My Blog Has Moved Home!

My travel blog has moved to a new home, it’s now on the same server as the rest of my website.  I won’t bore you with ALL the technical hassles migrating a blog involves but I’m soooo pleased it’s over.

New blog can be found at:

http://terrevistatrails.com/blog/

Drop by,  say hello

My Icelandic Volcano Travel Hell

The Volcano That's Stopping All Air Travel

Yes, it really is my Icelandic Volcano Travel Hell.

On Sunday I was due to fly from Edinburgh to Heathrow and from there to New Zealand.  But because of Iceland’s latest ashy export I am now trapped in Edinburgh  -  with no escape in sight.  Instead of flying into a warm, tropical autumn, I am suffering in a wet, freezing, windy, Northern European country.  Tomorrow my misery will continue when, instead of enjoying Qantas hospitality, I will have to go to work instead.

Who knows when I’ll escape.

At least the Icelanders have a ready market for the huge pool of lava they’re producing

Worlds Largest Lava Lamp

Siem Reap to Bangkok by Taxi

Taxi for Terrevista!

In Cambodia, what costs £100 and lasts 45 minutes?  A flight from Siem Reap to Bangkok.  Bangkok Airways seem to have this route sown up so,  if you wanna fly, you gotta pay. On top of this there’s the $20 (£13.30)’departure tax’ (make sure you have crisp, clean dollars or else they’ll be refused) and the cost of getting from Bangkok airport to downtown – say 250  baht (£5) in a tax.  O/T DON’T take an airport limo from BKK airport because it will cost you at least 2,000 – that’s £38.50!  I’ve not done it but I know 2 people who have been talked into doing this.

I’m rambling – back to the costs.  Flying Siem Reap – Bangkok is going to cost you at least £118 and maybe even more if you don’t get a special deal fare.  You could go all the way back to Phnom Pehn and fly with Air Asia for about half that price but it’s a  5 hour coach trip back tp PP.  And then you’ll have to get a tuk tuk or taxi to the airport.  And then you have to fly with Air Asia.  Who will charge you at least $5 per kilo for every kilo you are over their anorexic 15kg luggage allowance.

So what’s the alternative?  Easy!  Take a taxi!  Yep, a taxi from your hotel in Siem Reap will cost you less than flying.  You’ll be transported door to door, it’s comfortable, you won’t have to pay a departure tax, can stop when you want, and, depending on your driver and the other traffic, maybe experience the thrill of white knuckle taxi passenger adventure travel.  It’s not all roses though, there are some drawbacks.  It’s slower than flying, allow for about 6 -7 hours on the road.  You might die in a spectacular pile up.  And, er, that’s about it.  Oh, and if being green bothers you, all the meter taxis in Thailand run on LPG not petrol.  It’s a win/win situation.

Myself and Yvonne, my travelling companion for this trip, were picked up at the Guest House Supemarket just after mid-day on Sunday 3rd January.  Our taxi was in fact a large car with tinted windows, curtains and aircon.  It had cost $25 and had been arranged by the ever helpful Den at The Peace of Angkor just around the corner from the New Apsara Guesthouse.  Most folk heading for the border set off early morning and this results in big queues and long waits in Poipet.  Leave later, get there early afternoon and there’s no waiting.

The road to Poipet and the border used to be know as one of the worst in SE Asia – but not anymore.  It’s all newly surfaced, smooth and very, very impressive.  The countryside isn’t that exciting, mainly flat and open.  The main interest is in passing the pickup trucks carrying at least 30 passengers – including kids sitting on the cab roof, legs dangling down the windscreen, the driver peering through the gaps.

That's me - 3rd from the left

Poipet can only be described as a dirty, dusty, crap heap – obviously a very poor place.  It’s taken us about 90 minutes to get here on the empty road with a good driver.  As soon as we pull up the taxi attracts a small crowd of people trying to carry our bags, organise transport or just lead us to the admin offices – only 2o meters away.  We manage to make the short walk to the departure office without any help.  After a quick glance at our passports the impressively uniformed Cambodian official stamps our visas with the exit stamp and we walk into Thailand.  The border buildings are very large and impressive – really out of place.  Even more so when you realise that they actually house casinos and that’s why so many Thai’s come to this place – it’s the Vegas of Cambodia!  Actually it’s more like the Reno, Nevada of Cambodia.

