Blogs from Asia - page 13083

The flight from Chennai to Bangalore was uneventful and contrary to any concerns I had regarding internal flights - stereotypical images of sharing a hold with chickens and goats sprang to mind - I must congratulate Jet Airways. They could certainly teach Jet2 a thing or two about customer service and quality! Today was my first real Indian experience. After breakfast I was picked up from the hotel by an elderly gentleman called Kishore. Kishore acts as the representative of Adopt-A-Business in Southern India and is responsible for providing my final briefing before starting the assignment, the concluding debrief in 4 weeks time and also a local (well within 400 miles) contact point if needed. Kishore is a fascinating character, very gently spoken, articulate and passionate about life. After working for 30 years as a manager ... read more

Well hello Boys and Girls. Welcome to will’s world once again, take your shoes off at the door and make yourself at home. Today we will be talking about the highs and lows of traveling off the track style. Specifically trekking in the jungle’s of Myanmar. Being the savvy, experienced, well rounded travelers that Matt and I are we wanted something challenging for our last hurrah in Burma. We had planned this nice hike from Kalaw to Inle Lake. Nice and easy stroll through the forest taking photos and enjoying the great outdoors. Well this was the plan… Until while reading through a book in my room I had a great idea. This idea was to scrap our plans and tear off in the complete opposite direction we had decided and go once again where foreigners ... read more

Dedicated to Jaspreet Laly - RIP!! I was ready. All suited and booted, with my hair slickly combed in a boffinesque type method, ready to tackle the high flying Indian doctors........However, the hair soon went fuzzy and lost its zest and impetus only 5 minutes into the rickshaw journey. It took 45 mins to reach Sri Ramachandra Hospital. The journey itself was quite pleasant. The only problem was my lungs being filled with the harsh diesel fumes from the endlessly roaring vehicles. The ceasing of movement becomes a dilemma for any rickshaw passenger. Suddenly, there is no air movement to cool the body from the high temperatures. Also, the remaining gas guzzlers seem to head straight for any pharangee in its way (ie. me). Soon, after frequent breathing exercises, i just let go...there is no point ... read more

Yesterday we spent organising a couple of tours with Sinh Cafe. One to the Mekong Delta the other to Cu Chi Tunnels. We then did a bit of shopping at the markets. The kids spent the afternoon by the pool while I went and check out the War Remnants Museum. This is the Vietnamese's aspect of the war. The place has a heap of left over US military equipment out the front and small arms inside. Well worth a visit and details some pretty graphic stuff. An interesting perspective after growing up seeing it from the other side. Monday we went to the Mekong Delta. This trip was a day trip and only just touches on life in the delta. We were bussed to the main town on the delta, My Tho. This is a pretty ... read more

We had dinner in an upstairs lounge with table-mounted grills and firepits in Asakasa. The food was very cheap and quite good, and the style of the place reminded me of the New Orleans restaurant in Easy Rider. I finally got that Gin and Tonic I was looking for. When we left it was pouring rain, so I dashed through the streets to the nearest convience store and grabbed some clear plastic umbrellas for us (I shouldn’t have bought three - I doubt we will have to use them at all for the rest of the trip, the weather forecast is pretty clear). We ended the night at that Bass Ale bar that I had been looking for on Saturday - it turned out to be a branch of the Hub (the British pub we ate ... read more