Journeys - August 2009

Thailand spends a huge amount on tourism promotion. But it's money well spent, as the diversity of Thai attractions staggers even the most jaded visitor. The Global Travel Writers team specialises in Thailand coverage - and for your other travel editorial needs, search our database now!
-= THAILAND IN FOCUS =-	The GTW Team Fiona Harper Glenn A. Baker Graham Simmons Karen Halabi Philip Game Sally Hammond Sheriden Rhodes Thomas E. King Tricia Welsh Motto of the month: "Goodness is something that makes us serene and content" - King Bhumipol Adulyadej of Thailand EMAIL
Karen Halabi reports on a diminuitive Thai woman known as Lek ("Tiny"), who has done more than just about anyone else to help the predicament of elephants.
There is no elegant way to climb up onto an elephant. Tricia Welsh learns this very quickly at a Mahouts' Course in northern Thailand.
Thomas E King visits Pai , west of Chiang Mai, now a niche destination with hill tribes, hot springs, elephant trekking and sophisticated boutique accommodation
From the industrial chic of Indigo Pearl, to the barefoot charm of the luxurious Trisara, Sheriden Rhodes seeks out the most stylish new Hip Thai Resorts
Tracks across the Kingdom: Philip Game reports that the State Railway of Thailand has now reached across the Mekong with a new international line to the Lao capital, Vientiane.
New Views from Koh Samui: Graham Simmons looks at the work of the Koh Samui Tourist Police, and asks whether visitors need lessons in the art of being good guests.
For more Thai stories, E-mail Fiona Harper, Gordon Hammond (with a story "White Thai Dinner") or Sally Hammond, our resident specialist on cookery schools in Bangkok
For more stories see: Global Travel Writers When we're not travelling or working to your deadlines, you'll find us here: Facebook : MySpace : Blogger : Subscribe to RSS Feed:

Journeys - March 2009

March 2009 - Trails of Great Writers The award-winning Global Travel Writers team follows Robert Louis Stevenson through Samoa and the remote Ardèche region of France; discovers a bookworm's heaven nestled in the verdant valleys where England meets Wales, and continues on into South Wales to find the legacy of Dylan Thomas very much alive; we pursue the ghost of Robbie Burns through the Scottish Highlands and unmask Shakespeare's Venice.
-= J O U R N E Y S =- France : Samoa : Wales : Scotland : Venice Samoa's Teller of Tales: On December 3, 1894, a "cloud of gloom" drifted over Samoa. As news spread that its most respected resident had died, a revered chief paid a glowing tribute and then in a ceremony normally reserved for royalty, Robert Louis Stevenson was laid to rest. [Thomas E. King]	The GTW Team Fiona Harper Glenn A. Baker Graham Simmons Karen Halabi Philip Game Sally Hammond Sheriden Rhodes Thomas E. King Tricia Welsh GTW Trivia: The life expectancy of a Galapagos tortoise is roughly equivalent to the combined experience of the Global Travel Writers team. EMAIL
By fork and glass through the Ardèche: In his classic By Donkey through the Cévennes, Robert Louis Stevenson introduced the world to one of the wildest regions of Europe. A historic and scenic eye-feast without peer, the south-west of the French département of Ardèche is an integral part of the Cévennes. Today's traveller has it easier than Stevenson, with classic accommodations and fine dining along the trail. [Graham Simmons]
Bookworms make Hay: Hay-on- Wye is a bookworm's heaven nestled in the verdant valleys where England meets Wales. Even the town's crumbling medieval castle has been turned into one of thirty or more bookstores. Further north along the Welsh border lies St Deiniol's, the private library of the magnificently eccentric Sir William Gladstone and today, arguably, Britain's finest residential library. [Philip Game]
Shakespeare's Venice Unmasked: The masks of Carnevale personify Shakespeare's Venice, a fantasy city whose real life is hidden behind a tourist veneer and hardly ever revealed to strangers. Venice is like a stage and the triangle between Rialto, San Marco and Accademia like a revolving play. The setting for Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice and Thomas Mann's Death in Venice, the city has drawn many a writer, poet and filmmaker under its romantic spell. [Karen Halabi]
Royal Treatment "More coffee?" A waiter hovers at my elbow... It's tempting, but my Arbroath smokies (smoked haddock) are coming. I have already done justice to a big bowl of oatmeal laced with the chef's secret ingredient. What is it? I ask. The waiter bends towards me, "Highland whisky liqueur," he whispers. We are travelling aboard the Royal Scotsman, rattling past one of the best breakfast views on earth. Beside us lies Loch Carron with the white houses of Plockton (setting for the TV series Hamish Macbeth) just blotching into the distance. This is the land of Robbie Burns. As the Royal Scotsman clicketty-clacks over the countryside he knew so well, it's hard not to hum Auld Lang Syne. Determined that 'old acquaintance should not be forgotten' Scottish Tourism has designated 2009, the 250th anniversary of his birth, Homecoming Scotland. [Sally Hammond]
Finding Dylan Thomas in Old South Wales You don't have to go searching for Dylan Thomas in Old South Wales. Quite the contrary - Dylan Thomas will come looking for YOU. Through exhibitions, museums, festivals, statues, cafes, pubs, street names, paintings, posters and snatches of words still hanging in the salty air. [Glenn A. Baker]
For more stories see: Global Travel Writers When we're not travelling or working to your deadlines, you'll find us here: Facebook : MySpace : Blogger : Subscribe to RSS Feed:

A Galician gourmet adventure

Philip Game revels in a culinary pilgrimage across northern Spain..

Forget the flamenco. What about some stirring reels from a Galician piper?

Far from the golden sands of Andalucia, beyond the great plains of Castile, a different Spain awaits along the Atlantic, a land of cloud-wrapped crags, apple orchards – and equally fine beaches. ‘Green Spain’ stretches from the stylish resorts of the Basque coast, through mountainous Asturias to reach Galicia, with its lingering Celtic heritage.

The Basque Country, Asturias, Cantabria and Galicia are all distinct regions, but they hold in common a zest for life, in particular a love of eating well. Lunch, the main meal, never kicks off before two; dinner is served some time after nine.

Seachange in Byron

Karen Halabi reports from idyllic Byron Bay on the Australian East Coast. She's been checking out the surf, the best eating spots, the best spots to stay and the burgeoning coffee plantations which are making Byron one of Australia's premier coffee growing regions.

Former Sydneysiders Tristan Grier and Kassia Picone are the enthusiastic new owners of the famed Harvest Café at Newrybar in the hills outside Byron Bay on the Australian East Coast. The dynamic duo have just taken over at this must-stop eatery on the northern NSW coast.

They are just two of the people for whom life in Byron has become a “seachange”, joining the throngs of Southerners from colder climes in Australia who are moving north from cities such as Sydney and Melbourne to find their own little place in paradise.

GTW-er Karen Halabi met them when she was compiling a story for the website on The Best of Byron.

Byron Bay may once have been Australia’s alternative capital but these days its gone very much mainstream, probably a sign of our new found environmental and global warming consciousness.

Byron has also attracted such people as Gregg Cave, co-owner (along with singer Olivia Newton-John) of Gaia retreat and Spa in the Byron hinterland just a short drive from Harvest. Everyone’s here for the same reason – lifestyle; they’re escaping the urban rat race for a simpler more idyllic life in the If you’re interested in a story on Byron, Australia’s answer to …., contact Karen (karen@globaltravelwriters.com) or check out the website at www.globaltravelwriters.com

Summer in Siam by John Borthwick

"I walked out the door, a bit dazed. I had ten dollars and two not-quite diamonds, and it was summer in Siam." John Borthwick's first day in Thailand seemed far from auspicious — but it has been uphill from then on. Dropping him in the middle of everything from three-day tribal weddings, elephant polo follies and pristine islands to Pattaya's bacchanalian nightlife, Thailand has kept John and his pen constantly on the move.

One of Australia's leading travel authors, John Borthwick has gathered here the best of his years of Thailand adventures, plus a swag of vivid tales from his wanderings in India, Xinjiang, the Himalayas, Borneo, Bali, Laos, Vietnam and the Philippines.

Paperback
Bangkok Books
Bangkok 2006
232 pages
ISBN 974-85129-2-4

Launch of New Luxury Cruise Vessel Covered

GTW member, Roderick Eime, will be jetting to Rome for the launch of the new 112,000 tonne luxury Italian cruise liner, Costa Serena.

"This ship is a whole lot bigger than anything I've ever sailed on," says Rod, who rarely gets aboard anything over 10k, "it'll certainly be a new experience for me."

How will Rod cope in the mill as over 2000 passengers clamber aboard? Editorial will be available in early June 2007.