Travelblog – Page 3 – Travels with Ali

My A to Z Travel Challenge – V is for Vientiane, Laos – 🇱🇦

Vientiane is the capital of Laos and the largest city, it is located on the banks of the Mekong River very close to the border with Thailand.

We visited here a few years ago for three nights before heading off to Luang Prabang. There is still a French influence around, especially the architecture. The Laotian cuisine is very delicate using herbs such as lemongrass, coriander and basil. Some of the dishes you might eat are sticky rice (Khao Niaw) sticky rice is a staple throughout the country. Minced Meat Salad (Larb) Green Papaya Salad (Tam Mak Hoong) Steamed Fish (Mok Pa) Baguette Paté (Khao Jii Paté) Wet Noodles (Khao Piak Sen) Lao Sausages (Sai Uah, Sai Gok) Noodle Soup (Phor).

The hotel we stayed at was called Green Park Hotel, a small boutique hotel set in beautiful gardens. After we had checked in we arranged with the concierge to hire a driver and car for the next two days. The next day after breakfast overlooking the gardens, our driver met us to start our first day. We were lucky with our driver, a happy chappy called Mr Vong and delighted to be our tour guide.

Green Park Hotel

Nam Ngum River

Our first stop today was the Nam Ngum River where we would be taking a river boat cruise including lunch. We had a couple of mini breaks on the way to take in the scenery.

Nam Ngum River Vientiane, Laos — Deep fried chicken feet

We stopped off at a small concrete pontoon in the middle of the lake, and up some stairs there was a lady selling all types of woven goods, local dried fish and gooseberries. The baskets and pots were made by the inmates of a nearby prison. We couldn’t leave without purchasing something. I hoped somebody remembered to pick her up at the end of the day!

A relaxing few hours was spent aboard our boat, eating lunch and drinking beer just watching the world go by. Not too sure about the chicken’s feet, but a favourite of my hubby, there’s no accounting for taste.

Soon we were back in the car off to our next stop which was the COPE museum.

COPE Museum
Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise

During the Vietnam War American bombers dropped over two million tons of cluster bombs on Laos, even though this was a neutral country. To read more about this terrible event in history click on history.com.

I must say I was shocked to read about the horrific suffering that the Laotians had suffered, visiting this museum was a real eye opener.

Feeling very sombre, we drove into the centre to have a quick stop at the Nam Phou Fountain.

Day two was a drive to the Buddha Park, home to weird and wacky sculptures depicting different humans, animals, gods and demons.

There is one sculpture shaped like a pumpkin with the tree of life on the top. It has three stories representing hell, heaven and earth. Entrance is through an opening which is a mouth of a 3-metre-tall demon head and climb staircases to the top. Each story contains sculptures depicting the level.

It was quite claustrophobic climbing up a very narrow staircase from the inside. Coming down was even worse, with no handrail and a panic attack on the way, I froze to the spot. Mr Vong had to hold my arm and hubby my ankle I manoeuvred inch by inch towards the edge! There were six Japanese men in suits no less, waiting patiently under the midday sun to come down after me. I wondered at one point if I would have to be rescued by a helicopter – a drama queen to the last!

A very interesting morning!

Completely exhausted after this, we drove back to the hotel for a relaxing afternoon at the pool. All in all a very successful two days in Vientiane.

Extra info: To enter Laos from other countries you have to fly into Vientiane, Wattay International Airport so it’s worth a stop for a few nights. Visas can be obtained on arrival, a copy of your passport photo is okay to use. It takes around 20 minutes to drive into the city. We flew from Singapore to Vientiane using Lao Airlines and were very happy with the service and flight. The currency is the Kip but US dollars are widely accepted, so it’s useful to have both currencies.

Have a wonderful time if you ever do visit.
Thanks again for stopping by and reading!

Next of course is W

The next stop after Vientiane

Laid back Luang Prabang, Laos – October 2016

The second part of our trip to Laos was to the incredibly beautiful Luang Prabang. This tiny town is encircled by mountains and sits on the banks of the Mekong and Nam Khan River. We flew Lao Airlines from Vientiane and had arranged for a driver to take us to our hotel. We stayed at…

My A to Z Travel Challenge – T is for Thailand – 🇹🇭

Thailand is a country that I’ve visited many times over the last thirty years! As you would imagine I’ve seen countless changes from sleepy beaches dotted with small basic huts to ridiculously large resorts with five star hotels. Although Bangkok has never really changed that much, always busy 24 hours, just three days is plenty there! Thailand is a country where you can have almost any type of holiday, hiking, biking, swimming, diving, shopping, drinking, relaxing and of course eating the most delicious food. I can’t say I’ve done everything but the options are there! It’s such a welcoming country and I look forward to many more visits.

