some final updates

I thought it would be good to tie up loose ends from my trip and answer some questions, with some useful links as is currently the fashion.

Q: Why were you so nasty about Auckland?
If I said everywhere was stunning, amazing etc the blog would be a bit samey. So poor old Aucklanders, I'm sorry you were the sacrificial lambs (!). On the other hand, travelling in other parts of your beautiful country, I found that most New Zealanders are pretty negative about them too. The local acronym is JAFA, I believe. Just Another ??? Aucklander - I never did find out what the F stood for...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jafa

Q: How many times did you use the words stunning and amazing in the blog?
OK I get the point. Actually I can only find 10 instances of amazing/amazingly, which isn't bad considering how, er, astonishing, astounding, awesome, awful, eye-opening, fabulous, miraculous, portentous, prodigious, staggering, stupendous, sublime, surprising, wonderful, wondrous the trip has been.
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/thesaurus

Q: What happened to Prince Andrew?
Some of you were worried I just abandoned Andrew in NZ, but I couldn't wait around for ever. He finally made it to Rio 2 days after I left. No doubt he'll catch up eventually. http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1175718224200

Q: Is Singapore really that boring?
Did I really say that? Well, judge for yourself: look at all the cultural events and festivals on offer:
http://www.visitsingapore.com/publish/stbportal/en/home/what_to_do/culture___festivals.html

Q: What happened to the Scuba diving?
I decided against it this time, partly because I've had a dodgy knee since Bhutan. But there's always a next time.
http://www.boradive.com/

Q: So there's going to be a next time?
You bet!

Q: What happened to 'around the world in 80 ways'?
I only got to about 40. To add to the list earlier (23 Jan), I have since been on:
31. Cambodia style tuk tuk. (Phnom Penh). (Really just a motorbike with a trailer)
32. Monorail (Sydney, SIngapore)
http://www.metromonorail.com.au/
33. Coach (Viet Nam to Cambodia)
34. Ferris wheel (Bangkok) (Objections that this just goes around in a circle and comes back to the same point are unfounded - so did my whole trip!) Interestingly, I rode the same wheel when it was in Paris a few years back.
http://www.readbangkokpost.com/weeklies/2006/06/ferris_wheel_ross.html
35. Speedboat (Krabi)
36. Long-tail boat (Krabi)
37. Electric float 'train' (Chaing Mai)
38. Scooter (Chiang Mai)
39. Junk (Halong Bay)
40. Rack railway (Rio de Janeiro). This is different from HK's cable driven tram, as the units are self powered from overhead cables.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rack_railway

Q: You don't mention the night life much?
Hey, are you kidding? People at my office are reading this.

signs

It's easy to make fun of quirky English abroad. But however bad, their English is going to be a lot better than my sad attempts at the local languages, so no cheap laughs.

However, sometimes you come across a sign that is so mystifying that you feel you are missing something in the culture. Here are a few I spotted on my trip.

1. Paraphernalia - the scourge of Hong Kong

2. Thailand and the horrors of doll dangling

3. A new addition to the traditional greetings in Thailand

4. Strange things to do with stalactites in Vietnam

5. A bar that failed to live up to its promise in Bhutan

6. They will sell anything in some restaurants

back home...

So I have come to my final destination: home. Here I am, full circle completed, contemplating a return to work and musing about the trip.


After five months’ travel I am looking forward to some familiar home comforts. I’ve never felt I’ve missed London up to now. But now that I'm back, I’m glad to be returning.
I had a walk through the central London parks today, full of spring blossom and flowers, with the full warmth of a good spring day, and it was great to be back.

Thanks for reading this blog over the last few months. Thanks too for many encouraging comments. I may have a few follow up entries, and maybe my next trip will be blogged here too.

So, how to summarise this disparate trip?
· 150 days (includes 2 April 1sts). The other 30 days of the 180 to be spent in quiet contemplation (I doubt it!)
· 40 different modes of travel (I will update the list…)
· 24 air flights (I’ll be paying off my carbon debt for a long time!)
· 37 different hotels and guest houses (some more than once; longest stay, 6 days; shortest, 12 minutes); plus one villa; 3 overnight flights; stays in three private homes; and one night in the open desert.

Well, of course it’s more than the statistics.
Have I learnt anything? I can be self sufficient – I can deal with foreign places even if I don’t understand the languages; but ultimately there are many places that are more enjoyable as shared experiences. I’ve really enjoyed the companionship of old friends and new along the way.

Best experiences? Culturally: Bhutan. Geographically: Rio. Party mode: New Year with friends in Bangkok and Bali. But there have been so many different types of things happening, it’s been very rich and varied, and hard to single things out.

Worst experiences? Remarkably trouble-free. I suppose the night at the (closed) national park in India with the all night wedding party going on next door, followed by a suicidal drive back to Delhi, was the worst 24 hours.