There are large queues of tourists waiting to get into Cambodia and they look unhappy standing there in the very hot sun.  I make a mental note never to get here early afternoon if I ever travel from Thailand to Cambodia.  On the Thai side of the border entry into the country means filling in a form (if there aren’t any around the room you can get one from the desk of  the  last immigration officer on the right), standing in line for a few minutes and then getting your passport stamped.  And that’s it – you’re in Rongklua, Thailand.

Once you clear immigration you’ll be approached by touts but if you want a taxi, ignore them and walk up to the right past a big sign that says something like ‘Tourists This Way’ and 100m later you’re in a busy market place and there’s a taxi company with a big sign saying ‘Bangkok 1,800 baht, Pattaya 2,000 baht’.  Have a chat to the man at the desk and your taxi will be organised for you.  You tell him where you want to go in Bangkok, pay him the money and that’s it.  There’s a cafe right next door so you can take a few minutes out to grab a drink or food and maybe have a bit of a look round.

Where Poipet was dusty and poor, Rongklua is busy with well dressed shoppers and there are lots of late model cars and 4×4′s everywhere.  Thai people tend to be small and slim but compared to the Cambodians only a few hundred meters away the Thais here look taller and much better fed.  The contrast really is quite striking.

Yvonne and I were soon heading down the road in a taxi that was a Thai taxi and not the limo we’d enjoyed earlier in the day.  It soon became clear that there was a LOT of traffic and the penny dropped.  I’d forgotten that the Thais celebrate New Year just as hard as the Scots and this had been a holiday weekend – now everyone was returning home to the big city.  The next few hours can only be described as an interesting experience.  Interesting in the way that everyone was tailgating everyone else at 70mph, or overtaking on the hard shoulder, or the central reservation or just driving 4 abreast down a 2 lane road.  Interesting in the way the road was suddenly coned off to one lane and everyone crept past the heavily armed Thai troops who were sitting around waiting for God knows what to happen

I put my seatbelt on, determined to increase my chances of survival in what I felt would be an inevitable crash.  Yvonne, who lives in Hong Kong and doesn’t drive, asked quite pointedly why I’d done that.  She either had nerves of steel or simply no appreciation of the potential danger all around.  I told her it was a European custom designed to bring good luck to travellers and keep them out of hospital.  I don’t think she bought it.  Unbelievably, we didn’t crash nor did we see any pile ups.  By the time we reached Bangkok I was absolutely wrecked – sustaining such a high level of nervous tension for so long really takes it out of you.  All I wanted was a big drink.

The trip from the border to Bangkok took 6 hours but the traffic was bad and we did stop a couple of times for comfort and drink breaks.  And for our diver to chain smoke at least 6 fags – I guess being a driver round takes a big toll on your health.

Overall I guess the taxi experience was than flying and I’d certainly do it again.  I’ve had friends do the trip the other way and they say it’s ok but there are numerous scams to watch out for on the Thai side of things.  Woz told me that when he did it he was approached by an official looking man with a clipboard near the border who said ‘Welcome to Cambodia. $25 entrance fee please.’  No shrinking violet and experienced traveller Woz replied that as far as he was concerned they hadn’t actually reached the border, let alone crossed it, and as he’d never been charged and entry fee before he wasn’t going to pay one now.  But he would have said it much more bluntly and used a lot (and I do mean a lot) of swearwords in making his point. Apparently the man ran off.

There’s a good write up of all the travel options for Bangkok to Siem Reap here.

The Supermarket Guesthouse – A New Concept

Wat Bo, Jeeves!

