Uzbekistan Pt 2

Tashkent is the capital of Uzbekistan and was our last city before moving onto Tajikistan.

It had a very different feel and look from the rest of Uzbekistan.  

Uzbekistan Pt 1 - Stan 2

Uzbekistan is amazing.  I had no expectations but it has exceeded them anyway!  

Compared to Turkmenistan, it is delightful.  The people are so friendly, all saying hello and asking where we come from.  In the markets they are offering us all sorts of treats to try.  I know they want to make a sale, but they don't seem too put out if we just try.  They seem to be proud of what they have.

Uzbekistan, like Turkmenistan was invaded by the Russians in the late 1800's and became part of the USSR in the 1920's, gaining independence in 1991. They have a complex history before that, with invasion by Genghis Khan of Mongolia, Alexander the Great and then the Arabs from the Saudi Peninsula who  brought Islam in the 8th Century. 

The architecture in Uzbekistan is quite unique. The palaces, mosques, mausoleums and Madrasahs are decorated with colourful mosaics, religious symbols and geometrical patterns. Most of them have a huge rectangular facade, highly decorated with alcoves with 'stalactites' - shapes that are designed to amplify the sound.  I loved it all the first time I saw the facades, but learned after the 3rd city in Uzbekistan, that they are everywhere.  

The mosques all have domes in shades of blue and turquoise, some that were a bit different.  The insides of the buildings are also highly decorated, with shapes made for amplification of sound, so for example in the mosque the Immam can be heard by all the worshippers.

The Madrasah's, university's for students to study the Koran and other subjects, are similar, in that they have multiple small  rooms around a courtyard.  We visited a number of different Madrasah's.

Most of the buildings fell into disrepair after the Russian's invaded, and were not used for their originally intended purpose.  Many have now been renovated.  Madrasah's have been turned into hotels and restaurants, any many of the rooms contain shops.  There are some buildings still in use today, such as  some working mosques.  Worshippers do go to some of the mausoleums too.

At the time of writing, I have been to Khiva, Buhkara and Samarkand and visited many a mosque, mausoleum and madrasah.  They are different sizes, have different sized domes and decorations.  In Samarkand some of the domes are ribbed and in Khiva we saw the biggest minaret that is found nowhere else.  They are the same but different and I have enjoyed all of them for the differences.  I haven't stopped taking photos because they are all so beautiful.

Interested to see what Tashkent, the capital is like.  

Other interesting things about Uzbekistan, the food is quite Russian and there is lots of meat!  The choices are fairly limited.  The fresh vegetables are delicious and I have loved the tomatoes, so tasty, and they do have a lot of salads on the menu.

We were shown the clothes of the women that lived here pre Soviet times,  and found out that they had to cover their faces with something called a paranja.  The overcoat they wore showed if they were married, single or widowed by how the sleeves were presented, and there were tassels to show how many children and grandchildren they had.  They wore the paranja until the 20's when the Soviet's abolished it.  Some of the first group of women that took off their head coverings and burned them in public, were murdered by their husbands when they returned home.  Islam had a very strong hold in Central Asia. 

Turkmenistan Pt 2 - Darvasa Crater and journey to Uzbekistan

The standard tourist route in Turkmenistant is from Ashgabat to the Darvasa Crater and then on to the border with Uzbekistan.

The information about the journey on the Intrepid site says it is will be rough and  bumpy. There were not wrong but didn't really express quite how rough and bumpy it would be! There is a dual carriage highway, well there used to be, it is now one side with no bitumen at all and the other is completely broken up.  The 500 km journey from Ashgabat to the border is used by many trucks, bringing freight in and out of Turkmenistan.  It takes the trucks 2 days to do the trip, they can't do it any quicker.  The driving is around as many potholes as possible, and if not, go slowly through them!  

We did the journey in 4 SUV's and there were a number of times we went completely off road into the surrounding desert in order to avoid both parts of the dual carriageway! There is nothing along the 'highway' - a few cafes with no windows as it is very hotel, very cold or very windy and a few tents where people can sleep to break up the journey.  We saw camels, goats and a lot of desert.

We left Ashgabat in the afternoon and arrived at the first of the 3 craters we saw at around 5.30pm.  It was a very slow journey.  What added to the excitement, if you can call it that, was that we arrived in very high winds and a sandstorm!  The sandstorm didn't let up until well into the night.  Stinking hot, middle of the desert and sand blowing into your face and hair and body - what an experience!

The gas crater itself is a 70m wide crater in the Karakum desert which is permanently aflame, known as the 'gates of hell' and that is what it felt like, particularly with the sandstorm. 

Soviet oil prospectors started drilling in 1971 and the ground collapsed so they stopped drilling and lit the gas to  burn off the excess. It has been burning ever since, but is getting less and less over time.  It did feel very very hot and you wouldn't want to fall in, you would be burned alive.  

We stayed in a yurt camp nearby, fully expecting to see the beautiful night sky, but no, just a sandy beige sky with a glow from the gas crater. 

We did drive the 1 minute back to the crater when it got dark and it was more impressive at night. 

The wind didn't stop blowing and the sand didn't stop coming in the tent until not long before dawn, when we were up to start our epic drive to the border.

The road got even worse after the crater. We left at 5.30am and arrived at the border around 4pm, so over 10 hours.

What was astounding was that the President spent all that money on the white city of Ashgabat, which was like one huge show home and left the road to rot away.  The Soviets built the road and then in 1991 when USSR collapsed, Turkmenistan did work on the road for a short while. Since then however it has been left to wear away into one of the worse roads I have been on.  As bad as the roads in Nepal, but different because in Nepal they made no effort to bitumen some of the roads and they are dirt.  Here in Turkmenistan they were good roads that have been left to deteriorate until there are huge bumps and pits which are really difficult to navigate.

Another weird border crossing as well.  We had our passports checked by 7 people, one after the other when leaving Turkmenistan.  We got our exit stamp and immediately had to show it to the security check, then immediately to a policeman outside a hut, and then he went inside the hut a foot away and checked it again!  No wonder they have low unemployment in Turkmenistan.

The contrast with Uzbekistan was huge, greeted by a friendly guy who had a chat and a laugh over the new Australian passports with holograms and welcomed us with a smile to his country.  With relief we crossed into Uzbekistan and borded a lovely modern bus on a proper road, glad our day was nearly at an end.

Turkmenistan Part 1 - Ashgabat

Ashgabat, Turkmenistan 12 & 13 May Pt 1: Turkmenistan has an isolationist policy and is hard to get into, they have only opened up to tourists in the last 3 years. Only 10,000 tourists visited last year, so our Intrepid group of 11 is a relatively rare sight in Turkmenistan. 