New things I’ve enjoyed doing: this blog; a more serious approach to photography thanks to my great new camera. [My little Vaio notebook, though now a little battle-scarred, has been excellent and performed perfectly, downloading form the camera and uploading to the blog]

Old things I haven’t missed: doing the laundry. English winter.

Lost: a nice pair of slip on sandals I bought on the way. My first aid kit. Not much else, amazingly.

Gained: some lovely art and handiwork, especially from Nepal, Bhutan and Rio. A tan. Possibly a few new friends. And perhaps a better perspective on life.

Best wishes, Keith

rio de janeiro

View from my hotel's roof - Ipanema beach at dusk

If you know me you will confirm that I am an inveterate whistler of inane tunes, so I have been annoying myself no end ever since arriving, realising every few minutes I’m in the middle of ‘The girl/boy from Ipanema’.
Mind you, Ipanema is worth whistling about. So are the tall and tan and young lovelies that do indeed hang out here. It has an amazing setting, the beautiful sweep of the bay and the crashing ocean waves, book-ended by a huge mountain that twinkles at night like a Christmas tree, with the myriad lights of a favela,. Yet more stunning sunsets – I must have seen more of these than in the rest of my life put together.
Rio is a city dwarved by its geography: it squeezes itself into the gaps between the mountains and the beaches. The sheer faced rocks are like a child’s drawing of mountains; its beaches are perfect arcs of sand and blue water. The buildings, the paseos, the parks are almost incidental.

Christ the Redeemer at Corcovado

It’s a place for going up things – the tram to Santa Teresa, the cable-car to the Sugarloaf mountain, the cog railway to Corcovado (the Hunchback) which rises in a sheer cliff face 800m from sea level, with its huge monumental statue. American tourist: ‘Do I really wanna do the cable? I’ve already been up Christ the Redeemer today.’

And the views from everywhere to everywhere else are, like they always say, more stunning than you can ever imagine from the photos. But I’ve had a go and you can see some on my picture site. www.picturetrail.com/k-e-i-t-h-m
I was a bit paranoid about coming here, given all the stories about theft and violence and I am sure that happens. There are areas like the central business district which are just deserted at night, but that’s no different from many north American cities, and I think if you are reasonably sensible you will not have too many problems.

Cable-car to the Sugarloaf, with Copa- cabana behind

In Ipanema and neighbouring Copacabana, the streets and even the beach promenade are busy late into the night; lined with buzzing bars and restaurants, and feel safe. My hotel, right on the beach at Ipanema, is one of the tallest, with a great view from the little rooftop pool/bar. You can just hop across the road in your swimwear and flip flops and be in the ocean in seconds.
I’ve had a good time in Rio, but I admit I’ve taken it much easier than if it had been at the start of my holiday. I have a feeling I will return fairly soon for a more in-depth visit to Brazil. Maybe I’m laid back and relaxed and don’t feel I have to fill every hour of the day; or maybe it’s time to go home.
I wish I could do this every winter. But I’m just whistling in the wind… Phew phew phew-phew... Tall and tan and young and lovely…

santiago de chile

cathedral and main square in Santiago

I have been utterly confused about the time since I got here. Having crossed the international date line on the long night flight from Auckland, I arrived about 5 hours before I left, as Santiago is 16 hours behind (or you could argue 8 hours ahead in terms of effect on your brain).
Having been in touch with people in London (now +5 hours) and Hong Kong (+12 hours) recently it’s been a right kerfuffle. So I’ve used all that as an excuse to catch up on sleep and spent lots of time with my head down, and waking up at peculiar hours.
The first day was grey and drizzly and quite cold, a bit like Auckland. The next day there was a riot (an annual event that no longer seems to have much purpose but both sides feel they need to go through the motions) and so the whole place closed down mid-afternoon. The third day, however, was gloriously sunny and clear and the city looked very fine in this light, especially when I went up to the top of St Lucia, a hill in the centre, from which (the pollution having miraculously dispersed) there is a great panorama of the sweep of the Andes, snow capped and craggy, rising thousands of metres on three sides.
This is Santiago’s main asset. The city itself feels like many Spanish provincial capitals, with a mix of baroque and beaux arts set piece buildings and traditional and modern apartments and shopping centres. Some of the most recent development is quite well done and shows that Chile is now one of the most prosperous countries of South America. There is a small but very well presented museum of pre-Columbian culture and art, with examples from all the main civilisations of central and south America. There are also in or near the main square museums of national history and of Santiago’s history house din historic buildings themselves and again well presented, though without English captions (which is more my problem than theirs – after Aus and NZ I am struggling a bit). The baroque cathedral is also worth a look, though very much what you would expect.
Santiago gets a bad press in the travel guides but I thought it was fine for a few days.