Globetrotting Crates

We were in Georgetown the capital of Penang for 4 nights staying at a hotel on Chulia Street. Georgetown’s architecture is a mixture of colonial buildings, ornate chinese clan houses, temples, mosques and shops and bars painted rainbow colours. The oldest part of the city is listed as a UNESCO world heritage site and one of the most interesting attractions is the wonderful street art (pictured is The Indian Boatman by Russian Artist Julia Volchkava). We visited Kek Lok Si Temple complex which is one of the biggest in SE Asia, although there is no entry fee, it is very commercialised with loads of shops selling the normal souvenir tat which spoils the atmosphere. Also free is the CAT bus service meant for tourists (although locals use it) that you can hop on off around the city. We did the circular trip to get our bearings. We also used the local buses to travel to other sites. The fares are very cheap less than 50p to go anywhere the buses clean and not crowded. We did have a prob...

We arrived on the overnight train from Sapa to Hanoi at 5.30am then headed straight for the airport for a long wait for our flight to Da Nang. Unfortunately on arrival our courtesy car didn’t arrivewhich left us a bit frustrated, so we had to get a taxi to our hotel in Hoi An. The journey is about 30 minutes. We stayed at a lovely hotel with it’s own private beach even got a body massage thrown in which was very welcome after bouncing around on a train and a plane over the previous 24 hours! Hội An is a city on Vietnam’s central coast known for its well-preserved Ancient Town, cut through with canals. The former port city’s melting-pot history is reflected in its architecture, a mix of eras and styles from wooden Chinese shop houses and temples to colorful French colonial buildings, ornate Vietnamese tube houses and the iconic Japanese Covered Bridge with its pagoda. As we had been to Hoi An previously and done all the touristy things then, we spent four days doing practicall...

We have enjoyed our time in Sapa but it is like nowhere we have ever been before. On the one hand there are many people coming to trek and and experience the outdoor activities and soak in the culture and on the other hand you have the thousands of Vietnamese tourists who travel up for the weekend from Hanoi and Chinese visitors, most of whom have no interest in trekking but wander around the town in large groups shouting at each other (they don’t seem to be able to have a normal low decibel conversation) and taking selfies. There are hundreds of hotels and guest houses and more being built, also hundreds of restaurants catering for Vietnamese and western appetites. Pizza is very popular here. We feel that we should have visited about 20 years ago before mass tourism arrived. Local tribes women wander the streets selling scarves and bags, more unsettling are the amount of  very small children doing the same and some even carrying babies on their back! These beautiful little ch...

There are some very strange things on the menu in Sapa like porcupine, cervit cat, bamboo rat and horse you can have all of them stir fried. We settled for salmon and sturgeon hot pot one evening. So the bowl of stock is bought to the table and placed over a heater and you are given a basket of vegetables and a plate with the fish and tofu then you cook it all yourselves and eat with rice. We also ate street food at the night market, the menu also has some unappetising items such as sparrow, turtle dove and a frog. Everything is barbecued over hot charcoal. Not the best place for vegetarians. We tried a few bits Mr C pork, Mrs C fish then went for a pizza. Vendors in the street are roasting chestnuts in abundance and they are very moorish. They go down very well with the tiny tangerines and fresh pineapple you can buy very cheaply. Coffee is a bit hit and miss and the coffee that the hotel serves for breakfast is vile, luckily I have bought my own coffee bags - thank you Sainsbu...

Arrived in Sapa on the overnight train from Hanoi on Valentine’s Day Thursday 14th February, the train was fairly comfortable we booked a 2 berth compartment, more expensive but we had a bad experience when we last travelled in a 4 berth in Vietnam so decided not to risk it. Sapa , is a frontier township and capital of  in north-west Vietman and  is one of the main market towns in the area, where several ethnic minority groups live. It is described as a quiet mountain town, however it is not what we found, it’s very commercialised and crowded with tourists. You are constantly surrounded by wandering hill tribe vendor girls and children trying to sell their wares.  At night it becomes a neon city with coloured lights and lasers streaming from all the bars and restaurants. We went on the “Sun World Fanispsn Legend” cable car almost to the top of Fanispan mountain. The weather has been mixed very cloudy at times but we were able to get a reasonable view. We are hop...

Our hotel is a little oasis in the heart of the Hanoi old quarter. It has been fun walking around this busy vibrant city, dodging the hundreds of scooters when trying to cross the roads, the numbers of cars seems to have quadrupled since our last visit 5 years ago. Then there is also the pop up kitchens and all the people sitting on tiny stools on the pavements eating street food all times of day and night that present a trip hazard! Morning glory is the most popular vegetable in Vietnam we enjoyed this stir fried on our street food tour of Hanoi, along with other delicious food such as green papaya, rice pancakes, noodles spring rolls and most interestingly egg coffee which is exactly that - coffee with an egg whisked into it. Doesn’t sound very appealing but it was really lovely. Our guide Potato was brilliant and gave us so much information about the food and different Vietnamese customs. We went to see the Thang Long Water puppet show which is a must when visiting Hanoi.  ...