This post is just about two of the places I’ve loved the best, Koh Samui and Khao Lak.

Koh Samui

Koh Samui is the second largest island in Thailand, Phuket being the largest. It lies off the East coast of Kra Isthmus. Before Koh Samui had an airport it was a fairly difficult place to travel to. I remember when I first visited in 1989 we travelled on a bus from Bangkok to Surat Thani and then a ferry. It was around 11 to 12 hours! I’m not sure I would ever do that again.

My daughter and I went a few years ago for her 25th and we stayed at a fabulous “adults only” resort near Fisherman’s Village, Bophut. We spent our days shopping, drinking and relaxing on the beach on beanbags instead of sunbeds.

We loved this resort with it’s swim up bar, so easy to walk from the pool to the beach in just a few steps.

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Hubby and I have also been to Koh Samui and stayed at Mae Nam beach, at the very top of the island. It wasn’t a fancy place but just right for us. The larger resorts tend to be set quite far back from the beach and it’s the less expensive ones that actually have the best location.

The small individual villas were perfect

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Khao Lak

We first visited Khao Lak in 2000 and when we mentioned it hardly anyone had heard of it. It was recommended by a travel agent when we lived in Hong Kong. Back in the days before internet travel and online booking so we were really taking a chance. Flying into Phuket and then driving back onto the mainland with a driver sent by the hotel, the journey was around 2 to 3 hours. Nowadays it it much quicker with a new bridge and highways being built over the last decade or so. We stayed in one of the only resorts on this very long stretch of the coast and loved every minute.
Sadly as everyone knows the 2004 Tsunami swept many of the small resorts away along with thousands of tourists and locals alike.

We ventured back quite a few years later with some trepidation but just took the chance like many others. I’m so glad we did as this is still one of the most amazing stretches of coastline in the world.

One thing you can be sure of in Khao Lak is turquoise seas and stunning sunsets.

We will definitely be back again to visit Thailand, hopefully sooner rather than later

Thanks for stopping by 😎

My A to Z Travel Challenge – S is for Santiago de Compestela, Spain – 🇪🇸

Santiago de Compestela

After leaving Ribadesella we drove onto Santiago de Compestela, a city that many people end up in after walking the Camino de Santiago route. One of the images that is stuck in my head was the amount of people sitting on the steps of the cathedral with knee bandages! We were only staying for one night here as my hubby wanted to see the burial site of St. James.

St. James’ remains are reputedly buried within the grounds of the cathedral, which was consecrated in 1211.

The small town is easily seen in one day and very interesting. There are wonderful alleys to wander up and little shops to browse in. We always buy something from every place we visit, a t-shirt, tea towel or some useful kitchen utensil. We both bought t-shirts this time from a small boutique.

Church of María Salomé, Santiago de Compostela,
Built in honour of the Apostle St. James´ mother

That concludes our mini trip to Santiago de Compostela. It was great to spend some time here exploring and glad we made this part of our Spanish road trip.

Macro Monday and FOTD

Cee’s Flower of the day

Wooly Bush plant

Posted as part of FOTD

My A to Z Travel Challenge – O is for “Oh where in the world is this?”

I have to say I am completely stumped with O and cannot think of a place I’ve visited that is worthwhile posting about. So I’m just going to display a few photos and see if anyone can guess where they are. Some easy, some hard or maybe not if you are well travelled!

No. 1 – Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh

No. 2 – Mlini, Croatia

No. 3 – Nokonoshima Island, Fukuoka

No. 4 – San Sebastian, Spain

No. 5 – Tegunungan Waterfall, Bali

No. 6 – Canmore, Canada

I’ll post the answers in a few days!