Getting in was a story in itself.  You have to have a letter of introduction to get a visa on arrival, and have to do a PCR Covid test.  Well.... the day Christina and I arrived, we weren't sure which queue to get in first, so went to the visa queue.  The PCR testing was going on in another direction. We gave in our LOI and then queued up to pay for the visa.  USD$130!  That included the PCR test and the visa.  Then we walked out  We had paid something like $35 for a PCR test that they nev er did.  Maxine Harrower who arrived the day before, paid USD$99 and had no PCR test, but the person who arrived before her just had their noise nominally swiped, not even properly and didn't even wait for a result!  The guide told us that if you test positive (which is unlikely as they don't even do the test properly) you just pay an extra $5! It seems the cost to come in varies day by day!

We had been told that we could not go out of the hotel without our guide, but that wasn't correct, as we could walk around, but just not go into any tourist type buildings or sites.  It was too hot to walk around too much though!

Ashgabat is the capital city of Turkmenistan.  It is a relatively new city, founded in 1881 and made the capital of the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic.  In 1948 there was a 9 earthquake which destroyed most of the city.  It was rebuilt societ style and after 1991, when it obtained independence after the fall of the USSR it was refashioned by the then autocratic president.

It is known as the 'White City' as most of the buildings are covered in local white marble, there are only white cars and buses, and it is manicured and immaculately cleaned.  The architecture is amazing, with buildings in fabulous shapes, such as a dental clinic in a molar tooth shaped building, the deparmtent of medicine and pharmacy in the pharmaceutical symbol.

At night it comes alive, with the most amazing lights on the buildings. 

It actually doesn't feel real, as if the buildings are just facades and no-one lives there as we saw very few people out on the streets. 

The cost of living is very low for the Turkmenistan's, petrol about 15c a litre, and food and restaurants were cheap. 

We stayed in a very posh looking hotel, which housed the Asian olympic athletes from the Asian Indoor and Martial Arts Games held in 2017. Posh on the outside, but a lot of things didn't work or weren't up to Western standards.  (It was fine to stay in though).

Tibet and Bhutan - A comparison

When I booked my 2 Intrepid trips to Bhutan and Tibet, I really didn’t know much about the 2 countries, just that they would be interesting, were on my bucket list, and that Potala Palace was the place to go in Tibet and Tiger’s Nest in Bhutan. 

Potala Palace

Tiger's Nest

I followed the weather and best time to go to them both, and found Intrepid tours that allowed me to go  to  both in April 2025.  Tibet first, on the train from Beijing to Lhasa and then overland to Kathmandu via Tibetan Everest Base Camp.  It was then easy to fly from Kathmandu to Bhutan and back, before the next leg of my journey.

If I knew then what I know now, I would have gone to Bhutan first.  

Bhutan was interesting, scenic, different from anywhere else I have been, but not nearly as much so as Tibet.  Had I gone there first, I know I would have loved it, the people are friendly, the culture and architecture different and interesting, there  are snow covered mountains and lovely green scenery.  

Tibet however was amazing.  It was more. More scenic, more cultural, more different, higher, colder, better food, fewer western tourists, the people more interested in us, the cities all different with their own character, more religious, bigger, better.  Just everything.  I loved it.  

They are both Buddhist countries (well Tibet not being a country but currently an autonomous region of China) and different from the other Buddhist countries, like Nepal, Thailand, Laos. They share the same foundation of Buddhism but follow different sects, with Bhutanese Buddhism emerging from Tibetan Buddhism. Therefore they are very similar, and that can be seen in things such as the decorations, offerings, chanting and prayer wheels.  

Tibet however is more devout and the religiosity of the people is far more on show,  and that is what is more fascinating to see. I took far more people photos in Tibet than Bhutan because they looked more interesting and there were more of them around to see.

Spiritual practices and pilgrimages are part of the daily life of Tibe,t however the Bhutanese place a lot of reverence on their royal family and the highest religious  leader, the Je Kenpho. Pictures of them abound everywhere and are in all the monasteries and temples.  Obviously with Tibet being part of China there is no royal family and the highest spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, had to flee. 

The countryside is very different.  Tibet is on a high plateau which can be bleak and colourless, but has high Himalayan Peaks to the South and West.  Bhutan is a lower altitude, is green and verdant and has more rural scenery.  

The food in Bhutan is very simple and very spicy, and the  food offered to tourists very samey with buffets for lunch and dinner and often the exact same dishes served.  I did not like it.  The food is better in Tibet, not wonderful, often yak served in a hundred different ways, but there was other food available....Momo’s, Chinese food, noodles, and not so spicy. 

One other difference was the presence of western tourists in Bhutan. Bhutan controls the tourism more, and there is a set route that most tourists follow. So we bumped into the Dave people over and over again. Even stayed at the same hotel as Had ventures and a woman only Australian group in Punakha. It didn't feel different or special, like we did in Tibet. It felt over touristy and a bit claustrophobic seeing all the same people over and over again.  In Tibet I felt like a rockstar..... And we hardly saw any other western tourists, apart from the real touristic places like Potala Palace. 

I am not saying don't go to Bhutan, and I don't regret my visit, I just think that if you plan to go to both, you will appreciate Bhutan more if it is the first place you visit.  If you only want to pick one, Tibet is the one to pick without any shadow of a doubt. 

Crossing from Tibet to Nepal - what an epic day

Well what an epic day that was, and not in a good way. 

The road between China and Nepal was washed away a couple of years ago by a bad flood.  It is being repaired, but is only open for certain parts of the day for traffic to pass.  

We left our hotel at 10am, and arrived at the waiting point about half an hour later.  Our guide must have used some influence, or money, as we were second in the queue.  

We waited there with the trucks and other tourist buses for an hour or more.  It was fun watching other cars try and push in and be sent back by the very officious looking Tibetan Police Woman.  

When the road opened, we proceeded to the large chinese immigration building and arrived at 1pm.  

There is a 2 and a quarter hour (no idea why the extra quarter) time difference between China and Nepal, and the Chinese immigration officials don't start until 2pm, even though the road opens up over an hour before that. 

We were sent away to get lunch by our guide while waiting, then told to come back quickly to get in the queue for immigration.  I had to get my lunch as take out, try eating noodles with chopsticks while fending off pushing in Chinese!

Finally at 2pm the border opened and after shoving and pushing some more the group were able to stay together to go through.  4 of us, including me, were in front of the immigration officer for quite some time and then our passports taken away for approval higher up. 

While waiting I worried about my one social media post while in Tibet and wondered if I would get my passport back or be stuck in China!  Apparently a big red notice flashed up for the four of us, but we've no idea why.  The immigration officer even looked at every page in my passport, and I have amassed a lot of stamps by now!

