Reactivating my blog – inspired by travels in Colombia

I see that I last updated my blog in December 2012 – where does the time go??!!  Inspired by recent travels in Colombia, I decided it was time to reactivate the blog and share some of the wonderful experiences I had there.

You might wonder whether or not I was travelling in 2013 and the answer is I went abroad for work and holidays but I didn’t do any extended travelling.  I was fortunate to go on a short work trip to Beijing in July 2013 and then to the ICOM 2013 museum conference in Rio de Janeiro in August, about which I wrote two ‘professional’ blogs that you can read here and here.

I’m also going to try something a bit different with my entries about Colombia as I’ve decided to do themed entries with only a couple of entries focussing on specific places.  Let’s see how it goes!

The stunning and remote Cabo de la Vela on the northern coast of Colombia

 

 

 

 

Kit review (i.e. what was and wasn’t useful from all the stuff I took on my travels)

I’m a travel packing geek, so there!  I hate packing but I love preparing for a trip, getting all my stuff ready, working out what little bits and pieces will be useful, putting together the most versatile set of clothes.  Yes, it’s a bit sad but who cares?

So for all you other travel packing geeks out there, here’s a little review of some of my most useful (and not so useful) items in my rucksack.  You can find my complete packing list here.

Deuter 45 – 55L rucksack (women’s fit)

This was the perfect size rucksack for me.  All my stuff fitted into it but there wasn’t too much extra space for me to fill it up with unnecessary crap or loads of souveniers.  This Deuter model was lightweight and even though the fabric wasn’t super thick, I only had one hole in the bag (on the top pocket) by the end of the trip.  It did get dirty quite easily though, and I was a bit concerned about the thin fabric so I tended to put the rucksack into my Bolivian potato (or coca leaves)  sack for bus journeys and flights.  Spending 20p on the sack turned out to be one of the best investments of my trip!

Silk sleep liner

I hardly used this in South America (where it wasn’t so warm and all the hostel provided nice clean bedding) but I used it almost everyday in Australia, South East Asia and India (where it was too hot to use sheets and blankets, or where a sheet wasn’t provided for me to use between me and the (not washed very often) blanket.  The only downside was I bought a pink silk sleep liner and when I washed it alarming amounts of bright pink dye came out!

Pacsafe shoulder bag

I’d ummed and ahhed about buying this for the trip.  In the end it was the perfect travel day bag (for me).  The size was a compromise (I also took a small cross-over pocket-sized bag) but the fact it converted into a rucksack, had lockable zips, was big enough for my netbook, and that I could use the strap to lock the whole bag to a bed or table made up for the slightly large size.  It was perfect for running around sightseeing in cities, it was big enough for overnight trips, and I even used it for the three-day trek to Machu Picchu (I kept everything in dry bags inside it).  The bag now needs a good wash, some of the velcro on the inside pocket is coming loose, and the zip is a little temperamental but I think this is ok considering I literally used the bag every day for 9 months.

The bag since broke on a trip to Korea (but it did get a lot of heavy use) and I’m sad to see the latest model of this bag doesn’t convert to a rucksack (this was one of the best features).

Dry bags

I always thought these were only useful for canoeing trips or something but how wrong I was!  I reluctantly bought these after they were recommended on every packing list I read.  I found a pack of three different sizes on sale in Katmandu before I left.  I used these all the time – mainly to take my valuable stuff/clothes into the shower without getting them wet (hostel showers never seem to have hooks for you to hang your clothes on when taking a shower) but also for trekking in the jungle (I even used one handbag style), keeping my stuff dry when rafting down rivers, and sometimes as a laundry bag for dirty washing.  I didn’t use the small size very often but I would certainly pack these again because they don’t weigh anything and roll up really small.

Steripen and Camelbak Groove Bottle

These were amazing but the Steripen sort of stopped working/became very temperamental when I got to India, and the Camelbak bottle didn’t have a lid over the mouth piece, which meant it got covered in Indian grime and seemed to need cleaning all of the time (this didn’t seem to be a problem in South America?) .  I used both every day and didn’t have to buy any plastic bottles of water until I got to India.  I never buy plastic bottles of water in London (or anywhere else with clean tap water) so I was glad I invested in these two items and saved so much plastic over my months of travelling.  People asked me all the time if I got sick from drinking the tap water sterilised with the Steripen and the answer was always ‘no’.   I do have quite a strong stomach though, and I didn’t get to test it out on any super dirty river water (the water needs to be clear, so you need to filter any cloudy river water first).  The only downside was that the Steripen uses batteries (2 x old SLR camera type) and these were a bit tricky to find or a bit expensive outside major towns in South America.  I also had to carry to used batteries with me to Australia and the UK, as I couldn’t find anywhere to recycle them in South America or South East Asia.

Black jersey skirt (below knee-length) and leggings

If you are a woman, and have ever had to get off a bus in the day or night to go at the side of the road, you will know why these are useful items.  There is a reason those voluminous Cholita skirts are so useful for bus travel in Bolivia!  The skirt was also useful for temple visits in South East Asia and India, where clothing had to be below the knee, and because it was made of jersey it didn’t really require ironing.

I don’t think I took anything that I didn’t really use.  There were things I didn’t use very often but I was still grateful to have them when I needed them, such as my door wedge, bag cable lock, plastic air-tight lunch box, various medicines etc.

Is there anything I absolutely wouldn’t take travelling again?  I would think twice about taking malaria tablets with me (depending where I was going and for how long) based on the fact that the malaria maps the doctor’s have here (in the UK) don’t seem to be very up to date.  I preferred to take (local, not traveller) advice when I was approaching an area that was supposed to have malaria.  I would also take only a very tiny first aid kit because medicine/first aid stuff is so much cheaper abroad than in the UK so you can just buy what you need after your small supply has run out.  I don’t take any prescription medication though, so it’s easy for me to say that.

