complete our Chilean itinerary, our final week, before we fly back to Mexico City.
Flying into Santiago on a clear day means great views of the beautiful snow-capped Andes and spending another night in Santiago before flying north to Antofagasta and the Atacama desert was a treat. Our hotel was in the Nunoa neighbourhood, a busy area close to City Hall and not far from a subway stop. A good location for enjoying a late supper, getting an early night and catching an eight AM flight to Antofagasta in Northern Chile.
Antofagasta Chile is a striking place with a rugged coastline. For us, with limited time, it was the gateway to the Atacama desert. After deplaning and a quick stop in a taxi to see the famous sea arch “La Portado” and the beautiful ocean and dune cliffs that drop steeply to the sea, we were on our way to the bus station to catch a bus to Calama.
We had a choice of whether to stay in the city of Calama or the town of San Pedro which was closer to the sights we wanted to see in the desert. We opted for Calama. Calama is a mining town and is located close to the biggest open pit mine in the world, Chuquicamata. The town itself is not that pretty, but we stayed in a lovely hotel with a nice little pool that was a ways out of town which for us was not a problem. In Calama we located a private tour company and made arrangements to visit the area around San Pedro, about a hour and a half from our hotel in Calama.
We opted not to stay in San Pedro, the tourist hub of the Atacama, and we were glad too have avoided what would have been a very touristy experience. Although we enjoyed our day visit there it was very crowded. It’s the kind of place that caters to adventurists who want to do high altitude climbing, sand-boarding and mountain climbing. For sight-seers like us the attraction is the volcano-lined horizons, the blue salt lakes and their resident flamingos, other birds and steaming geysers. There were far more tour companies than attractions and the town itself is a buzzing little place for artisans, chefs, travellers and hoteliers.
Our tour took us out into the desert where we were rewarded with “otherworldly” landscapes. Our first stop on our tour was the Reserva Nacional Los Flamencos located in the middle of one of the largest salt flats in the world. The flamingos differ from Mexican flamingos and all three types have a black band on the bottom edge of their wings that their Mexican counterparts don’t share. The salt flats stretch on past the lagoons disappearing in the horizon with the volcanos behind. In the Reserva there are three lakes that are at more than 13000 ft above sea level.
Second stop on the tour was the Valle de la Luna. A really eerie landscape where we spent several hours climbing up and down the pathways of the salt mountains to see such sights as abandoned nitrate mines from the late 1800’s to around 1925 which made Chile the king of production of the fertilizer sodium nitrate. Similar to the production of Henequen rope in the Yucatan which died our with the invention of nylon, sodium nitrate mining came to an end with the invention of synthetic nitrates. Close to the old “mines” are the townsites where the miners lived and in some places there is still machinery rusting and disintegrating in the desert weather.
Three days to take tours to the Atacama was sufficient to get a sense of the beauty of this once-in-a-life-time destination. I haven’t been to any place quite Iike it, the driest desert in the world. A place where the landscape changes with the tilt of the sun, a kaleidoscope of shapes and colours. Deserts are funny places, at first glance they can seem dull and lifeless, but stand still long enough and you can see the tenacious life forms and the brilliant pallet of colours that accentuate the contours that make up the Atacama. In a place where change seems implausible, you can even imagine the different seasons and the beauty of the bloom that must come with the rains.
We bookended our time in the Atacama with a final night in Santiago, returning to our lovely little Hotel Nunoa in time for dinner in our favourite restaurant and we even had a full day to spend in Santiago before we caught our red-eye to Mexico City.
Wander With Stella 