Finally we got through and out  to the bridge across No Man's land. Walked across in the rain.  

There couldn't be a bigger contrast between China and Nepal than their border buildings and processes!  

We were herded into  a tin shed (yes that's right!) and body searched, again trying to fend off all the people trying to push in.  Came out of the other side of the shed and an officious Nepali police officer then proceeded to open and rifle through all our suitcases.  I have never in all my years of travel seen such a thorough search.  The poor first person had every bag in her suitcase pawed through.  Another person had bought a Tibetan game with a bowl, coins, dice and drum thing, each in a separate bag, each one was examined and he was asked all about them, like were the coins us dollars.  It was ridiculous. 

Finally some more police officers were sent over to help the one guy who was taking forever. They were definitely not as thorough as the first person who as our guide said, was an a**hole!

Then on to immigration, a small office at the bottom of a dirty building.  One small window for arrivals and one for departures.  There was a guy sitting in departures doing nothing and chatting to the arrivals guy with his feet up on a chair, despite there being a huge line of arrivals, everyone taking ages and no departure s.  I don't even think there could be any more 'departures' as the road would have been closed again!

So the arrivals guy has this old broken looking camera he keeps having to move to take pictures for the Nepali visa.  It took us another hour and a half or more for all of us to get though from the point we crossed into Nepal.

Our  ordeal was far from over.  The roads in Nepal are atrocious and particularly the one away from the border, due to the flooding and ongoing repairs.  The 11 of us on the tour were put into 3 different four wheel drives.  We were at the back, going very slowly along narrow potholed dirt road, with lots of hairpin bends and steep drop offs.  I thought the driver was bad because he was close to the edge at times and took the corners wide and close  to the mountainside.  A while later, he went slowly with a grinding noise and nearly went into the mountainside.  It appears there was a mechanical fault because when we got out and looked, the 2 front wheels were facing in different directions!

Thank goodness the 2 cars in front had arrived at what was supposed to be the lunch spot, but it was now 5pm (7.15pn for us with the time difference)n so it turned into dinner. 

One car was sent back for us and our luggage and we joined them an hour or so later and had dinner!  A car came from a town ahead to replace the broken car and we all squeezed into 2 cars for the rest of the long long, windy road to Kathmandu in the dark.  Arrived at 10.30pm their time, 12.45am our time, after having left over 14 hours earlier.  Like I said!  Epic.

Maldives

The Maldives are known to be an expensive destination, and not solo friendly.  Well, that isn’t necessarily the case.  There are private island resorts, that can be quite expensive to astronomical.  There are also public islands, lots of them, where you can book a hotel at a reasonable price and eat out at restaurants that don’t cost the earth.  

The trouble is, there are so many islands, 1,192, of which 187 are inhabited and 90 of then are private resorts.  That leaves around 100 public islands, not all with tourism infrastructure. Trying to decide which one to stay on can be mind boggling and take tons and tons of research.  My research for solo travellers came up time and time again with the island of Maafushi.  It is about 30 minutes by speedboat from the airport on Male, the capital and main island.  There are hotels from 5 star down to basic guesthouses, a mixture of restaurants and water sports and day trips  galore.  Because it is the busiest and largest public island, there were lots of people and it did feel a little crowded.  If you want the desert island experience, this isn’t the place for you.  But if you like company and not to feel like you are one of only a few tourist, it is a great place for solos.  The house reef isn’t all that good, but the day trips take you to some fabulous snorkelling.  

I stayed at Arena, which was ok.  Nicest hotel on my trip so far, but had limitations, like not enough lifts, not enough storage space, breakfast buffet kept running out of food and was crowded.  But it is was in the best location, right next to the bikini beaches with infinity pools over the best views.  I would recommend it if you go there. 

I did 2 snorkelling trips and the ultimate experience for me was snorkelling with nurse sharks. Literally swimming among them while the local guys take video and photos of you!  Awesome.  Not to be missed, but a little bit scary!

I know of other people that went to other public islands, and they were much smaller with less facilities and tourism infrastructure. Ukulhas and Fulhadhoo are 2 islands my friend went to.  She liked them but they are much quieter.  Fulhadhoo she saw sting ray feeding each night which she loved. 

I spent 5 days on Maafushi and 5 on a private resorts, Filitheyo.  Splashed out on Filitheyo as it was pretty expensive for a solo person, however I booked full board including alcohol.  I could have gone half board quite easily as the breakfast was so huge, as was the dinner and lunch not necessary at all!

The house reef was amazing.  I walked out of my beach hut, into the water, and swam to the drop off, within about 30 seconds.  And in that 30 seconds was surrounded by fish!  The come up to your face as if you are another fish, you just want to reach out and touch them!  I went snorkelling on the house reef at least twice a day. Up and down between 4 markers.  I saw eagle rays, turtle (the same one each time I think) and black tip reef sharks.  Every time I saw something different and so so many different fish, in schools, darting around.  So hard to explain how great it was.  

Went night fishing (included in my package) and a snorkelling trip, which was better coral. I also tried blue light snorkelling. It was ok, seeing the coral illuminated in different colours, but not as good as I thought it would be as there were not many fish.

Getting to and from Filitheyo was also a great experience, flying in a seaplane (my first) over the other islands and seeing the bright blue see and atolls.  

I would absolutely recommend going to the Maldives, and sooner rather than later, as global warming and rising seas might swamp most of the islands.  It was unexpectedly amazing and an experience I would not have missed, whatever the cost. 

Sri Lanka Hotel Recommendations

GAdventures tour – 14 Days Sri Lanka Encompassed:  Did the job, not fantastic.  Some of the hotels weren’t really good, some of the additional tours were a bit ordinary.  It doesn’t include the historic places.  The tour covers all the standard sights and it saved me having to plan it all, find out how to get between places and spend hours trying to choose hotels.  If I had done it independently it would certainly have been cheaper, but a lot more time arranging transfers and on the road.  I would have spent longer in some places, like Sigiriya and gone to Polonnaruwa ruins, maybe more walks in Ella, walked around Negombo city, not just the waterways as examples.  But on the whole I got to see everything I wanted to and had company while I did so.

Tangalle – Alpha Monkey Hotel and Tree House - Here’s my online review ‘Perfect location to be right on the beach. However that comes at a cost. Very very basic room, never cleaned or towels replaced, and they were old and dirty. Had to ask to borrow broom to get all the sand out. No hot water in shower, bed ok but mossie net had holes. Not much furniture to sit on. You could use the restaurant though and that had nice places to sit. Only 6 lounges so once used up, nothing. Pool has no lounges or chairs round it. For 2 of the 2 days there it was being cleaned and out of action. I recommend it for absolute beach front, but 3 days was enough for me.