Seoul August 2012 (part 1)

View from the hotel

Well, a work trip with a bit of holiday tagged on the end has given me the perfect excuse for another blog entry.  I have various bits and pieces of posts on the go as drafts but I wanted to get something out there more quickly, and my trip to Seoul seemed like a good excuse!

I’m lucky enough to travel for work but after my career break to go travelling, I didn’t think I would be let out of the office for a while.  Luckily we’re busy at work and short of people for courier trips so I’m here at the moment overseeing the installation of Owen Jones: Islamic Design, Discovery and Vision at Goyang Nuri Aram Arts Center on the outskirts of Seoul.

I won’t bore you all with work stuff as the city of Seoul is much more interesting.  I got here after a 7 hour delay that including getting on and off the plane a couple of times, watching a couple of films, having a nap, and eating a meal without actually getting off the runway or going anywhere.  I got the bus to the hotel and immediately a friendly Korean teenager (keen to practice his English, no doubt) saw me with my map and helped point me in the right direction of the hotel (well, it’s more like a mini-apartment).  The people are as friendly as I remember on my last visit, which I think was January 2004 0r 2005, when it was minus 10 and freezing.  This time it is about 35 and super boiling hot!  I am following the locals by walking around using my umbrella as portable shade, seeing as I’m not yet old enough for the perm and large sun visor look sported by the ladies over 50.

Town centre near where I am staying

For me, Korea is like a mixture of Japan and Hong Kong.  It’s super sleek and efficient like Japan but a bit rough around the edges like Hong Kong.  If you’ve been to these places, you’ll know what I mean.  Because its Asia, there are plenty of mad things here, such as full length mirrors at the underground stations, the underground plays music when a train is approaching as you wait on the platform or when you are on the train and reach an interchange station, everyone has giant mobile phones/tables that they are permanently connected to (even in their cars), the old ladies hang around in gangs wearing floral shirts and giant sun visors, people stop you to practice their English, and you can still smoke indoors.  The list of weird and wonderful things is endless and I’ll add more in my next post.

So far I have managed to embarrass myself a couple of times while eating.  First time I went to a restaurant by myself, ordered the set meal (the only thing on offer) and it was enough to feed about four people, seriously!  The food was delicious and vegetarian though, and set in a traditional restaurant that looked like a temple with lots of traditional Korean decorations.  The meal also included a traditional Korean dancing show (I didn’t realise and was trying to leave but they kept insisting I stay and I didn’t know why).  The second time I was eating lunch in a Japanese restaurant with Victor (my courier colleague from the V&A) and after the chef saw me decanting the fish from my plate, a lady was sent over to show me how to mix my rice with the salad and chili sauce.  Just as well I like spicy food!  She was about to put the fish in too and then I think she realised she had a weird foreigner on her hands and just made do with mixing what was left in my bowl.  This was after I was offered wooden chopsticks (easier to use than metal ones) and a fork, even though I am very proficient with chopsticks thank you very much!  I really had to try not to laugh as the lady rattled away to me in Korean explaining how to mix everything and eat it.  She managed to stop just short of feeding me herself, bless her.

Part 2 of gigantic meal

So this week is all work and then at the weekend I’m off to stay in a Buddhist temple for one night as part of the Temple Stay tourism program (I’m very concerned about getting up at 3.30am but very excited about the vegetarian food) and hopefully a bit of sightseeing around Seoul and the DMZ (demilitarised zone) on the border with North Korea.

Traditional Korean dancing

Just one of many vending machines all over the place

Full length mirror on the underground

Yogyesa temple

Buddhist, not a nazi, stove on wheels

Frozen yoghurt dinner out of desperation – yum!

 

 

 

 

 

Mi Buenos Aires Querido (again… / otra vez…)

Desplácese hacia abajo para una mala traducción al español (gracias a Google Translate)

Museo del Traje (and typical Buenos Aires signage called Fileteado Porteno)

So why did I go back to Buenos Aires rather than stay longer in India or go somewhere else?  A few reasons… 1) just because I could… 2) the rest of India was too hot and I’d pretty much done all I wanted to in Dharamsala… 3) I only had a single entry visa for India so couldn’t go to Nepal and come back again… 4) I thought it would be a good transition place between India and London and give me a chance to acclimatize to a big city and colder weather… 5) I thought it would be fun to hang out after introspective time in India.

So not much to report from Buenos Aires this time round, apart from I had a fantastic time visiting exhibitions, hanging out, eating yummy food etc.

I saw some really amazing exhibitions this time round, which really re-ignited my enthusiasm for exhibitions, museums and galleries again (just as well seeing as I have to go back to work).  MALBA had an excellent exhibition of American art  called Bye Bye American Pie, I finally made it to Museo del Traje (Fashion Museum) and Faena Arts Centre (amazing new gallery and they had a Los Carpinteros installation).  I also saw an amazing exhibition of Peruvian Amazon paintings at Palais de Glace which made me want to go back to the Amazon jungle and paint/make pictures of nature with amazing colours.  Maybe this trip did turn me into a hippy after all??!!

La Bomba del Tiempo

As well as seeing inspiring art I also met Paco’s sister (Isa) and we went to la Bomba del Tiempo, which is a weekly drumming show at Konex.  You can see a video here.  Although not the sort of music I listen to very much, the atmosphere was great and the drummers amazing.  Lots of people recommended this show to me and now I know why.  Fortunately, the place was full of foreigners who also couldn’t dance like the Latinos can, so I didn’t feel too ashamed of my poor attempts at dancing!  I’m still waiting for someone to teach me…

As with the rest of my trip, food was an important part of my visit (again).  This time I discovered Ugi’s Pizza (probably the cheapest and most edible vegetarian food in Buenos Aires) where they sell a whole pizza for 18 pesos or half for 9 pesos.  La Fabrica de la Pizza is cheaper but they don’t have so many convenient locations like Ugi’s.