I spent the New Year period in Siem Reap (that’s in Cambodia and the town you head for if you want to see Angkor Wat).  I didn’t mean to go there, my plan was to head down to the beach in Sihanoukville but somehow I ended up at the other end of the country in Siem Reap.  After finally leaving Bangkok I headed for Phnom Penh (also in Cambodia – it’s the capital) and went to stay at the excellent Dara Reang Sey hotel .  I stayed there last year and the very charming owner, Dara, said she was delighted to see me back.  Probably says that to everyone but made me feel good all the same.

When I was there in ’09 I met a guy called Warren (Woz) who was looking to do some work for an NGO in Cambodia and we said we’d keep in touch.  We sent exactly 3 emails to each other during the whole of  ’09 but for guys, that’s pretty good – that’s male bonding!  Bit of a surprise then when Dara told me Warren was due in the hotel the next day.  And the next day he was just as astonished to see me sat there too.  He said he’s been living in Siem Reap for a couple of months and that I should head up there for New Year as there were a few others turning up who I knew too.

He said he was staying in a great place called the New Apsara Guest House, that it was cheap, clean,  close to town, had it’s own restaurant, giant rooms and free wi-fi but what made it different to everywhere else was that it was Guest House on the upper floors and supermarket come restaurant on the ground floor.  Warren negotiated a good rate for me for an aircon room and a few days later I was on the bus to Siem Reap.

As the bus approached the town I called Woz and asked where exactly I was headed once I’d left it and grabbed a tuk-tuk.  “It’s on the junction of Street 20 and Wat Bo Road – can’t miss it”.  And I didn’t although I was a bit thrown by the state of Wat Bo Road.  On previous visits Wat Bo Road was a dusty, potholed,  unsealed road – but in the space of 12 months it had been turned into a proper tarmac road.  It had kerbs (in places), markings down the middle and – being most impressive and absolutely redundant at the same time – zebra crossings!  But don’t step on one and expect the traffic to stop  -  a cosmetic paint job ain’t going to stop Cambodians driving like Cambodians.

What was more impressive was that as my tuk-tuk pulled up, the guest house staff took my bag straight up to my room and told me Woz was waiting for me round the corner at an outside table.  He certainly was and as I sat down one of the staff brought a chilled Beer Lao out for me and poured it into a glass.  Now that is service.

New Apsara Guest House

New Apsara Supermarket

The New Apsara is everything Woz said it, er, was.  Other attractions include an ATM,  a shady balcony to catch up on email and just about everything else you need within a 50 meter walk – restaurants,  tour organisers,  laundry and a tuk-tuk rank.  500 meters up the road is a miniature model of Angkor Wat so,  really,  you could spend your whole visit here and avoid the hordes of tourists and the heat.

The supermarket is really well stocked with just about everything you need and the prices aren’t hiked up.  Beer Lao (big bottle) is $1.50 – straight from the chiller.  The food is all freshly cooked and is excellent quality and value.  For $4 you can have a huge breakfast with lots of options including fresh fruit, fresh baguette, eggs, bacon, pancakes etc.  And the coffee is the BEST I’ve tasted in a long time.

You can walk to the centre of Siem Reap in under 15 mins or take a tuk-tuk or moto and be there in 5.  Alternatively turn right at the river and have a walk up through the huts lining the banks and see a different,  more basic Cambodia.  Don’t worry,  the folks are all friendly but the experience will show you what a poor country Cambodia really is.

It’s not all sweetness and light at the New Apsara though.  A couple of times during my stay there was no water – don’t know if this is a regular occurrence but it was a pain.  Wifi works great on the 1st floor but kinda loses it’s way going up to the 2nd.  Others said it was a bit noisy in the morning but I never noticed this – but I noticed dogs barking in the night and others didn’t.  In the scheme of things,  not great hassles and ones the folks living in the riverside huts probably wouldn’t even comprehend as problems.

There’s lots of accommodation in Siem Reap and ordinarily I wouldn’t have given the New Apsara a second look  -  I don’t travel that ‘budget’.  But on this occasion I’m glad I listened to Woz – he was (Doh! done it again) spot on.  Lao,  Pov and Bunlot Laska  have a great little guest house here and I’ll happily stay here again on my next visit to Siem Reap.