Basecamp Yoga Retreat, Weligama - Lovely rooms, yoga up the hill with a great view, twice a day.  The vegan breakfasts were fabulous. Solo friendly because everyone chats over breakfast and they put on organised dinners.  I went to karaoke with the group and got friendly with one of the yoga teachers. Weligama beach was ok.  See my post on Sri Lankan Beaches. 

Villa My Way Yoga Retreat Ahangama - Recommended by a friend, who’s friend from New Zealand moved there and is one of the yoga teachers.  I had 4 days as the only guest, so personal tuition in yoga was a bonus.  Lovely peaceful location, about 30 minutes walk or $2.50 ride from town.  The beach wasn’t great, like a lot of beaches in Sri Lanka.

Shoba Travellers Retreat, Galle – Cheap, basic, has just about what you need.  There are nicer places but the come at an additional cost and Galle is not cheap as it is quite touristy in the old town.

Colombo – Morven Hotel – I chose this hotel because GAdventures start their tour there.  It was ok, location a bit far from most things and Colombo is hot so walking is hot and sweaty.

Impressions of Sri Lanka

Everyone I’ve spoken to rave about how wonderful Sri Lanka is.  It’s not that I didn’t have a great time, and enjoyed many of the things I did and saw, but I didn’t find it extraordinary. As one friend put it, looking at my pictures, there was nothing stunning, or totally awesome, or different from many other places.  Nothing that took my breath away.  I get the appeal.  It is small, easyish to get around, has a great diversity of landscapes, history, wildlife, culture, beaches.  But none of them are spectacular.  

Want to see animals, Africa is the place to go, lions, elephants, zebras, giraffes.  Sri Lanka has elephants, I loved seeing them, they are different to African elephants.  If you haven’t been to Africa then it would be exciting.  The safaris I went on were a bit ordinary though.  Chasing a leopard that you don’t see.... Hours on bumpy dusty roads and all else you see is deer, peacocks and a few other random animals.  Admittedly my safari was great because I saw a Sloth Bear, which I am told is rare.

Beaches, as I explain in another post, really aren’t that great.

Spice and tea plantations, lovely, but they are in lots of places in the world.  Temples, well, temples are everywhere.  Yes I loved the temple of the sacred tooth and Dumbulla cave temple.  They were a bit different, but to be honest, as a well travelled person, I saw lots of huge cave temples with 1000’s of Buddha’s in Myanmar.  

The scenery was lovely, but again, not stunning, the train ride, supposedly one of the best in the world, was lovely.  Was it really special or one of the best I’ve been on? No. I didn’t go to the historic sites, but heard they are similar to other bigger and better places I have been to.  I didn’t go to the North, and maybe that is a bit different.  

This sounds such a negative post.  It isn’t meant that way.  If you are not so well travelled in other parts of the world, I can see why people love Sri Lanka, there is everything, in a small easy to get around Island that is reasonably cheap.  Am I glad I went?  Absolutely.  I always love to see places for myself so I can form my own opinion and when people talk about Sri Lanka I can now picture it. There were standout moments.  I was fascinated  by the fish market at Negombo, the markets in Colombo, Galle fortress old city,  the fruit markets, Lion Rock was great, Dambulla cave temple, yeah I did love the elephants.  Learning about the culture and some of the food. Would I recommend it?  Yes, as I am sure most people will love it.  It just isn’t one of my highlight places. 

Train Ride

About the food, it is like Thailand, in that all the food is very very spicy.  Sri Lankan ‘a little bit spicy’ is not Western a little bit spicy.  It always came out really hot.  Even food that is not supposed to be spicy would be slathered in black pepper, making it hot in another way!  I was so looking forward to a spaghetti Bolognese after all the curries and it was so hot from all the pepper.  Take note and be aware!

Effort versus Payoff

I have been learning on this trip to assess whether the effort to get somewhere is worth the payoff when you get there, and using that to decide where to go.  For example, take southern Laos.  The most popular places to visit are in the North, where I spent all my time in the end.  Down south there are 3 locations that travellers see, Thakhek, Pakse and the 4000 Islands.  To get there the route would be Thakhek, Pakse then the Islands.  Due to the bad roads in Laos, a bus ride from Vientiane to Thakhek is 8 – 12 hours, then the same to Pakse and a bit quicker to the Islands.  When you get there, there are 3 or 4 day ‘loops’ to see waterfalls and caves and limestone scenery in TK and coffee and tea plantations and rolling hills in Pakse.  You have to book your own hotels and either hire a motorbike or a driver.  I don’t ride motorbikes and a driver would be $240 US dollars.

Nong Khiaw

A long walk up but certainly worth the effort

I am not jaded from my travels at all, and often have that ‘wow’ moment at something new, and take photo after photo of places that excite me, but waterfalls and caves do not fall into that category, unless they are very special.  Had it been easier to get to, or easier to get around, with day trips I could have booked or just needed a driver for a day, I would probably have visited these extra places in Laos.  But... and that is a big but...the effort and cost did not seem worth what I would see at the end. 

I also have lost the need to see everything in a country or a place I am going.  I am starting to prefer to take things a bit more easily and go only where I know, or at least think, it will be something I will enjoy seeing.

Another example is Sri Lanka.  I decided to go on a tour, for various reasons, which I will outline elsewhere, and gave myself 2 weeks at the end of the tour to go back to places I like and on the beach.  The tour did not cover the ancient cities of Anuradhapura and Polonnaruwa. I would probably have liked to see them, but then several travellers along the way told me they are nice, but a bit like other places I have been, such as Borobudur in Java and Angkor Wat in Cambodia.  It was going to be a long way to get to them, having a days travel each way and then overnight in a hotel and arrange a tour for the next day.  I decided that the payoff at the end was not worth the time and effort to get there. 

I also make some choices about where not to go because they are harder as a solo.  The example above about Southern Laos is a good example.  Had I been travelling with someone else, I would probably have gone.  Not because it was any easier, but it would have been nice to share the long journeys, the joy of seeing things when we got there, and the anxiety I sometimes feel when going to new places alone.  (More of that in another post). 

So in summary, I am making choices based on my interests and how difficult it is to get there or see the place in question.  

Sri Lankan Beaches

In my 2 extra weeks in Sri Lanka after my tour, I visited a number of beaches on the south coast. I'll start by saying, if I were looking for a beach holiday, I would not have Sri Lanka as my first or even third choice. There are many more accessible, beautiful and calmer beaches other places in the world. Thailand, Bali, maybe Malaysia (not been there for many years). Sri Lanka may be marginally less crowded, but also more expensive. I think the quality of the hotels here are not as high, Imelda you pay a lot more money. 