Taquenos

Cristina and Carlos also took me to Caracas Bar for typical Venezuelan food, which was super yummy.  Of course I took photos of everything!  I have to say though, the arepa was not as good as the ones Cristina made at home.

To say thank you to all my Venezuelan friends for their wonderful hospitality I took 4kgs of Harina PAN (a Venezuelan staple food) so they could make proper arepas.  For some ridiculous reason they don’t sell Harina PAN in Argentina and it costs the same in London as in Venezuela, even though its imported.  Loco!!

Rather than cook something with the Harina PAN, I offered to make a momo party and Adriana kindly offered up hers and Mario’s house at the venue.  This involved a pre-trip to China town to buy a bamboo steamer and sweet chili sauce.  It took ages to make the momos as I’d had no practice since India.  Everyone seemed to like them (and I taught Loquillo how to make them) but the funniest thing was that everyone went CRAZY for the sweet chili sauce.  They’d never tried it before!  If sales of sweet chili sauce boom in Buenos Aires, I deserve a cut of the profits!

Making momos (and a mess) in Adriana’s and Mario’s kitchen

On my last day, and even though I’d made a right mess in her kitchen the night before, Adriana cooked bollitos on my last day during the Venezuela/Uruguay football match and before I headed off to the airport.  Again, super yummy and now I know how to make them.

So I finished my 9 month round the world trip with a belly full of delicious Venezuelan food and a big smile on my face thanks to the wonderful hospitality of such lovely people!

So, if you think this is the end of my blog, then you might be disappointed!  I think I’m going to do a review of bits and pieces from my trip (not quite sure what yet) and also do some recipe pages considering how much amazing food I ate and learned to cook.  I might also do a little post about my trip up north to see the Dalai Lama.  Watch this space…

Traditional tango music in Bar de Roberto

¿Entonces por qué me vuelvo a Buenos Aires en lugar de permanecer más tiempo en la India o ir a algún otro sitio? Algunas razones … 1) sólo porque yo podría … 2) el resto de la India estaba demasiado caliente y me hace más o menos todo lo que quería en Dharamsala … 3) Yo sólo tenía una visa de entrada única para la India por lo que no podía ir a Nepal y volver de nuevo … 4) Yo pensé que sería un lugar buena transición entre la India y Londres y me dan la oportunidad de aclimatarse a una gran ciudad y un clima más frío … 5) pensé que sería divertido para pasar el rato con mis amigos después del tiempo de introspección en la India.

Así que no hay mucho que informar de Buenos Aires en esta ocasión, además de que tenía un tiempo fantástico visitar exposiciones, salir con mis amigos, comer una deliciosa comida, etc

He visto algunas exposiciones realmente sorprendentes en esta ocasión, lo que realmente volvió a encender mi entusiasmo por las exposiciones, museos y galerías de nuevo (del mismo modo que ya tengo que volver a trabajar). MALBA tenido una excelente exposición de arte americano llamado Bye Bye American Pie, que finalmente pudo llegar a Museo del Traje (Museo de la Moda) y Faena Arts Centre (nueva galería increíble y que tenía una instalación de Los Carpinteros). También vi una exhibición impresionante de pinturas peruanas del Amazonas en el Palais de Glace, que me dieron ganas de volver a la selva amazónica y pintar / tomar imágenes de la naturaleza con colores sorprendentes. Tal vez este viaje me convirtió en un hippie, después de todo?!

El Ateneo (a book shop in an old Theatre)

Además de ver el arte inspirador también conocí a la hermana de Paco (Isa) y nos fuimos a la Bomba del Tiempo, que es un programa semanal de tambores en el Konex. Puedes ver un video aquí. Aunque no es el tipo de música que escucho mucho, el ambiente era genial y sorprendente de los tambores. Mucha gente recomienda este programa para mí y ahora sé por qué. Afortunadamente, el lugar estaba lleno de extranjeros que también no podía bailar como los latinos pueden, por lo que no me sentía demasiado avergonzada de mis intentos de pobres en el baile! Todavía estoy esperando a que alguien me enseñe …

Al igual que con el resto de mi viaje, la comida era una parte importante de mi visita (de nuevo). Esta vez descubrí pizzerías Ugi (probablemente la comida más barata y comestible más vegetariano en Buenos Aires) donde venden una pizza entera por 18 pesos o la mitad de 9 pesos. La Fabrica de la pizza es más barato, pero no tienen lugares convenientes, como tantos de Ugi.

Arepas made by Cristina – yum!

Cristina y Carlos también me llevó a Caracas para la barra de comida típica venezolana, que era súper delicioso. Por supuesto que me tomó fotos de todo! Tengo que decir que, sin embargo, la arepa no era tan buena como las que Cristina hechas en casa.

Para dar las gracias a todos mis amigos venezolanos por su maravillosa hospitalidad tomé 4kgs de Harina PAN (un alimento básico de Venezuela) para que pudieran hacer las arepas adecuados. Por alguna razón ridícula que no se venden Harina PAN en la Argentina y cuesta lo mismo en Londres como en Venezuela, a pesar de su importación. Loco!