My A to Z Travel Challenge – N is for Nagasaki, Japan 🇯🇵

Nagasaki was part of our 9 day road trip through the Kyushu Islands a few years ago and we spent two very busy days and nights here. There were four of us on the road trip, me, hubby and our two good friends Cheryl and Vaughan. Vaughan and hubby did all of the driving. We…

by Alison August 9, 2020January 17, 2021

Caves House, Yallingup, WA For An Overnight Stay

After saying goodbye in Pemberton to our friends Cheryl and Vaughan we drove onto Yallingup for our overnight stay at Caves House. Although we had previously had dinner here we had never stayed. Spending the night is always something I have wanted to do. The inside of Caves House is wonderfully well kept and has some fabulous artwork on the walls. Not only that but there are lovely art deco ornaments decorating tables and fireplaces. The ceilings are adorned with many kinds of light fittings all unusual in their own way.

Reception and Lobby Area

The Wyadup Room

A cosy lounge to relax, mixing the old and new. Where you can sit and enjoy a cocktail or nightcap in front of the roaring fire.

Indijup Room

A casual dining room for larger parties with an open fire, with art deco ornaments on top of the fireplace. A beautiful stained glass parrot light decorates the ceiling.

The Nigligi Room

A wonderful black and white tiled dining room with a 1950’s feel complete with photos of Marilyn Monroe on the walls. Open for breakfast and lunch.

The Yallingup Room

A beautiful dining room decorated with white cane chairs and modern summer themed art on the walls. Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

We had dinner at the hotel and had to eat in the lobby area as the Yallingup Room was fully booked. Food is ordered at the counter at the front where there is a casual/sports bar. It is pub food with a variation, as in Curry/Pasta/Fish of the day or otherwise steaks, pizzas and burgers.

Breakfast used to be a buffet but with the outbreak of Covid 19 it is just off the menu.

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Accommodation

We stayed in a Heritage Double room complete with small sitting room and an amazing bathroom. The bed even had a dual fitted electric blanket, great for me who likes a warm bed and hubby who likes it cold!

Coming down for breakfast after a very good night’s sleep

Before setting off back to Perth we had a walk down to Yallingup Beach through the gardens of Caves House.

Changing into his walking shoes sitting in the “boot” of his car

Caves House is a great place to hold a wedding or any kind of reception because of the large rooms for entertaining. Also if you have a special birthday or anniversary. I enjoyed my stay there, it has a friendly and relaxed atmosphere and is within walking distance to a beautiful beach. All in all a five star stay.

An apt quote for me and hubby, he loves roads and I love to travel!

Thursday Doors – Doors from around the World – 13 August 2020

Doors from the archives for Norm’s Thursday Doors

I have so many doors it’s hard to know what to post! This is a great challenge, thanks Norm.

Perth to Porongurup – 3 Day Road Trip

Last week we had a mini midweek break with our good friends and drove from Perth to Porongurup for two nights followed by a night in Yallingup. The drive takes around 4 hours and 30 minutes. On the way down we stopped at a small town called Williams that sits practically on the Albany Highway. We had a bite to eat in the small cafe there and a quick wander through the woodshed after. Of course we felt we ought to buy something to bolster the economy. Hubby bought a very smart Merino wool sweater and for me a Merino cardigan.

As we gradually drove further away from Perth the sky was darkening and we could see heavy rain clouds ahead, the weather was not looking good for our first night.

We also stopped at a winery in Mount Barker to pick up some wine from the cellar door to have with dinner that night. Plataganet Wines is actually named after the English Royal House, although it doesn’t date back that far! Inside there is a fantastic framed Plataganet family tree.

Finally arriving around 4.30pm in Porongurup we checked in and went straight to our cottage. Our friends Cheryl and Vaughan were already there having beat us by at least an hour!

By this time it was very bleak! Cold, wet and windy. There are no restaurants in Porongurup, although there is a bar and restaurant at the place we were staying, Karribank Cottages, but sadly didn’t open until Friday. So a BBQ it was on the verandah of our cottage. We had brought with us all sorts of goodies, plus a few bottles of wine and no-one had to drive anywhere.

The morning after the night before I woke up with a bit of a headache! Then Anthony tells me that he’s forgotten one of his medications, which is ironic as when we left Perth he said “do you remember the last time we went away and I forgot one of my meds and we had to phone the chemist in Perth and find one locally to have the script faxed”. “Well you won’t do that again in a hurry”, I said. Sure enough we did exactly that! We drove to Mount Barker to find a chemist and arrange for the script to be faxed, so while we were waiting we had breakfast and a wander around.