However, if you come here to see the rest of the country, which is totally worth it, and want some beach days at the end, I would choose Unuwatana. It's close to Galle, which was my favourite city. It's also closer to Colombo, if you want to go straight from the beach to the airport. Like stretch of clean sand, small waves, clean water, restaurants and hotels right on the beach. The streets around the beach have a nice vibe with more restaurants and shops. I wasn't there at night, but I think it would be quieter than Mirissa. 

If you want a quiet, empty beach, choose the far end of Tangalle. Jungle, lagoon, huge stretches of beach to walk along. You can't swim there though. It was very rough. No 5 star hotels, not many restaurants at the far end. The backpacker end was busier. 

Weligama is for surfing. Beach not so clean, small waves, locals swimming, fishing and fish restaurants, more of a night scene. It's quite stretched out though. 

Mirissa is the best known and most popular and I liked it the least. Too busy, noisy, small street frontage that was busy and hot to walk along. Best night life though, and a turtle hatchery right on the beach. 

Ahangama was another beach area I didn't like. Most of the beaches in Sri Lanka are only accessible through restaurants, Ahangama being the worst. The beach isn't even that large. I had an ice-cream at a cafe and left my stuff there in order to have a swim. There was a nice little shaded beach called 'Secret Beach's but it's not a secret anymore!

Finally I looked at Hikkaduwa and Bentota on the journey between Galle and Colombo.  Hikkaduwa was a nice long beach, but again, the beach backed right on to a main road so was not so nice to walk along.  Also they had a spot called Turtle Point, which had huge loggerhead turtles coming right amongst people's feet as they were feeding them with fish they bought from locals.  It was fascinating but also awful to watch the tourists feeding and touching them, when it has been drummed into most of us not to touch the turtles.

Bentota was another nicish beach, off the main road, but more upmarket than the other places I saw. 

I left Sri Lanka for the Maldives, and that is what I think of as gorgeous beaches. Endless azure blue seas, small waves, easy beaches to walk along.  

So in my humble opinion, don't go to Sri Lanka for a beach holiday, but if you go and want a few days on a beach at the end, my pick is Unuwatuna!

Laos Itinerary and Recommendations

Hotels

Luang Prabang – 7 nights – 3 in an Airbnb outside of town.  Message for details – recommended for location but not for host. 4 in the city, another Airbnb which was at Tui Cafe and can be booked as a walk in.  Highly recommended.  Clean, great breakfast and perfect location.

Nong Khiaw – 3 nights.  1 in NongKhiaw River View which I do not recommend.  Hot with sun all afternoon, not clean, out of main drag of town, no English speaking staff, breakfast was a stale roll and dried out fried egg.  2 nights at Arthith Guesthouse.  Great location and views.  It was booked do line but when I went and asked I was put in their second building which was fine.

Muang Ngoi 3 nights – Nicksa Bungalows.  Was fine.  Don’t expect much – it is a small village on the river with very basic amenities.  Go upmarket if you want a clean working shower and reasonable room.  The view as to die for though.

Vang Vieng 3 nights – Sky Hotel – highly recommended. Clean, pool, rooftop to watch the balloons, good breakfast, friendly and helpful staff, good location.

Vientiane – 2 nights – LanXang Korea Hotel – do not recommend.  Very noisy if you are in a room on the side with the bar, had to be moved.  Breakfast all Korean.  Good location though.

Other

I did not go South in Laos, it is a long distance, bad roads, and somewhere it is better with a travel buddy or partner.  There are some 'loops' to see the countryside from Pakse and Thackek, but most people do them on scooters.  Not me.  Hiring a car and/or driver was expensive $240USD for 3 nights.  Not something I wanted to do solo.

There are the 4000 islands which are on the Mekong and a place you can 'chill'.  However I heard there isn't much to do there, and a lot of weed around.  To be honest, there are nicer places I think to chill, so I didn't go.

I have worked out on this trip that some places are not worth the effort to get there.  Will write a blog post on that at some point. 

Hua Hin, Thailand, another place to retire?

I spent 6 nights in Hua Hin.  It is 3 to 4 hours in a private car, public bus, or on the train, from Bangkok.  One of the closest and easiest beaches to get to on the mainland from Bangkok.  I had read online before leaving Australia, that it is one of the larger expat communities in Thailand, along with Chiang Mai.  I spent 10 days in Chang Mai and thought it would be a great place to live.  See https://karenstravels22.blogspot.com/2025/01/chiang-mai-as-place-to-retire.html.

I think Hua Hin could also be a place to live.  There were some downsides, from what I saw from such a short acquaintance with the place.  Hua Hin has quite a seedy bar girl, fat white western men looking for sex culture.  Admittedly I was staying in a hotel right in the centre and it was in your face, but being such a small place, the sex culture is concentrated in a few short streets.  It would be a mecca for single older women, if only the hundreds of single men I saw wandering around weren’t just looking for paid sex with a young Thai woman! Or even a relationship, if that is what you could call it.

The other thing about Hua Hin is that the places you might want to go are stretched out along the road between Cha’am in the North and South of Hua Hin City.  You would need a bike or car or pay a lot riding on Grab cars or bikes to get around.  Chang Mai is more compact and walkable. 

There are many positives.  A great beach, with many hotels and cafes lining it, where you can sit on a lounger in the shade (for a fee), enjoy the water views, even use one of the big hotel’s swimming pools.  

There is a lot of night life, and on Facebook a number of expats groups, including women, arranging socials, bookclubs and so on.  

There are Thai local markets, like the Tuesday market and morning market and more touristy ones, including the weekend Cicada, with local crafts and arts, and a clean eating areas, music and a general Western feel about it.  

I guess when deciding between Chang Mai and Hua Hin, it is a case of beach or mountains.  Or maybe do a bit of both!

The age old question, wing it or book ahead?

In the 80’s, with no smart phones, or world wide web, there really wasn’t much choice about booking ahead.  I travelled with my handy Lonely Planet Guidebook, fronted up at a hotel, asked if there were rooms and the price, and just stayed as long or as little as I liked.  When I set off on this long trip, I thought that I would be able to easily wing it, stay if I like a place and move on if I didn’t.  It hasn’t quite turned out that way.  Because it is so easy to book online, and there are now so many more tourists than ‘back in the day’, very busy tourist sights or routes, get booked out way in advance.