En vez de cocinar algo con el PAN Harina, me ofrecí a hacer una fiesta de Momo y Adriana se ofreció amablemente a ella y la casa de Mario en el lugar. Se trataba de un pre-viaje a la ciudad de China para comprar una vaporera de bambú y salsa de chile dulce. Le tomó años para que los momos como yo no tenía la práctica desde la India. Todo el mundo parecía que les gusta (y me enseñó a Loquillo cómo hacerlas), pero lo más gracioso fue que todo el mundo se volvió loco por la salsa de chile dulce. Ellos nunca lo había intentado antes! Si las ventas de auge de la salsa de chile dulce en Buenos Aires, me merezco un recorte de los beneficios!

Venzuelan bollitos with tomato sauce

En mi último día, y aunque yo había hecho un verdadero desastre en la cocina la noche anterior, bollitos Adriana cocidos en mi último día durante el partido Venezuela / Uruguay de fútbol y antes de que me dirigí al aeropuerto. Una vez más, súper delicioso y ahora sé cómo hacerlas.

Así que terminé mi hijo de 9 meses todo el viaje por el mundo con la barriga llena de comida deliciosa venezolana y una gran sonrisa en mi cara, gracias a la maravillosa hospitalidad de gente tan encantadora!

Por lo tanto, si usted piensa que este es el final de mi blog, entonces usted podría ser decepcionado! Creo que voy a hacer una revisión de partes y piezas de mi viaje (no muy seguro de lo que aún) y también hacer algunas páginas de recetas teniendo en cuenta la cantidad de comida increíble comí y aprendí a cocinar. También podría hacer un pequeño post sobre mi viaje al norte para ver al Dalai Lama. Mire este espacio …

Pabellon

The drumming dancing parade in San Telmo

Anyone want to buy vegetarian empanadas in San Telmo market from Juan Pablo?

San Telmo graffitti

Evita’s tomb in Recoleta cemetery

Evita… again (and the biggest road I’ve ever seen)

Claudia and Stalin have a hairdressers in Buenos Aires (a different option…)

Bin street art

India (part 2)

Live music at the Green View cafe

After the hike to Triund I ended up hanging out with Julia, Sammy and their friends quite a bit, and had a lot of fun trying out the local restaurants and cafes, including a music night at Green View Café.  There was an American woman travelling who was a singer/songwriter so she sang her own amazing songs accompanied by local musicians, who then followed her set with some rock classics.  I couldn’t stop laughing at the bizarre situation of listening to a traditional Indian band play Sweet Child of Mine by Guns and Roses in a rooftop café in India while a bunch of random travellers from all over the world sang along.  It was a fun night!

I also visite Norbulingka Institute with Noni (who I met on the cooking course).  We took two crazy local buses to get there (and back) which felt like a bit of an adventure because I’d been in the same place for weeks and not travelled anywhere.  Worryingly (or maybe not given the super winding roads) the bus had God Save Me painted in front of the driver alongside all his religious and lucky charms and talismans.  Norbulingka has beautiful gardens and grounds as well as a temple and wokshops where you can see artisans at work.  Whilst looking round the top level of the temple we managed to get ourselves locked in when everyone went to lunch!  I can think of worse places than a Tibetan Gompa to be locked in but we did have to wait quite a while for someone to find us and get the right keys to let us out!  Luckily the walls of the Gompa were beautifully painted with pictures of Buddha and scenes from his life, so there was plenty to look at while we waited to be let out.

Meena feeding a cow at her crystal shop (photo: Julia)

McLeod Ganj / Bhagsu / Dharamkot are a bit like an adult education playground.  Whatever type of course you would like to do, you can do it in one of these places, and very cheaply.  For a while I’d been feeling like I wanted to do something creative so I did a macramé jewellery making course and a dream catcher making course at Meena’s lovely crystal shop in McLeod Ganj.  Meena’s brother and son were the teachers of the courses and each day they welcomed me with a cup of chai from the local chai shop while they chattered away in a mix of Indian/Nepalese/English, which was a delight for my ears!

After staying in McLeod Ganj I moved to a small guest house between Dharamkot and Bhagsu, both of which are small villages full of Israeli travellers.  It was a nice change of scenery and I felt like I was in the countryside amongst the hills and trees.  I also did 2 x five-day yoga courses at the Himalayan Iyengar Yoga Centre.  Without wanting to bore those of you not interested in yoga, I spent the best part of the two weeks learning to stretch my toes and trying to ‘feel’ the skin on the under arch of my foot.  It was a great course and a learnt a lot, even if I spent most of the course wrapped up in all my clothes because the weather had turned cold and rainy (very unseasonal for this part of India).

Getting my long life elixir and blessed cake from Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Impromptu teaching from Lama Zopa Rinpoche

After the yoga courses I did an Introduction to Buddhism course at Tushita Meditation Centre.  This was a 10-day residential silent retreat that included Buddhist teachings (from an Australian monk) and meditation sessions.  The course was fascinating and we were such a mixture of people from all over the world, from different backgrounds and with different interests.  Although I hadn’t planned it this way, it was the perfect way to wind down at the end of my trip and have some time for reflection.  It also helped that the food was amazingly delicious (I think developed an addiction to the home-made bread and peanut butter).  There was also a fantastic library and lots of wild monkeys to keep us entertained.  As well as the teaching and meditation sessions, we watched a couple of inspiring and fascinating films about reincarnation (from a Tibetan Buddhist perspective) and an inspirational nun called Tenzin Palmo, who grew up in East London and spent 12 months meditating in a cave in the Himalayas.  Unfortunately, I missed Tenzin Palmo’s talk, which took place at Tushita a week or so after I left.

We were lucky enough that Lama Zopa Rinpoche (Spiritual Director of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, the organisation that runs Tushita) was staying at Tushita during our course, which meant impromptu teachings, blessings and important visitors passing by.  Lama Zopa suffered a stroke about a year ago but is making amazing recovery.  He also has the most infectious laugh/giggle (only second to the Dalai Lama’s infectious laugh/giggle) which always sent us all into fits of laughter and smiles whenever we heard him.  I’m not sure I can really sum up my experience of the course in words, so you can find out more about the course from another blogger here.

