Blogs from Asia - page 150

I forgot the elephants ! How could that have happened ?? Two days ago we were staying near one of the National Parks . This one is refuge for wild elephants . There are between 7-10,000 of them . During the day they are quite placid but at night they roam . The highway leading to the park is closed at night because it is considered to dangerous . You can no longer build houses in the area around the park and those who have them sleep in tree houses. Actually they are just platforms . Each year there are a human deaths , I think the number was @150 , caused by the elephants and double that number for the elephants. They are protected and the deaths are in defence, old age or illness . ... read more

Thursday 20thFebruary 2020 On Tuesday, after yet another challenging journey, we arrived on the beautiful little island of Koh Muk. The idea of island-hopping was to enjoy the boat journeys as well as the destinations, however, these journeys haven’t all been idyllic (the first few were). The speedboat was overloaded when we started off from the pier in Koh Lanta, because another boat had a problem, so all of the passengers on that speedboat (heading for Koh Lipe) climbed over on to our boat, with their luggage, and with folk sitting on the floor once again, we headed off down the eastern side of Koh Lanta, under the bridge that connects to the mainland on the north east of the island, through mangrove channels then out to the open sea. The sky was heavy and overcast, ... read more

Time is moving quickly ...as it always does when one is travelling . It is already day 5 and the group has jelled and the days events are starting to blur . We are 13 plus our guide which is a nice number . 8 women aged 24-68 (and myself of course ) and 5 men all in their 40,s . There is a group of 4 from Turkey who have holidayed together for many years .They are interesting .... As a group we toured a bit in Colombo before heading out to Negombo . A one time fishing village that is now also a holiday / beach Mecca with tourists from all over the world . We did a boat tour of the Dutch CANALS that had been built to drain water from inland fields ... read more

Note: If reading the blog on your desktop, this website would give a better view/fonts https://nishayogitraveller.weebly.com/heritage-travel-blogs/category/hampi ............................... All I knew for several years about my country’s history was Mughals and British, as that is what our education system wanted to teach us. But after I started reading about the true history of our country to explain to my kids, I started realizing that our country has SO much to be proud of! We have stories of 10,000+ years being said in our Puranas but – and these are not just mere stories, but actual events that happened in this very country! I have been traveling the last 3 years to just heritage sites and can feel the aura of these places – one such gorgeous place is the pride of a... read more

How quickly plans change. Thanks to the threat of The Virus, particularly on cruise ships, we literally walked away from our 8 day cruise from Singapore up the Malaysian Peninsula to Phuket and back. There were just too many horror stories of quarantined ships breeding more sickness. Still, we managed 3 enjoyable days in Singapore. You will be spared the multitude of photos this time. We’re now at Changi Airport waiting on our flight to Sydney, Australia where we will spend the next month. Singapore is not a typical Asian bargain. Hotels are expensive. We paid $200 a night for a pretty ordinary room. When a beer costs $16 Canadian I flinch! Considered the safest city in Asia, there was not an obvious police presence. Plenty of electronic surveillance and strict enforcement though. Caning is a ... read more