A good example is the train in Sri Lanka from Kandy to Ella.  Supposedly one of the most scenic train routes in the world, tickets are at a premium.    They only come on sale a month in advance online, but are snapped up within minutes of going on sale.  It is believed that it is local travel agents and local operators buying it up and then on selling. For a normal tourist, trying to navigate the website alone, it is impossible to buy them. There is actually an enquiry into who is booking all the tickets. You could try winging it by buying a seat first thing in the morning, which I believe is available, but it is chancy.  You would have to find a bus or a private driver if you don’t make it on. 

Other train journeys can be hard to book.  The best overnight from Bangkok to Chiang Mai gets booked out a month in advance.  I tried to book an overnight sleeper train from  Vientiane to Bangkok, no luck at all.  Finally, you can get the public boat from Thailand through to Luang  Prabang in Laos on the day, but risk it being very crowded. If you want one of the private, more comfortable boats, booking in advance may be necessary. 

Finally, on my last minute decision to overnight in Pai, in Northern Thailand, I found out I had to book my return  van before I left or risk not being able to get back to Chiang Mai when I wanted to.  As it was, my friend and I booked the last seat each at 2 different times to return. 

It seems therefore, that the popular transits from one place to another might have to be decided in advance.  That really cuts into the ability to wing it.  My solution was to have set dates to work around, so the flight to Chaing Mai – booked  in advance and the Mekong slow boat – booked in advance – and then give myself freedom to change dates within those parameters.  Which I did.  

With the availability of accommodation on line that you can cancel, up to a certain date, I have booked hotels on booking.com or Agoda with several different dates and options, allowing me to choose whether I wanted to stay 2 or 3 nights after I arrived.  That worked some of the time, until I forgot the cancellation date for Vang Vieng and so realised I had to stay 3 nights or lose money.  Luckily that worked out ok because I hurt my knee and needed to rest on the third day!

At 63, I am not comfortable turning up somewhere without a room booked at all.  I did that in my 20’s and could sleep in the railway station (Rome) or on the streets (Pamplona) or on an overnight train going one way and returning back the following morning! I could also walk around with my backpack for as long as it took.  Now, I have a small backpack and carryon size wheely suitcase.  I am not prepared to walk around all morning pulling it over uneven steps in the dust, to find an available room, that I like, at the price I am prepared to pay.  So far on this trip, I have not turned up anywhere without at least one night’s booking.  

I have been able to amend my dates somewhat though. I arrived in Muang Ngoi in Laos with 2 nights booked, fell in love with it and booked a third in the same hotel at the same price.  I was lucky that it was available, otherwise I would have been able to move.  I had arrived in Nong Khiaw, the town up river that you get to Muang Ngoi from, and had only one night booked because I knew I was leaving the next day.  I did not like that accommodation, so had tentatively booked a place in person, but had not paid.  I wasn’t that keen on it and knew there was a better place to stay, that was booked up online.  I turned up after getting off the boat back from Muang Ngoi, and luckily again, they had a room for 2 nights.

So in answer to the age old question, that I see posed in a number of Facebook groups I am on, I think it works as a mixture of the 2, book some, wing it for others, and only you can know for the places you are going, and with experience and research, where you can do what!

Minor inconveniences with long term travel (as a woman)

Before anyone sets off on a long trip, there are a myriad of things to organise:  Health insurance, what to take, what to pack it in, contingencies for all sorts of weather, and toiletries.  All the advice is to pack light, and I took that on board.  So much so, that when I got the opportunity in Bali, I sent a lot of stuff home with a guy at my hotel who lived near friends in Sydney.

As far as toiletries were concerned,  I took small silicon bottles of my face cream (Nivea Soft), hair conditioner, small toothpaste, a few flossing stick things and deoderant.  Most hotels I have encountered in the world supply shampoo, so all I took was a half bar of shampoo for emergencies.

Even in my ‘normal’ life, I don’t use a lot of fancy stuff, no manis and pedis, get my hair cut at cheap places and rarely wear makeup. 

In Bali, I needed to get my hair cut.  I have baby thin wavy hair and so all it needs is a trim and layer.  Well, in Bali it is hard to find someone to trim your hair.  Now if you want a massage, tattoos, mani, pedi, it is easy.  Haircut not so much.  Ended up in a small massage place with someone who said she had only 3 months training but had been cutting hair for 25 years!  I had to take the risk.  It turned out ok, with instruction and asking her to keep layering more after she stopped.  I think my next cut will be due in Sri Lanka, so that might be an interesting experience!

I did not know that getting Nivea Soft(for my face) in South East Asia would be so hard.  They have all sorts of Nivea here, but it is all labelled brightening, or whitening or with fancy bubbles.  I don’t want any of that stuff on my face!  Just pure moisturiser with nothing added.  Just like at home.  

After traipsing into what felt like every pharmacy and department store in Bali and Thailand, I had to give up.  What was my solution?  Firstly I bought some baby cream which obviously has no harsh chemicals in.  That was not moisturising enough.  So then I bought the blue tin of the really think Nivea, far to heavy for my face, but mixed the 2 to make a semi decent moisturiser.  Firstly I mixed it in my hand, then found it would emulsify better in the silicon travel bottle with lots of shaking!  Problem solved!

Now onto the next problem.  My heels.  At home I look after my heels, regularly filing off the hard skin.  Packing light, does not include heel file. I dfidn’t even thing about taking one actually.  Fast forward several months and I thought I had stepped on a nail or cut my foot.  But no, the hard skin that had not been taken care of had cracked.  Badly.  That tin of thick Nivea cream came in handy for another purpose, I put it on my foot and wore socks to bed to try and soften my heels.  It worked a little, but I had to then go and find a foot file and carry it with me.  Packing light and getting rid of most things doesn’t always work!

I’m going to have to replace my knickers/panties (depending on your country of origin) soon.  I brought 5 pairs with me, and I wash them out most nights while in the shower, with soap or body wash.  They are starting to complain and get small holes or the elastic is not so elasticy. Lucky a friend will be meeting me on a trip in May and she might be able to bring some new ones from Kmart.  

Watch this space for the next issues that come up, as I am sure there will be more the longer I am away from home!

Impressions of Laos

Laos is the first new country for me on this trip.  Although I went to Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia in 1986 and had only returned to Bali, I have been on holidays to most of the other South East Asia countries.  Not as a backpacker, wandering without a tight schedule, but on a highly organised trip to fit it into the available time.

Laos was the last SEA country I wanted to visit.  It has not disappointed, but it is harder travel than some of the other SEA countries.

The positives, for me, are the scenery, the friendly people, fewer tourists and backpackers than Thailand, cheaper than Thailand, not so much rubbish as Bali and slightly different culture. I also managed to get to slightly more out of the way places, which I always like. 