Happy Tushita retreaters!

In hindsight I would have liked a few days after the course finished to chill out and hang out with some of the people I met on the course.  Instead, I did some last-minute shopping (but never managed to get my decision-making head on to buy a Tibetan Thangka painting) and headed back to the UK the day after the course finished.

Of course, I’m not one to make things easy for myself so I headed back to the UK for about 24 hours before I hopped on a plane back to Buenos Aires to spend the last two weeks of my travels hanging out with friends and making sure I hadn’t forgotten all of my Spanish!

Bus to Norbulingka (note the text: OH GOD SAVE ME!)

Cool wall painting with the Dalai Lama’s face at the Norbulingka temple

Gardens at Norbulinka

Nice mix

Street view on the way to Dharamkot

India (part 1)

 

View from my guesthouse in McLeod Ganj

So I went to India but it wasn’t really like India – sort of India-lite.  I took the easy(er) option and flew from Singapore to my final destination in India due to a lack of time and also wanting to avoid too much hassle at the end of my trip.  I flew Singapore – Mumbai (overnight at the airport) – Delhi – Dharamsala.  Fortunately, Kingfisher Airlines, who are the only airline that flies to Dharamsala was still in business and hadn’t cancelled this route, despite financial problems leading to route cancellations!

So why did I go to Dharamsala and not to more famous sites like the Taj Mahal? Because in May most of India is baking hot with temperatures of 40 degrees or more!  So I took the advice of a wise French lady in Thailand and headed north.  The Dharamsala area appealed because it is home of the Tibetan Government in Exile and there are various places to study yoga and meditation.

I managed to share a taxi from the airport to McLeod Ganj with three film-makers making a documentary about Israeli travellers in India.  They’d arrived from Goa and had been dying in the heat so the relative coolness and green landscape of Dharamsala were like heaven for them.  I got dropped off in the main square and within five minutes a helpful Western Tibetan nun offered to help me find the guesthouse I was looking for on the map.  The guesthouse was full but of course there was a helpful Indian/Kashmiri man to offer me a room in his guesthouse.  This turned out to be ok but after 8 days of walking up and down the steep stairs I’d kind of had enough.  I had to keep telling myself it was good exercise before the yoga course started!

 

Making wallets from old tetra packs

Me at the foot of the Himalayas (at the top of Triund)

On my second day I went to a free workshop to learn how to make recycled wallets from old tetra packs.  The ideas of the workshop was to teach a skill that people could then use to run their own workshops wherever or whenever they wanted.  It was a lot of fun and great to see how ‘rubbish’ could be used creatively to make something useful.  It was also amazing to see how the local kids took to this with such enthusiasm!  At the workshop I met Julia (working as a volunteer at Lha) who was nice enough to let me tag along on the hike to Triund that she was doing the next day with her friend Sammy.

The hike to Triund was awesome and we were really lucky with the weather.  We could feel it getting colder the higher we climbed and eventually had to pass over some snow-covered rocks at one point.  The views at the top were amazing and we stayed a while to watch the clouds move in and out to reveal the Moon Peak from time to time.  We also ate a yummy thali at one of the make-shift chai shops (in tents) before heading back down to McLeod Ganj.  The walk back down was slightly easier and no less spectacular.  We were accompanied by some local dogs that would run ahead and then wait for us to catch up.  They then blocked our path as they played/fought on the snow-covered pass.  On the way up and down we also took the opportunity to have chai with a great view at the chai shops along the way.  We went up and down in one day (you can stay overnight and also trek up to the snow-line of the mountains) and I think it took us about 3.5 hours to go up and 2.5 hours to come back down.  As you can imagine, by the end we were totally creamy crackered!

Cooking lessons in Sangye’s kitchen

McLeod Ganj is full of amazing places to eat all sorts of food but my favourites were Tibetan and Indian food.  Most of my favourite places to eat are listed here under the FOOD section.

As well as eating I also took some Tibetan cooking classes, where I learnt to cook momos, bread, and noodle dishes.  Here is a list of some traditional Tibetan foods:

• Momos– dumplings filled with meat or vegetables, steamed or fried
• Thukpa– a hearty noodle soup with veggies or meat
• Thenthuk – thukpa with handmade noodles
• Pocha – salty tea churned with butter, a Tibetan staple (but it tastes disgusting!)

Our teacher, Sangye, was an excellent teacher and also let us ask whatever questions we wanted to about Tibetan life and culture.  In the momo making class, Sangye has me and Noni practically in tears as he explained how he had escaped from Tibet to India 15 years ago and what that journey was like for him and the others in his group.  The journey that Tibetan refugees have to make to escape to Nepal and India is long, hard and dangerous.  You can read more about it here. [add link]

Thali at 2,827 metres above sea level

A glimpse of Moon Peak

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As well as learning to cook I also found time to learn how to make macrame jewellery incorporating stones and crystals, how to make dream catchers, I read more books than I had done in ages, did a two-week yoga course at the Himalayan Iyengar Yoga Centre and a 10 day silent meditation, and Buddhist studies retreat at Tushita Meditation Centre.  More about all of this in Part Two of my India post…

Julia and Sammy enjoying the view

Dogs blocking our path on the way back down

One of the main streets in McLeod Ganj

 

Crazy travel plans that lead to 3 days in transit and some tips for sleeping at airports

India posts and photos will follow shortly once I have completed my 3 days in transit that take me from Dharamsala (India) via Delhi airport, Mumbai airport, Heathrow airport (London), my parent’s house near Southampton, central London (to try to buy Harina Pan), Heathrow airport (again) and finally Buenos Aires (again). In essence, I left India on Thursday afternoon and will arrive in Buenos Aires on Sunday morning. Am I crazy, probably but I’m not one to miss out on any opportunity to squeeze just a bit more out of my time off!