Things didn’t seem to be going plan at all. We couldn’t find any wineries open with a restaurant and it was still raining. So we decided on a drive to Albany and have lunch there then try to get to the Porongurups in the afternoon.

Albany

Albany is the oldest colonial settlement in Western Australia and is home to the old whaling station. A convoy of more than 40 ships, with 30,000 troops and nearly 8000 horses from both Australia and New Zealand, sailed from Albany on November 1 1914. There are so many historical buildings and churches in Albany dating back to the 1800s.

The famous Liberte Restaurant and Bar in Albany. First built in 1909 in a style reminiscent of an English mansion. It has been bought and sold a number of times over the last century and is now a restaurant/bar serving Asian fusion food.

We had lunch at a place called Garrison, no surprise that this was located where the army was stationed up on the hill. It has beautiful views overlooking King George Sound. Here we had a fabulous lunch with great service.

Fried Jerusalem Artichokes with feta cheese

Happy to see they didn’t feature Pie of the Day on the menu!

We had a short walk around through the old barracks and buildings.

National Anzec Centre, Source: Wikipedia

Porungurup National Park

One of the reasons for our drive to Porungurup was to walk on the granite skywalk, I really hadn’t done enough research to know this was beyond my capabilities. Firstly we had left it too late to do anything more than just have a look around at ground level and secondly it was at least an hour’s walk and a “scramble over rocks” to get just to the first level. Well at least we had a look around and saw troops of kangaroos.

I was warned not to get closer as you never know with wild kangaroos whether they will take a swipe at you or not!

The photos below are ones I have taken from Pinterest just to show everyone how fantastic it would have been!

**Not for the fainthearted or the weak!**

Another “stay in the cottage” dinner with more wine that night as there is really nowhere to eat within a reasonable driving distance. We had stopped off at a supermarket on the way back to stock up with cold meats, pate and cheese.

A few photos from around Karribank Cottages

The next day we checked out at 10 am and had breakfast at the very cute Porongurup Tea Rooms just at the bottom of the road and then headed to Pemberton with a stop at Lake Muir and then Manjimup for lunch. At Pemberton we said goodbye to Cheryl and Vaughan and drove onto Yallingup for our overnight stay at Caves Hotel.

Lake Muir

Pemberton

Pemberton, the home of the Gloucester Tree. Something I had never heard of before until Cheryl mentioned it. It is the world’s second tallest fire-lookout tree and stands 58 metres high. There are rungs all the way up if you feel inclined to climb it. At the top there is a steel and aluminium cabin and viewing gallery.

That’s high enough for us, Anthony was inclined to go higher before I ordered him down!

And then it was onto Yallingup for our overnight stay at Caves House.

My A to Z Travel Challenge – N is for Nagasaki, Japan 🇯🇵

We stayed at a hotel called Hotel Monterey, a great location and decorated in a Spanish Villa style.

Our first night was spent at Dejima Wharf, I’d read that it was quite lively and had a few restaurants. Maybe it had just opened or not been open for long but there didn’t seem to be that many places to choose from. We opted for a seafood restaurant where we sat outside and could cook our own seafood. I have to say it wasn’t such a great dinner as half the things we were served I couldn’t identify and the small bbq didn’t seem adequate to cook anything properly.

After dinner we found a bar upstairs called St. Andrews Jigger Inn, playing live music and everyone singing along, we even got up to have a dance!

The next morning with heavy heads we had a cooked breakfast at the Hotel Monterey and headed out to explore.

Nagasaki has a very international feel to it, with many Dutch, Portuguese and English buildings still standing. We headed first up to Hollander Slope, so called because many Dutch people lived here from around 1600.

From here we took a tram to another historical building, Glover House and Gardens.

Glover House

Glover House was built by Thomas Blake Glover, a Scottish merchant who arrived in Japan from Shanghai in 1859. He set up his own trading company, Glover and Co. Glover House is a western style building with imported furniture from Scotland and England. The carpenter is purportedly Koyama Hide who built the Basilica of the Twenty-Six Holy Martyrs. Source: Visit Nagasaki

Nagasaki is a big cruise ship port as you can see from above photo.

There is some Japanese influence in the rooms, but mostly it is of the old heavy wooden style favoured during the 1800s in England.