I'm not so keen on the food, but in the North, where I stayed, there is a heavy Thai influence, including the food, so I could eat a lot of Thai, or Thai like food!  It was also interesting to see the food the Lao's eat, not that I would have had any (bbq rats, squirrel, bugs, little birds, and lots of innards.  Nothing goes to waste here). 

What was harder was the quality of the accommodation, particularly the plumbing.  They mostly have 'wet' bathrooms here, which essentially means that all the water goes all over the floor (except of course the toilet water!). Many a hotel the sink pipe just ended before it hit the floor and emptied out onto the floor.  There are often no doors or lips in the showers, so all the shower water ends up on the floor too.  All draining out of a hole to god knows where.  I tended to have hot dribbles, cold powerful showers, or good showers with a head that would not stand up  anywhere so had to be hand held.  Few were decent.  

At least with this one the toilet was raised up!

Hardly any of the plumbing here can take toilet paper, so there is a 'bum gun' which I have never mastered the art of using, and then toilet paper is just supposed to dry you off.  It doesn't really work well. You put your used toilet paper in the bin in the bathroom,and it isn't always emptied daily.  So if creature comforts are your thing, you will have to spend a lot of money on top notch hotels, where available.

The roads are very very bad, dusty, full of potholes.  For example a train trip from Luang Prabang to Vang Vieng takes 1 or 1 and a half hours and the equivalent trip by road 5 hours!

I think the Lao people are not used to the high tourist numbers, or do not have enough staff, because often the service was terrible or non existent.  One place I went in Nong Khiaw had about 8 people there and one other lady wanted to order.  She went to the kitchen and the cook shouted out 'I am too busy' several times and loudly.  Then proceeded to ignore her.  I didn't stay to try and eat something! 

In Muang Ngoi, the smallest place I went to, we were told that the people are trying to make money from the tourists, which is perfectly acceptable, but often open too many businesses and can't find enough staff in such a small isolated place.  Hence the really slow or  sometimes non existent service.

There is a very heavy Chinese influence here. The relatively new China Laos high  speed train (2021) has brought Chinese tourists and business people to Laos. There are casino's, condominiums for the Chinese, many Korea hotels and restaurants (stayed in one in Vientiane). It is pretty overrun and I had the misfortune to be in Luang Prabang in Chinese New Year and it was packed.  Not pleasant. 

I debated long and hard whether to go to the  South of Laos.  It is a long country so going South involves either flying, or going on long, bumpy, hard bus journeys.  When you get there, the only thing to do in 2 places are 'loops' which have waterfalls, nice scenery, caves, countryside and so on.  However most people rent scooters to get around.  That is not an option for me.  I can't drive them, have terrible balance, the  roads are bad and .... and... No more needs be said.  To hire a car and driver just for me would be too expensive.  And, to be honest, I've seen all those things before and they have to be pretty good to warrant travelling such a long way to see them.  More about the payoff having to be worth the journey in another blog entry.

The other place is called 4,000 islands.  Laos is landlocked and the only chill, beach type place to go is Don Det on the 4,000 islands. I looked it up, and although it looks quite  nice, it is not a beach, doesn't have much to do, and most importantly is a very long way to go for something that can be found in a number of other, easier to access, places.  More on choices made as a solo in another blog entry.

So I stayed in the North, and thoroughly enjoyed it, apart from hurting my knee on a walk, and Vientiane, which as everyone says, is pretty boring!

One day I might come back to see the South, but it will be with someone else. 

Thailand Recommendations and Itinerary

 Hotels

Chiang Mai - P21 - cheap and cheerful, very clean rooms

Bangkok 7 nights – Nouvo City Hotel near Khao San Road (3 nights) and Adelphi 49 (4 nights) in Sukhomvit.  Both were the most expensive hotels of the trip, wanted some home comforts and a kitchen for breakfast.  They are both recommended if in your budget.

Chang Mai – 8 nights – Airbnb with kitchen and lounge room again.  If you want the details message me. On my return after the Elephant Park I stayed at P21 which was a great location, cheap and clean. 

Elephant Nature Park – 1 night – great experience

Pai 1 night - Pai Cerkaew Boutique House, great location, good views, friendly people.

Chiang Kong - Baan Sakuna Resort, lovely hotel on Mekong overlooking Laos

Chiang Rai - Baan Maalai Guesthouse, good location, felt like in the countryside but right in city, very friendly staff, breakfast included. 

Bangkok - stayed in more expensive places. Adelpui 49 - like a home with lounge and kitchen in Sukhomvit and Nouvo City Hotel, near Khao San Road but far enough away to be pleasant. 

Pai - Pai Cerkaew Boutique House, great location, good views, friendly people.

Chiang Kong - Baan Sakuna Resort, lovely hotel on Mekong overlooking Laos

Hua Hin 6 nights - 4 in Chalelarn Hotel and 2 in City Beach Resort.  Both are recommended.  City Beach a bit closer to the centre and the beach but Chalelarn had more charm.

Bangkok - Airbnb in Taling Chan on canal.  Message for details

Other

Best Pad Thai in the country in my opinion.  Just up the road from the Baan Maalai guesthouse in Chiang Rai.  Called Thai Food Easy Style.  40 baht vegetarian and 55 with chicken or pork.  I tried both, both great!

Driver.  Found a great driver in Chiang Rai - Alan WhatsApp +66 87 726 1212

Chiang Mai as a place to retire?

 When I first thought about what I wanted to do with my ‘gap year’ I was considering living a bit longer somewhere, maybe even retiring there.  Chiang Mai came up as one of the options.  Lots of expats, reasonable climate, nice sized city, cheap.  So when I planned my time in Thailand I gave myself 10 days here to check it out.  

I liked it, a lot.  There are many positives, it has a great ‘vibe’, chill but also with plenty to do.  It is easily walkable, the old city is inside a square wall and so you can find your way round.  The night bazaars and markets are awesome to find any sort of cheap food.  There are normal bars (not girly ones) where you can listen to local bands.  It was a perfect temperature (in January) to wear shorts and tishirts but not be too hot.  Everything you could need for a day to day life, gyms, yoga, meditation, supermarkets with food from home (at a premium price mind you!) and good medical facilities. They even offer full body scans, where you can get an MRI all over to check for cancer and other issues.  

The disadvantages are big though.  Officially from February (although it had started already in January) it is ‘burning season’.  This is when both the farmers burn off the rice paddies so they can plant the second crop and the forests in the mountains spontaneously burn, due to the leaves drying out and it being hot.  The burning doesn’t stop until rainy season starts. Consequently the air is very bad then.  It certainly made my mild asthma worse. Another disadvantage is that when rainy season comes, it is prone to flooding.  They had the worse floods in recent years, probably climate change, so the best time to live there is November to January, not such a long window of time. 