Delhi airport has this cool wall of mudra hands

Delhi airport also has a really cool sun salutations yoga sculpture

In the meantime I have developed my skill for sleeping on airport floors, so I thought I’d share some tips in case any of you also devise equally silly travel plans that take in 4 airports over 3 days!

• Selecting the right spot:

This is important! You want to find a spot where you won’t be bothered and feel safe. On the way in at Mumbai Domestic Terminal I followed the locals and positioned myself on the floor between some benches. It meant no-one disturbed me and I could lock my bag to the bench.

Finding a spot at Mumbai International Terminal was more difficult. In the end I found a spot between a pillar and the wall (there were other people sleeping along the wall) so again people wouldn’t need to walk over me etc.

At Caracas Domestic Terminal everyone gathers together in one spot to sleep. Safety in numbers I guess…

• Little luxuries to make yourself more comfortable:

I’m lucky enough to be travelling with a yoga mat which I roll out to sleep on. Not only does it keep out the cold of the floor (a bit) and provide a little cushioning, it also marks out my ‘spot’. Many Indian people have various types of mats or blankets to sleep on, which don’t provide padding but at least keep you off the dirty floor. The etiquette was to take your shoes off before sitting/sleeping on the mat.

 

I also like to have my fleece top or a blanket to keep me warm as most airports like to blast the air conditioning (this is especially important for Caracas airport where the air-con is sub-zero!).

I have an eye mask to keep out the bright airport lights, an inflatable travel pillow for my head (I noticed Indians have some amazing ability to sleep with their head directly on the floor, even lying on their sides. I don’t). I also use either my headphones and iPod or earplugs to keep out the noise.

• Security:

Of course, when you are travelling on your own you don’t have anyone to keep an eye on your bags while you take a nap. In transit I put my rucksack in a Bolivian rice sack so it doesn’t look so appealing and then I put the bag between me and the wall, on the basis that I would most probably wake up if someone tried to move the bag. I sometimes also sleep with my feet up on the bag or an arm draped across. My day bag has a strap that I can lock to a bench, railing, trolley so usually I try to lock it to something if I can, or at least padlock the zips closed and keep the strap wrapped around my body somehow.

As a lone female traveller, I’ve been lucky enough never to have any hassle when sleeping at airports though I’ve had many funny looks when I’m rolling out my mat and setting up my place to sleep!

Here is a link to a website about sleeping at airports. I’ve found it a useful resource over the years.

This sign is above the paper towel dispenser in the toilets. You can’t help yourself, and choose how much paper you want to waste, because a lady is waiting there to give you a big handful of paper towels!

Singapore

Singapore skyline

Wow, Singapore was a real culture shock!  Sounds funny to say that when it’s the most ‘Western’ of all the Asian countries I have visited on this trip.  For some reason I found the sheer choice, efficiency of everything and the number of brightly lit, glitzy shopping malls a complete assault on my senses.  I thought it was meant to be the other way around with the sounds, smells and sights of places like Bangkok causing sensory overload.  Anyway, despite this feeling I had a great few days in Singapore.

Sherman (my Singaporean friend in London) totally hooked me up by asking his mum to put me up in his old room and putting me in touch with his friend Jasmine (who’s a film maker I’d met once before in London).  Elizabeth (Sherman’s mum) made me feel totally welcome in her lovely house (filled with more designer clothes and shoes than the V&A!) even though I think her and Sherman’s (great?) Aunty thought I was a bit mad.  Aunty thought it was very clever of me to get from the airport to the house without getting lost and thought I was brave and clever to take the MRT (metro/tube) everywhere, even to get back to the airport.  She was super sweet though in that typical Aunty kind of way and kept trying to feed me sweets!  Elda, the Filipino house helper was also super lovely and had the warmest smile for me every time I saw her.  She even walked me to the metro station the first time (on Aunty’s instructions, to make sure I didn’t get lost) and she told me that this was her second time working in Singapore.  In between jobs she’d gone back to the Philippines to get married and have a family.  Now, because she is working in Singapore, she hadn’t seen her children in two years.  It really made me think about the sacrifices people make in many parts of the world to provide for their families.  And here I was gallivanting around the world with hardly a care in the world!

Marina Bay Sands hotel and ArtScience Museum

Crazy water/light/projection/lazer show at Marina Bay Sands

As I said, Singapore is super-efficient so I zipped around town on the MRT (with a pre-paid card like the London Oyster system, so no worries about finding change to buy tickets) or caught a taxi (even no need to insist to the driver to put the meter on or negotiate the price in advance) or took a bus (lovely and air-conditioned).

I explored the Marina Bay Sands development (though I didn’t get to stay at the hotel or try out their roof top infinity pool) which was bigger than I had imagined.  The hotel building isn’t quite as impressive as it looks in photos but the view of the Singapore skyline is impressive and so was the sound/light/music/laser show they have each night.  It reminded me of the crazy fountain/laser/music show in Lima but on the sort of budget you would expect in Singapore!  They also have an excellent museum at Marina Bay Sands called the ArtScience Museum where I saw a great Andy Warhol exhibition (I can’t think of a more appropriate exhibition for Singapore – the perfect blend of art/consumerism/pop-culture) and an exhibition about the Titanic.  This was mostly made up of sets that you walked through, information boards and a few objects that had been recovered from the Titanic.  Of course they had sets so that you could have your photo taken at the front of the ship (think of that famous film scene with Kate Winslet and Leonard DiCaprio) or on the main staircase.  There was even a real iceberg that you could touch, well, it was a big piece of ice that looked like an iceberg.  I didn’t think it was real ice until I touched it myself!  And of course there is also a giant glitzy mall at Marina Bay Sands that even had a canal with boats.

