South America
To IstanbulKathmandu to Australia
I arrived in Bangkok with absolutely no fixed idea as to what to do next. I was going to make it up as I went along. I had booked, via the internet in Kathmandu, a hotrel for my first few days. After that, who knows.
Thankfully the bus ride from the airport to downtown was airconditioned, as the first thing I noticed about the place was how hot and humid it was. I missed my stop, but fortunately the driver stopped and called back to me. So I quickly grabbed my day backpack and main bag and got off. As the bus disappeared into the Bangkok traffic, I realised that I had left my camera (a gift) on the bus. Damn! Fortunately it had a new film in it, so I lost no photos.
My stay in Bangkok deliberately avoided such places as PatPong road and its fleshy delights. I was amazed at how many buildings had signs stating that there were ISO 9001 compliant, they were everywhere. And the traffic was something else. The Thais were into small two stroke engine powered motorcycles, with performance enhancing exhausts. On the back of these, on the pillion seat, attractive young ladies would perch side saddle, no leathers, gloves, or helmet, just short skirts and long legs.
I used my time arranging for further travel. First a flight to Chiang Mai in the north of the country, which, to be honest was a bit of a waste of my time and effort. I didn't much care for the place. I did manage to catch a nasty bug that gave me flu like symptoms and a cough. So, as my nephew was getting wed back in the UK, I was laid up sick in a hotel room back in Bangkok.
After Chiang Mai I flew onto Penang, which is a small island off the coast of Malaya. I suppose my main reason for going there was that my Dad used to tell me of trips he made there back in the 1960s, when he was in the RAF. Wandering around some of the buildings away from main streets reminded me most of the time that my family lived in Singapore. But I was amazed to see, during the taxi ride in from the airport, a building with a large red neon swastika on the side, and a sign saying that it was part of the World Red Swastika Organisation .
My hotel in Penang was the 1926 Hotel. An odd name for a wonderful hotel, created from an old civil service building, dating back to a time when Britain ran the place.
Then came Singapore, one of those places I had wanted to visit, ever since receiving my very first schooling there at Changi primary school. My hotel was in China town and so quite central to the city. Eating in Singapore is great fun, as there are so many restaraunts around. I also managed to find a place that sold Old Speckled Hen beer (an English bitter beer). So, quite naturally, I bought myself a pint for the exorbitant price of 11 Singapore dollars (about £5 !). It was awful. They served it (actually a very pretty, scantily clad young lady brought it to my table) ice cold and as fizzy as Guinness! I was so disappointed.
An airconditioned bus ride took me to Changi village from Singapore city centre. I passed the still infamous Changi jail and the modern replacement, which still holds plenty of stupid westerners who were dumb enough to get involved with drugs. The main street of Changi village, which I just about remember from my childhood, had changed completely. It has been rebuilt with modern concrete shops and houses. I went down to the sea, and couldn't see anything that I remembered from when we used to swim there (in the creak). On my bus ride back I did see part of the school that I attended, which is now part of an army base. But that was about all there was left of the RAF Changi that I remember. Our family house (on Old Sarum Road) had been removed, along with the small hill that it was on, to make room for the new Changi International airport.
After Singapore, I had to make a quick trip back to Bangkok to catch my flight to Sydney Australia. We arrived over the northern part of Australia during the early hours of the morning, and I watched as below us enormous thunderclouds discharged lightening into the ground.
I ended up doing the standard east coast tour of Australia. After enjoying Sydney for a week or so I flew down to Tasmania. The Qantas flight from Sydney had been underbooked, so they cancelled it and put me on an earlier one. This was fine apart from not bothering to supply that flight with sufficient catering, so I got quite hungry that day.
Tasmania turned out to be my favourite part of Australia. Ash, the co-driver on my Dragoman trip, had put me onto the place, as that was where he came from. The climate was similar to the UK. The population density, though, was far lower than the UK, this meant that driving my hire car along the main road of Tasmania I was often the only vehicle. I often drove for 15 or 20 minutes before seeing another car.
I stayed, for most of my time in Tasmania, in Launceston, which turned out to be a pleasant, rather countrified, town. While Hobart, the state capital, was a bit large for my taste. On the whole, I felt that Tasmania was very much like England had been in the 50s, but with modern conveniences (and some good eateries).
Flying back from Tasmania (by Virgin Blue) I stayed a week in Bondi Beach. This place reminded me of Scarborough (Yorkshire), but without the kiss me quick hats. The weather was very similar, as it didn't stop raining.
While I was in Sydney, I arranged for onward flights to New Zealand, the Cook Islands and back to the UK. As well as these flights I also booked further internal flights in Australia. I made the mistake of booking, over the internet, a flight with Qantas. I put the dates that I had wanted, and their booking system gave me the closest date that they had. This date was after I was due to leave Australia. Nowhere on there system was this made clear, and as I had made the booking, it was my fault, so that was money down the drain. And I didn't even get the Qantas version of airmiles (as I never actually travelled). So my experience with Qantas was not particularly good.
From Sydney I flew up to Brisbane and then Townsville, which were both very hot and humid. I think that's the best things that I can say about them. Given the choice again, I would not bother with much of Australia, but spent my time in New Zealand.
I left Sydney just as the rain stopped and the sun came out.
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