Would I go back and live there a bit longer term, definitely.  Retirement though? No, not if you have to leave when it rains and when it is burning season, it just isn’t a long enough time use it as a permanent base. 

Thailand Then and Now

I travelled to Thailand in 1986.  I came up from Malaysia, travelled through the southern islands (that were known then as a tourist destination) and met with my then boyfriend in Bangkok.  Together we went up to Northern Thailand and did a hill tribe trek and visited the Golden Triangle.  Apart from a holiday in Phuket in 2018, I had not returned. Like Bali, there is good and bad in coming back to a place that holds good memories from a time when travelling was very different. Some things are easier, some places didn’t even exist as a ‘thing’ then, but on the whole I think I preferred it before smart phones, the internet and millions of tourists!

I went to Phi Phi Island (of ‘The Beach’ fame) when there were only a few places to stay.  You can’t call them hotels as they were a cluster of bambook huts and open air restaurants.  As we were there, more huts were being built further away from where the boat lands.  I  didn’t go there this time, and will probably never go back.  I understand there are now 5 star hotels, small shopping malls and it is packed.  You can also hop between a large number of islands which in my time, didn’t have any tourist infrastructure. 

The Grand Palace in Bangkok was packed to the brim with tourists and I hated it.  It did detract from the experience, but didn’t stop me remembering the awe of the buildings and bling.  

My 4 day/3 night hill tribe trek was an experience and a half.  We were a small group and walked quite deep into the jungle and stayed at different hill tribes each night.  Opium poppies were grown freely at the time. Our porter used to smoke it each night, lying on his side with a pipe.  We were also offered the chance to try it, which we did.  Did nothing for me, but others said it was a pleasurable experience.  I remember that we arrived in one village and a young guy had badly hurt himself with an axe and his leg had a large open wound.  We were asked if we could help, as it was several days walk to a hospital.  We gave him what painkillers we had on us and used tampons to pack the wound before bandaging it.  

Now there are still hill tribes, but it is a long trek to go and see them.  There are more ‘tourist’ villages where you can see long neck women and other tribes.  I didn’t go.  

The Golden Triangle was a quiet place with fields and open areas.  Now there is a huge Buddha and across the river Laos has built a huge casino and international airport and the Chinese have bought up many of the apartments the large apartment blocks.  It is unrecognisable.

I have fond memories of the small town of Mae Sae on the river border with Myanmar. Pictures of flowers and monks, a wooden bridge you could walk across and a small market with tribes people selling their wares.  It is now a very busy crossing point with a large border station, which we were not allowed to cross.  You can’t walk on the bridge anymore.  Many Burmese come across to work or shop and we saw them with their white faces (sunscreen) on the streets. There has always been a temple there up the hill, and I can’t recall if I visited it, but now it is the ‘purple’ or ‘scorpion’ temple and they have build a skywalk, a high up walkway with glass to walk on.  It was actually really scenic and photogenic, so an addition to a place that has changed beyond recognition.

I am not sure if I went to Chiang Rai, it certainly doesn’t hold any memories for me, but I enjoyed my time there. There is a white temple which has  become just a tourist attraction which I loved (outside of the busiest times) and a blue temple which was most spectacular lit up at night.  Neither of them existed in 1986.

I stayed in Chiang Mai for 9 days and checked it out as a place I could possibly live for longer.  I will say more about that in another post. 

Revisiting Thailand after so long has been a good experience. I have enjoyed seeing the sights and being able to take hundreds of photos of some truly beautiful places and buildings. Thailand is not as dirty and full of rubbish as Bali, but still doesn’t take care of the environment, too much wasteful plastic, but not quite as bad as Bali.

Bali Good and Bad

I write this from Bali airport as I am waiting to leave.  I had 4 weeks in Bali, travelling to a few spots I had been before, and a couple of new ones.  They are very mixed, some great places and some that I really did not like at all.  

I have been to Bali 4 times.  The first in 1986, yes 1986, nearly 40 years ago.   I don’t think that a return here at any time can beat that experience.  We weren’t the first tourists to come, the tourist boom started in the 70s, but mass tourism was still in its infancy.  We stayed in homestays, losmen (simple lodgings), turned up and checked out the hotels before booking, did not have the internet!  We were welcomed everywhere we went.  My then boyfriend and I hired bicycles and rode round the island (except for the steep volcano ascents, when we put the bikes in a Bemo’!).  While we were biking around people smiled, waved, talked to us, directed us.  We saw lots of ceremonies on the road and even found a cockfight and special ceremony which we were invited to.  

There was no rubbish to speak off, it was clean, the beaches were clean, the restaurants and hotels simple and it really was another world to the Bali of today.

In 2004 there were rice fields between the  airport and Kuta, space on Kuta beach not overun by bars, and I don’t recall any rubbish.  Even in 2009 it was pleasant and didn’t feel too busy and commercial.

2024 is something else.  What has overwhelmed me is the commercialism and the amount of rubbish.  The only climate change concession I have seen here is not selling plastic bags in bigger shops.  Every hotel (except a few exceptions) provide plastic water bottles rather than filling them up.  One hotel even provided 2 little ones instead of 2 big ones.  All the toiletries in hotels come in little plastic containers.  I went to a temple ceremony and a funeral, and the hosts provide cakes, food and drink for the guests.  All in little plastic packages, or water in plastic cups with a seal and plastic straws. It is very hard to see that going on all around me. It creates piles of rubbish, some of which ends up in the sea, and washed back ashore. 

Locals are being pushed out by tourists. I was told by several people that in Sanur, expats are buying land and putting big villas on it, driving up the price of buying and renting for the locals.  Some places have been taken over by tourists, and the traffic is horrendous as there is only one way in and out, such as Canggu. 

But, and it is big but, the people are still as welcoming and friendly, that hasn’t changed. You can get fed up being asked all the time if you want a taxi or a massage, but it is easy enough to just say no.  I went into 2 families with my driver, and both were so inclusive of me, wanting photos with me, asking me questions, offering me food.  A complete stranger to them.

Maybe if enough of us start trying to educate people about the use of plastic, something might change, but doing nothing won’t change it.  I could try if I came here.  

So many people here rely on tourism to feed their families, that it would be wrong to stop coming because of the other problems.  You just have to pick the places that you enjoy the most, which for me are the quieter places. 

So will I return to Bali? Probably.  I found a couple of lovely spots I could definitely return to, Sanur and Gilli Air (which strictly speaking isn’t Bali).  I found them relaxing, quieter than some of the other tourist hot spots, good value, great food, nice beaches.  

Could I live here?  Maybe.  I have been considering staying longer somewhere in South East Asia, and Sanur would  fit the bill.