I visited most of the museums, which were all really excellent and inspiring, if a bit big and overwhelming.  It was nice to rediscover my enthusiasm for museums again!  The National Museum of Singapore (who I’d been working with before on the V&A’s Wedding Dress exhibition) had a large interactive display about the history of Singapore, which was fascinating and informative (if a bit too big and with too much information) as well as a beautiful display of traditional Cheongsam dresses.

Boat canal in the middle of Marina Bay Sands shopping mall

After my visit to the Asian Civilisations Museum I kind of wish I’d started my Asia visit in Singapore rather than finished it here.  The museum gave an excellent overview of the main Asian cultures and had particularly excellent examples of sculptures and textiles from each country.  I had a brief look at the Middle East section and got a lot out of the India section, especially as I wouldn’t be visiting the main tourist sights of India.

The Singapore Art Museum was between main exhibitions but I loved the two small permanent displays, which were really well curated and interpreted for a general audience.  SAM’s outpost [insert name of extra SAM gallery] had a really interesting group show, which included some great installations and street art.

Sherman and Jasmine had recommended I visit the Peranakan Museum to find out more about the Chinese Straights culture and history in Singapore.  Again, the displays were well interpreted for someone (like me) who knows nothing about Chinese Straights history.  I saw the most beautiful beaded table cloths and other textiles, and happily collected by embossing stamps (meant for kids I think) as I went round each section of the museum.

I also went to a couple of independent pop-up exhibitions with Jasmine and it was fascinating to see a historical neighbourhood, the tradition buildings and to see how the area was being developed.

Raymond, the Tomb Whisperer

Bukit Brown (not only a cemetery but a green oasis in Singapore)

Bukit Brown

Jasmine was a tour guide extraordinaire during my visit making sure I ate at some great hawker markets (small markets where street food vendors are now required to sell their food so the government can keep an eye on things) and gave me an amazing insight into the social politics and continuing development of Singapore.  I won’t go into the details here (I’m still digesting the complexity of it all myself) but it made a country that can seem quite superficial from the outside infinitely more interesting.  It was also nice to meet people who were socially active and interested in similar/comparable issues to those that I’m interested in.

Jasmine had organised a tour of Bukit Brown cemetery, which my visit luckily coincided with.  You can read about Bukit Brown here and through the other links on this page.  To make way for a new road development, which is supposed to ease traffic congestion but won’t, many of the graves have to be exhumed.  Although there is an active campaign against this process, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that the government will press ahead as planned.  Some families have already exhumed graves at their own expense so they can pick an auspicious date rather wait for the official government date.  The campaign has raised awareness though and hopefully it might also raise awareness about how land is being developed in Singapore.  There are 22 golf courses in Singapore and only one Bukit Brown.  Imagine how much land space is taken up by golf courses and still the Singapore government says there is not enough land space…

The tour was led by Raymond, also known as the Tomb Whisperer, who showed us some of the most important graves, either in terms of style or importance of the person buried.  Many of Singapore’s pioneers are buried at Bukit Brown.  The tour was fascinating and again it gave me an insight into another aspect of Singaporean history and culture that I wouldn’t have discovered otherwise.

I also have to add a little note here about Changi International Airport.  I’ve been to this airport a few times for work and I have to say that it is still my favourite airport in the world (I’ve visited my fair share over the years).  Why does it get my vote for best international airport?  Well, it never seems that busy or crowded, the staff are super helpful, it’s easy to find your way around despite the size, there is more than just shops to keep you entertained during long layovers (free cinema, butterfly garden, pay-lounge (with showers), quiet seating area, Wi-Fi, cheap food court etc.).  What more could you want from an airport?!

Historical neighbourhood

Delicious mock-meat dish from the hawker place near Sherman’s house

Singapore Sling cocktail

Singapore Street Art at SAM

No caption required…

No smelly fruit on the MRT please!

More advice from the Singapore Government…

 

I’ve included lots of external links in this post as I don’t have the space/memory/information at hand to provide all the details here.  For anyone that is interested in finding out more about Singapore then I hope that the links will be useful.  For anyone not so interested, I hope you might at least enjoy the pictures I’ve posted!

Bangkok (again)

Becky catching the bus

So this time we decided to stay in a different hostel in a different part of Bangkok, and what a difference!  We were in the newer part of town where many international and business hotels are located.  Of course, this meant that there was still a 7Eleven within spitting distance but added to this was a sky train and metro station and a giant mall called Terminal 21.  This place kept us entertained for a good few hours as we ate amazing and cheap food in their food court and took silly photos as each floor was themed.  There was a London themed floor with Royal Guards, a giant London bus, a giant tube train and post box, Brick Lane (near where I live in London) and lots more.  Becky had to leave the same day we got to Bangkok and I will be forever grateful to her for taking a whole bunch of stuff (shopping) home for me – thanks Becky!!!

London calling

So Anushca and I were left to our own devices for a few days until I flew to Singapore on the day Thai New Year started and until Anushca left after New Year to go back to India/Miami/Jamaica.  We could have filled our days going to see some ruins out-of-town or going to another beach or to another waterfall but what did we do instead?  We explored some crazy gigantic shopping centres, visited some important little temples that we’d missed before, drank more iced coffee, had a dodgy massage, ate more delicious food and then checked ourselves into a 5 star hotel for one night.