In this bottom right photo my hubby is with the Japanese gardener, and while I popped to the ladies he struck up a conversation with her. He speaks fairly fluent Japanese and she was so taken aback by him that she dropped everything and bombarded him with questions about his life, they found out that they were exactly the same age, even with the same month, now that’s a coincidence!

With the morning over and our visit to Glover House done, hubby said it was his turn now and he wanted first to go to the Sakamoto International Cemetery and then lastly the Peace Park and A Bomb Museum.

Sakamoto International Cemetery

Trying to find our way to the Cemetery was a bit of a nightmare, but we eventually found it tucked away at the back of some houses.

I wish I had taken more photos of the cemetery but felt a bit morbid doing this. Cemeteries in other countries with foreigners are so interesting. It makes you realise how determined people were hundreds of years ago and how easy we have it today. It would have taken them weeks or months to arrive at their destination and we complain about an hour delay to our plane!

Nagasaki Peace Park

It feels appropriate to be writing this post now as is the 75th anniversary of the Atomic Bomb on 9 August. It was the second bomb to be dropped by the United States after Japan still refused to surrender after Hiroshima. The exact number of people killed will never be known as all records were destroyed and many bodies were totally obliterated.

To walk around the museum is very sobering to see the destruction and devastation that was caused that day. Of course there is no mention of Japan’s part in WWII.

After experiencing that nightmarish war,
that blood-curdling carnage,
that unendurable horror,
Who could walk away without praying for peace?
This statue was created as a signpost in the
struggle for global harmony.
Standing ten meters tall,
it conveys the profundity of knowledge and
the beauty of health and virility.
The right hand points to the atomic bomb,
the left hand points to peace,
and the face prays deeply for the victims of war.
Transcending the barriers of race
and evoking the qualities of Buddha and God,
it is a symbol of the greatest determination
ever known in the history of Nagasaki
and the highest hope of all mankind.— Seibo Kitamura (Spring 1995)

And that concludes “N”

SAYONARA!

More of our trip below!

Kagoshima

Nagasaki to Kagoshima 6 June 2017 By now I think our two drivers were getting the hang of the roads and tolls! It was especially useful to be able to input a telephone number into the satnav instead of the actual address – very helpful considering how all the Japanese places were spelt. Because if…

by Alison March 25, 2018August 14, 2020

Great Minds Drink Alike : Sittella Winery, Swan Valley

Time for another trip to a winery. This time we will be visiting Sittella Winery in Herne Hill, Swan Valley. We visited on a lovely sunny day in the week and it was a good job we had booked as it looked very busy. We had a table overlooking the beautiful vineyards that surround the restaurant.

The winery is named after the Sittella bird and they nest along the banks of the Swan River.

It was opened in 1998 by Simon and Maaike Berns. Maaike is Dutch Indonesian which is why the menu is so interesting.

The restaurant is called The Nest and the menu had a great variety to select from so it took us a while.

*Winemakers Plate; Kangaroo and to finish Sittella Strawberry Basket* were just some of the dishes we had.

I have to mention the Sittella Strawberry Basket was without doubt the best dessert I have tasted in a long while!

Inside the restaurant, decorating the walls were some beautiful murals and artwork.

Even though it is winter now, everything is still so green and lush, except perhaps the vines themselves! The gazebo looks to be sinking and it’s not just a wonky photo I took.

Sittella is open from Wednesday to Sunday from 11 am to 3 pm. It’s definitely best to book especially on a weekend. As I mentioned it’s situated in the Swan Valley just over 30 minutes from Perth’s CBD. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did if you ever get a chance to visit.

Wine flies when you’re having fun at Brookside Winery, Bickley, WA 🍷

by Alison July 23, 2020January 20, 2021

Next of course is W

The next stop after Vientiane

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Koh Samui

Khao Lak

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No. 1 – Holyrood Palace, Edinburgh

No. 2 – Mlini, Croatia

No. 3 – Nokonoshima Island, Fukuoka

No. 4 – San Sebastian, Spain

No. 5 – Tegunungan Waterfall, Bali

No. 6 – Canmore, Canada

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Albany

Porungurup National Park

Lake Muir

Pemberton

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Glover House

Sakamoto International Cemetery

Nagasaki Peace Park

SAYONARA!

More of our trip below!

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