Oh – nearly forgot.  The rooms were spotlessly clean as was the linen on the monster sized bed in my room.  There was absolutely no need to use one of the fantastic Jag Bag silk sleeping liners that I sell from my shop at www.terrevistatrails.com.   Come on guest house owners – lower your standards,  give me a chance here.

Monster Sized Bed

View Larger Map

Das Boot

Old Meindl Shoes

Sorry if you were expecting a post about a WW2 German U-boat but read on anyway,  only don’t expect much in the way of depth charging and torpedoing.

5 years ago I bought a pair of Meindl walking shoes ahead of an epic trip to Vietnam and Laos.  I’d never heard of Meindl before but they fitted well and were comfortable and weren’t too pricey at about £90.  In 5 years my Meindls have been all over SE Asia, from the hell hole that’s Phuket to jungle trekking in the very wet and muddy Cameron Highlands.  As an aside, let me tell you that jungle trekking tends to be hot, sweaty, muddy, humidy and insecty.  You hear the birds but never see them or any other wildlife.  All you can be guaranteed seeing is the back of the person in front of you.  Jungle treks – just say no!

Every winter the Meindls have had daily treks over the Edinburgh cobbles to and from work.  They’ve seen a lot of action.  In December last year I was wandering around Hanoi when a Vietnamese guy tapped me on the shoulder, pointed to my Meindls and said ‘I fix’.  I was about to just say no when I realised he had a point.  Despite having a comfortable, world traveller look about them the soles and heels were pretty worn down. My new friend gave me a pair of incredibly small flip flops to wear and set about my shoes.  He carried everything he needed in a plastic basket.  He pulled out a sheet of some thick, rubbery material, looked at the heel and then cut out a perfectly shaped patch.  Once the heels were done he then set about the worn out inner lining with a big needle and thread and just sowed them back up.  So, within the space of 5 minutes and at a cost of $4 my Meindls weren’t as good as new but they were good for a few more miles of trekking around.  Just another example of how profligate us bad Western folk are – throw it away rather than repair it.  Sermon over.

Stitched Up

Falling to Bits

Patched Heel

Meindl Patched Heel Godd as New

Back to my normal workaday life in Edinburgh I kinda forgot about the Meindls, just used the as required.  BUT then, as I was wandering around Blacks during the sale, I saw a pair of Meindl boots with a big SALE sticker on them.  Reduced from £99 to and unbelievably there were in my dinky size 7 too.  Briefly I considered the eco apect of using my old Meindls for ever and just repairing then until there was nothing left to repair.  Like I said, briefly……………

These were brand new boots at a knock down price!  Do you know how often I ever see sale stuff that actually fits me?  Never!  Sod the constant repairing – this was brand new, comfortable, CHEAP kit.  And 5 minutes later, the Meindl Magic Boots were mine.

Mr Meindl makes every pair of boots by hand

Land of the Meindl

Meindl Bargain

Virgin Meindls

Virgin Meindl

Alpine Walking and the Red Yeti

It’s been pretty quiet on the travel front recently.  I did make another trip to London on business and did consider taking the Caledonian Sleeper…………………………. for about 5 seconds!  As I wasn’t paying I flew and despite the hassle of packed airports and the frustrating delays caused by the power crazed security screeners, it was still better than listening to someone snore for 6 hours!

But onto the Red Yeti.  Red, as I like to call him, has a pretty good travel blog here which is full of great stories, pictures and advice.  He’s also been good enough to recommend my Jag Bag Silk Sleeping Bag Liners totally unprompted more than once.

A couple of weeks ago he published a great article about summer walking in the Alps.  I didn’t even know you could walk in the Alps!  But Red has written such a great, enthusiastic, article that I’m well up for it.  These walks make Scottish Munro Bagging (look it up – but don’t expect anything pervy) look like a gentle meander through the park.