The shopping centres were crazy!  One was two buildings, each five storeys high, filled with clothes (and a food court, of course).  We also went to another that had one floor entirely filled with electronic goods, stall after stall of iPhone covers, mobile phones, computer accessories etc etc except that they all sold the same stuff.  How anyone could actually choose what they wanted to buy in these places was beyond me but it was fun looking and people watching.

 

Temples and shrines in the middle of the city

As for the dodgy massage, we only wished that Becky had been there because it would have been even funnier!  The hostel recommended a cheap place round the corner but maybe we should only have had a leg massage or Thai massage.  Of course, feeling adventurous, and not knowing when we’d be able to get cheap massages again, I opted for a Thai herbal oil massage and Anushca an oil massage.  We were shown to a small cubical (literally, some partition walls with a door) that had to thin shabby mattresses on the floor.  We were given a towel each but no instruction whether or not to undress (and how much) and what to do… and so the giggling started.  My massage was ok and I enjoyed the traditional Thai herbal compresses after the oil but Anushca said the girl doing her massage was copying everything my lady did but not so well.  So all was fine until we sat  at the end with the towels draped around our shoulders while they massaged our necks.  After this they did that famous Thais massage manoeuvre where you hook your hands behind your neck and then the lady hooks her arms in, swings you from side to side and then flings you off to one side to release your spine.  Of course when they did this the towels didn’t stay in place and all four of us ended up in a fit of giggles!  Not quite what we had in mind when we paid for a massage but you learn to expect the unexpected when you’re travelling!

We came back to find our slipper laid out, the lights turned down, the beds ready and a small note with the weather forecast

The five-star hotel called Lebua was amazing!  It’s where the famous Sky Bar is located so after spending the afternoon lapping up the luxury in our suite (they don’t have rooms, only suites) and enjoying the swimming pool, sauna and steam room, we treated ourselves to a cocktail and a wonderful view of Bangkok by night.

Finally, I had to say goodbye to Anushca too and I was back to travelling on my own.  I’d had so much fun travelling with both of them and spent so much time laughing that I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about travelling on my own again.  Only one way to find out – next stop Singapore!

Balcony view

Sky Bar

Me and Anushca at the Sky Bar

Sawadeeka!

My favourite dessert - black beans with sticky rice and sweet coconut milk - yum!

Colourful taxis in Bangkok traffic

Don't Drive Drunk Foundation

Koh Samet (Thailand)

Colourful hostel in Ban Phe

To get back to Bangkok we took another crazy tourist mini-bus from Siem Reap to Bangkok.  Getting to the border was straight forward, as was crossing the border (though for a minute we wondered whether the Thai border guard would allow Anushca back in but he hadn’t read her visa properly…).  We then had to wait around for ages at a cafe on the Thai side waiting for all the tourists to arrive before we were then packed into more mini-buses like sardines.  Fortunately, we were with a good group of people (mainly Brits for some reason) and spent most of the journey putting the world to rights and talking about our travels in South America and Asia.

Petrol station on Koh Samet island

We couldn’t leave Thailand without going to the beach so after a morning shopping for souvenirs at Chatuchak Weekend Market (the biggest and best market in the world) we took yet another mini-bus (this time for Thai people rather than just tourists) to Ban Phe so we could go to Koh Samet island in the morning.  Of course, our driver thought he was Michael Schumacher (don’t they all!)  but we made it to Ban Phe and went in search of somewhere to stay.  Everywhere we asked was full but one place sent us to the only hostel in town, which was a colourful little place with two rooms with mattresses on the floor.  We had the room to ourselves and spent the evening having a beer with yet another drunk Steve (we’d met a few drunk Steve’s already) who taught English (no way I’d let him teach anything to anyone, let alone kids) and who insulted Becky’s nail polish and clothes to the point I thought she might hit him.  She gave him a secret V-sign but it turns out that the V-sign doesn’t mean anything in America – the things you learn when you’re travelling!

Shirtless policeman

In the morning we took a colourful boat over to Koh Samet and then opted to walk to the beach rather than take a shared taxi.  On the way we passed a police station that was manned by a policeman not wearing a shirt (who we managed to photograph covertly) and I guess that really set the tone of the place.  When we got to the beach it was like a postcard – white sand, blue/green clear water and blue skies.  Paradise!

We found somewhere to stay just across the road from the beach and then quickly bagged ourselves a spot with some chairs and umbrella to save my pale white skin from the sun.  Turns out that Thai beach sun is even fiercer than I thought – despite factor 50 suncream (Boots Soltan clear spray – won’t be buying that again!), sitting under an umbrella with a thin sarong over my legs and less than 45 minutes actually swimming in the water, I still managed to get comedy sunburn on my legs, face, shoulders, neck.  Not fair!  Luckily we were only staying one day and at night it was too dark to see the damage.

Becky getting her henna tattoo done

In the spirit of encouraging Becky to try as many new things as possible, she got a small henna tattoo on her wrist.  It looked really good but unfortunately she was allergic so it went all red and itchy after a while – oops!

We had a chilled out evening walking and sitting on the beach looking at the amazing moon, despite starting the night with a pina colada bucket (and eating rubbish food served by a dodgy waiter) and finishing it with home-made cocktails of coconut rum mixed with pineapple juice and ice in a juice carton.  We’re classy girls you know!  Oh, and I had to listen to Danza Kaduro coming from the beach-side bars at least three times that night (manos arriba…)

We enjoyed a tranquil morning visit to the beach again before heading off the get the ferry and bus back to Bangkok.  Becky was leaving the same day so we had to get back to the hostel to pack our bags and see her off in time.  It was the end of an era…

Koh Samet

La playa!!!

Enjoying the good life

Bucket time!

Koh Samet by night

Home-made cocktails

Boat from Koh Samet to Ban Phe