Reasons for Reasons
I was ‘raised’ – to use a phrase from our American friends – in south Lakeland and it has always remained home. Even though I left to study when I was 18 and didn’t return untill September 2010. A lot of years.
During those interim years I have had a great life, travelled and met some wonderful people and also have a managed to bring up my son fairly successfully. So, it although it was sort of ‘on the plan’, my move back North was not without trepidation.
As part of my ‘self affirmation’ that I had made the right decision I started a Facebook album ‘Reasons To Move North’. This has had wonderful comments from my friends but I never had the courage to make it public. Then recently I went on a Travel Writing Course with Zoe ,and much to my delight and surprise received more affirmation from positive comments on my travel writing. Something else which has always remained strictly within closed leaves.
A mindful review of my first year here followed and I realised that I had had an amazing twelve months. Yes, I have travelled away, but I have also done more here in the North West than I would have previously thought possible. And I have had so many visitors! People like it here! I have become a guide for friends and acquaintances who then spread the word about how wonderful the Lake District is. This led to my providing itineraries for weekends or longer visits. Some I accompanied, others I simply provided a ‘bespoke’ itinerary, with or with accommodation booked.
So, now it’s time to go Global!
And now I have built my own blog I have used my technical, from a previous life in IT, to build one for the Howgill Harriers. If you would like one put together then please contact me for a quote.
Phong Nha Ke Bang National Park
‘Only just opening up’. It was this accolade which made Phong-Nha Ke Bang National Park my first trip out of Ho Chi Minh. Quang Binh province in central Vietnam has the oldest karst mountains in Asia is designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Western tourists have only recently started to trickle in and tourism will bring much needed income, though some projects, such as a cable car across the park may not enhance the natural features on offer. Never been attracted to exploring caves, I was totally ‘blown over’ by their magnificence and...
read moreNuoc Mooc Eco Trail
My penultimate day in Phong Nha-Ke National Park felt more like the North West of England than Vietnam. Damp, dripping in fact. So may be not the best time to take a motorbike ride. But wrapped up ‘appropriately’, my UK waterproofs under a Vietnamese cape I headed up to the park. Interesting driving with out a visor. Wall to wall sunshine would have been good. But it is December and as with anywhere mountains have their own agenda. The mist hung around to see what was happening in the valleys,...
read moreScrambling in a Mountain
At last I have climbed a mountain in Vietnam. A real mountain not a metaphorical one. Phong Ke Bang National Park is still relatively unknown to the western world and so it is possible to get to places rarely visited. I joined a group for a two day hike through jungle and caves and over those jagged karst mountain teeth to remote valleys. Starting from the village of Tan Hoa the rugged limestone rose sharply on all sides. The way out of the village involved a muddy trudge through a field reminiscent of a Cumbrian farm yard. ...
read morePhong Ke Bang National Park
Out of HCMC and to Phong Ke Bang National Park. Dramatic landscape. Jagged mountains rise like ill kept molars from deep valleys and cascading streams. Forest impenetrable to all but the most dedicated; poachers, wood collectors and explorers. Highway 20 snakes through the region. A road built to move war supplies. Where the ‘volunteer’ builders were given two days of rations. Their expected survival time. Never really attracted to life below ground it was with a little trepidation that I signed up for a few forays underground. My...
read moreFrom the Airport
For the first time I ordered a taxi via my building doorman. To the airport. The doorman asked me where I was going, so stupidly I presumed he had told the taxi driver. Bags duly thrown in, me in the back seat and I settled down to a pleasant air conditioned ride the to the airport. After 5 minutes the driver asked where I was going. Ridiculously I presumed the doorman told him I was going to the airport, so I said, Dong Hoi, my destination airport. Now, I have been driving around the city for long enough to know where the...
read moreBargains and Buffalos
Ho Chi Minh City is in the middle of a major construction project to build a city railway, most of it underground. As streets are closed and narrowed this just adds to the chaos. On my way into the city there is a massive development. I think may be a station. Ever changing, the bridge over the Saigon river frequently has people stopped, watching as the huge cargo barges slip quietly by. Unless in or on a building, the view from the bridge is as close as I will get to a mountain. A good view looking back to my current home....
read moreCar Driver to Motorbike Rider
Swapping a car for a motorbike is not something I had ever thought I would do. My skill is improving and my navigation of the city is a whole lot better but it is still a daily adventure. Lack of space and enclosed cars means that people and activities spill on to the streets. To the pavements. I wondered why so much stuff was carried on bikes. Then I thought that probably the same strange ‘stuff’ is carried in cars in the west. If we took the lids and walls of our metal boxes then what would we see? May be even stranger in the...
read moreTeachers’ Day at Bến Dược Củ Chi Tunnels
Just as we have Mothers’ Day in the UK there is Women’s’ Day and Teachers’ Day in Vietnam. Gifts are given and lunches eaten in celebration. Students from the UK take note. Teachers frequently receive cakes, flowers and even clothes. I was surprised and honoured to receive an áo dài traditionally worn by teachers in Vietnam. By it coincidence I had booked the 20th November, Teachers’ day, to leave the city and see a little more. As much about the journey as the arrival. 56km by motorbike; destination Bến Dược village and...
read moreQuan Âm Pagoda
Listening to the Saigon wake up is the best time. At 5.30am, cool enough to have the windows open. Surrounding construction cranes are momentarily quiet leaving the airspace free to a dawn chorus of exotic sounding birds still camped in the odd vacant plot. With an unexpected free day this week I found a brief haven from the noise and chaos in Quan Âm Pagoda. Remote from the main tourists haunts and markets, step from grey streets into an explosion of colour. Vivid murals, where brightly painted tigers and dragons jump from the 3D...
read moreCalendar Girl
Just another day in the life of a TEFL teacher. Another set of photographs. One of my schools is busy putting together its annual school calendar. ‘Make yourself beautiful’ I was instructed. The Vietnamese teaching looking elegant in traditional dress. Me looking, well, let’s leave it at less than elegant. The traditional Áo Dài has withstood the test of time for both elegance and practicality. What could be better clothing for riding a motorbike. Covers you up from head to toe, shielding you from the sun with no worry of your...
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