Sorry,  Munro Baggers, I don’t indulge but I fully respect your right to pursue a hobby which is distantly related to train spotting – “……and that’s another one ticked off the list…….”

Anyway, back to Red Yeti and the Alps.  Check out his Alpine Walking post here.  Here’s one of Red’s rather good pictures to end on……….

The Caledonian Sleeper – A Sleep on a Train

The caledonian Sleeper

I had to be in London for an early morning meeting and I didn’t fancy the idea of getting up at 4am to get to Edinburgh airport to fly down.  I didn’t really want to be hitting London at rush hour anyway, the tube at 8am isn’t my idea of fun.  I could have flown down the day before and stayed in a hotel but that would have been waaaay too expensive.  The only viable altenative?  Why, the Caledonian Sleeper of course.  Leave Edinburgh at 11.45pm and arrive in Euston station at 7am next morning having had a restfull night’s sleep on the train.

You have a couple of choices regarding accommodation – share a 2 berth cabin with a complete stranger or buy a 1st class single berth all to yourself.  As I was travelling on business I went for the 1st class single option which cost an eye watering £161.00!  What price privacy.  Still, as it was 1st class I expected to be travelling in utter luxury.

Sleeper Corridor

I arrived at Waverely Station at 11.30pm and was met by a nice man who took my order for breakfast and showed me which was my carriage.  First thing  noticed on boarding were two toilets.  Second thing I noticed was just how narrow the corridor down the train was.  Had I been hauling a big pack it would have just wedged between the walls.

My berth was about halfway down the carriage and when I opened the door I couldn’t actually believe how small it was.  It was so small that even with my camera set to wide angle, I could only get a bit of the cabin in shot.  It was about 7feet long and 4 feet wide.  The bed was down the left hand wall with the

1st Class Sleeper Cabin

bottom of it disappearing under the shelf at the end.  To the right of the shelf was the washbasin, covered in a fold up lid, and above that was the window.  Along the right wall were inbuilt hangers for your clothes – and that was it for luggage space.  Everything else had to be on the floor – so again, happy I was only travelling light.

The bed was pretty narrow but the sheet and duvet covering it were absolutely spotless – no need for one of my Jag Bag silk sleeping bag liners.  Anyone over average size and height could be in for an uncomfortable night given the bed’s dimensions.  Also, I realised that this single berther could easily be transformed into a double berther by releasing the upper bunk from the wall – you can just make it out in the picture.  Here’s a tip for all you claustraphobes out there – do not, under any circumstances, share a berth on this train – you’ll only live to regret it.

There was pretty good aircon and all the lights were controlled from a panel by your head.  If you wanted anything in the night you could press a buzzer and the attendant would come and get it for you, berth as opposed to room service.  There was a buffet car on the train and I guess that’s where non 1st class passengers had to go and get their own refreshments from.  Food and drink prices seemed pretty reasonable.  Sadly no matter what class you travelled, you had to use one of the public toilets onboard – no private facilities for anyone.

So – how was the journey?  Did I sleep like a baby?

The cabin was roasting hot when I arrived but the temp soon came down once I’d adjusted the aircon – which was a bit loud but.  Then I heard the guy in the next cabin cough and I realised that the walls were paper thin.  The he coughed again………and again……..and agan.  I decided he had a cough.  The bed was prett firm but ok.  I think any careless, violent, turning over action would see you on the floor quite easily.  The train set off smoothly on time.  I cleaned my teeth as quietly as I could but ruined all the effort by letting the wash basin cover fall down twice – sorry guy next door.  I read for a bit and then switched out the lights.  It was total blackness!  Then the train went over what felt like bumps and started swaying and banging about.   I was being thrown around in the dark like some weird fairground ride.  Actually, I quite enjoyed it.  The turbulence ended and I started to drift off………..

But not for long.  Coughing guy next door had metamorphosed into snoring like a pig guy.  What a racket!  I banged on the wall a couple of times but all that did was get rid of some frustration.  This guy was in a snoring world of his own. I can’t really describe just how awfull the noises were but he was clearly wearing some sort of restrictive gimp mask – no human could make sounds like that without some outside assistance.  Anyway, despite being convinced I’d never dop off, I eventually did – only to be woken up by……….silence.