We spent our last 2 nights in Sri Lanka at Natasha’s Garden Boutique Hotel in Negombo which is a resort close to Colombo. Natasha is Slovenian and quite a character very hospitable, making us feel very welcome, she runs the place with her dog Lady. To get to the hotel you have to pass through some ugly apartments which were built to house people who lost their houses in the 2004 Tsunami - over 30 thousand Sri Lankan people lost their lives when the Tsunami hit the west and south coast. The grounds of the small hotel are lovely with 2 small swimming pools amongst trees and fountains it is vey peaceful compared to the rest of Negombo we saw. Although there are some high end hotels on the beach front, the beach is quite dirty. We spent the 2 days we had there lazing around the pool and arranged a late check out for our evening flight to Vietnam. It was a long night flying from Colombo to Hanoi via Bangkok, we left Colombo at 11pm and arrived  in Hanoi at 8.45am so got virtually n...

The drive from Kandy to Sigiyra took nearly 3 hours this included the time it took the driver to locate the homestay. Mrs C was in some discomfort having several mosquito bites on her bum - how this happened who knows! The lovely Anura who is the owner of the Peaceful guesthouse was there to greet us with his big smile. He prepared us fresh lime (from his garden) juice and soda and then declared tea at 5 pm.  Our room is large very new and clean. Anura is making us dinner and his cooking is fantastic. He prepares different Sri Lankan curry dishes every evening. Breakfast also has a Sri Lankan flavour with either hoppers and coconut sambal or delicious pancakes. We have visited Sigiyra rock although didn’t climb right to the top as it is very strenuous. Sigiyra is a UNESCO world heritage site and is an ancient fortress. As a matter of interest some of the scenes from the music video for the Duran Duran “Save a Prayer” were filmed at the top of Sigiyra. Taking a jeep safari t...

We have enjoyed our visit to Kandy, a decent hotel with a view over Kandy lake and a short walk into the centre. We walked around the large lake saw lots of birds including pelicans and a huge water monitor lizard which is the second largest lizard after the kimono dragon. It looked very much like a crocodile lying on the bank of the lake. We visited the Sri Dalada Maligawa - the temple of the sacred tooth relic - which is one of the holiest shrines in the entire Buddhist world. It was very crowded with tourists and people praying and making offerings. Can’t say it is the most ornate Buddhist temple we have visited. We came across a Hindu temple as we were wandering around the busy shopping centre suddenly up popped a Buddhist monk, it turned out that there is a Buddhist temple attached to the Hindu temple! He latched on to us and showed us round a bit and then took us into another room. Somehow we knew what was coming next when he pulled out the (costly) white string sure enoug...

We waited in trepidation for the 9.23 train to arrive in Ella, wondering what discomfort the next 6 hours would bring. The train was 30 minutes late and we stood on the platform in 30C degree heat with the sun beating down on us. Finally the train arrived and there was a mad rush for everyone to board and find their seats. We found ours in the 3rd class “reserved” carriage. Our carriage was fairly quite with plenty of spare seats while the “unreserved” 3rd class carriages were packed to the hilt! The journey was much more comfortable than we imagined and the scenery absolutely spectacular travelling past tea plantations, forests and waterfalls. The rail journey from Ella to Kandy is regarded as one of the world’s most scenic. Every now and then venders would get in the train with urns of chai and offer snacks of nuts and samosas. We arrived at Kandy late afternoon agreeing that the rail fare of £1.75 each had been excellent value for money!

After reading all the positive posts on Trip Advisor about the Ella Inn, we were somewhat disappointed at the state of the accommodation. Too tired after our journey, we hadn’t got the energy to go looking for somewhere better. In addition there was a power cut in the town so we were plunged into half darkness until 6.15 pm. Next morning after sleeping moderately well, (the bed was surprisingly comfortable) only disturbed by Mr C going to the loo in the middle of the night and getting tangled up in the mosquito net exclaiming “bloody doss hole” or words to that effect, we decided to stay for the next two nights as planned. As Mrs C pointed out we can’t grumble at the price, under £20 B&B per night and we are on a budget.  The breakfast was good, bit of fusion with scrambled eggs served with Sri Lankan pancakes and Rotis. Ella is a lively small town attracting hundreds of visitors from around the world, mainly backpackers of all ages who come for the hiking trails and to tr...