No snoring, no coughing, no aircon noise, no train moving over the rails noise either.  I decided that someone had snapped (probably a claustraphobic), broken into the berth next door and thrown the gimp mask snorer off the train and we’d stopped to look for him.  Obvious really.  Thiry seconds later I was shown the error of my reasoning when the train suddenly started with a huge jerk, the aircon roared into life and my next door neighbour once again joined in with the general racket.  I looked at my watch – it was 12.30am, hours to go.  I felt my heart sink.

The rest of the night passed in a series of stops, sudden starts, snoring, being too hot, being too cold, carriage swaying and fitful sleep.  I couldn’t quite believe it then when I was actually woken up by my alarm.  Somehow I’d managed to sleep.  Eventually managing how to work the window blind I opened it and saw we were parked in Euston station on a very grey day.  It was 6.20 and my breakfast was due at 6.45. I dressed and went out to use the toilet noticing that my neighbours door was open and his berth empty.  He’d either been silently disposed of during the night or had left as soon as we arrived.  I know which option I prefer.

Bang on 6.45 there was a knock on my door and I was handed my breakfast tray and free copy of The Scotsman.  Breakfast was pretty good and consisted of  hot bacon roll, tea, orange juice, yoghurt,

Caledonian Sleeper Breakfast

fresh fruit salad and a traditional finger of shortbread.  After a leisurely read of the paper I left the train at about 7.15 and wandered off into Euston Station.  There are no showers on the train but apparently 1st class passengers can use the facilities at the Virgin Trains lounge on the station itself.  I looked in there but it was very busy and decided to rely on deoderant to keep me fragrant for the rest of the day.

So, would I use the sleeper again?  I guess overall it was ok, had it not been for the next door neighbour from hell I would have arrived feeling a lot fresher.  Not having to get up early for a flight was a big advantage as was the lack of hassle with airport security and the sheer awfulness of using the rush hour underground.  If the business is paying, then yes, I’d travel 1st class sleeper again but if I have to pay out of my own pocket then I’d choose a cheap flight or maybe daytime train travel.

Forgot to say that there was a pretty good complimentary washbag in the cabin which had lots of toiletries, eye mask, flannel, tootbrush, razor and socks (?) – but sadly no ear plugs.

Terrevista Trails Website – Construction Work!

If you’ve come or gone to or from my blog from my website at www.terrevistatrails.com (THE place to buy silk sleeping bag liners BTW) can I just appologise for the state of the site at the moment.   The web builders are in, hopefully improving things, but work seems to be taking a bit longer than expected………………..    But hopefully not as long as the Edinburgh Tram Project.

Anyhoo, please don’t let the mess put you off – the online shop is still working perfectly.

Standard sunset in Sihanoukville

AirAisia – Still not as bad as Ryanair

Several people have pointed out to me that Ryanair ony let you have 15kg hold luggage too.  And now they’re talking about charging people £1 to use the toilet in flight. What next?  Coin slots to activate the drop down oxygen masks?

Air Asia’s Money Generating Scheme

Don’t get me wrong, Air Asia offer a great selection of flights at brilliant prices throughout er, well Asia basically, but they do have a particular Gotcha!  They only allow 15kg of hold luggage,  anything above that and you could be paying a lot in excess baggage.  At Phnom Penh airport my backpack weighed in at 19.75kg and I was charged $5 for each kilo  over the 15.  Just to avoid complicated maths the Air Asia staff  helpfully rounded it up to $20 – and then refused to accept my $20 bill in payment because they said it was too creased………

OK – it does say in the Air Asia small print, the very small print, on the website that the allowance is 15kg but who reads the small print?  To be fair to AA though, a couple of years ago in Kuala Lumpur I was 1kg over and the desk guy said he’d let it go this time.

You win some, you lose some.