Travel Safety - suitable clothes,sun protection, insects, preventing pickpockets

 An Indian contact on zoom asked me, "What about safety when travelling in Europe?".I replied:

First check weather and clothing. You want to proect yourself against sun and insects in the topoics, and summer.  I always travel with a protective hat which has a brim, neck covering.

You also need some way to prevent a hat or cap falling off when you or I look down. You might look down over a cliff path, or above a well. Your hat could get caught by a gust of wind by the sea in a sea breeze, or on a boat.

1 What precautions should he take?

2 Will a foreigner be safe, acceptable?.

3 Any other advice?

1 Dress for the weather. Carry clothes for all weathers. You might change your route Secure hats so they don't fly off in the breeze, such as when in a rickshaw, in Cambodia. Secure spectacles with chains.

2 Take out travel and sports insurance with 24 hour hotlines for emergencies.

3 Find some local organization with connections to your work or hobby. Find out if there is a conference. They may have excursion in a group, or for spouses. 

You could offer to speak, in which case you might get free entry fee, accommodation, meals, drinks, a welcome dinner, 

Clothing with extra pockets is also handy if you want too be hands free when climbing over rocks on a hike, no handbag needed.

Security Clothes

Double pockets are handy. Make sure all your pockets have closures such as zips.

Useful Websites

Pick pocket proof (pockets) in convertible trousers

https://www.clothingarts.com/products/pickpocket_proof_convertible_travel_pants

5 pocket t-shirts (With two open hand-warmer pockets and three concealed zipped pockets

Useful Websites

https://ayegear.com/products/t5?variant=12113869668396

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Cambodia has one of the world's two top attractions - and the Khmer language which you can start learning from placenames on maps

 The two top attractions in the world on many lists are Ankkor Wat in Cambodia and Halong Bay in neighboruing Vietnam. I've seen them both and loved them both.

I had wanted to visit the temples of Cambodia ever since I saw them on postage stamps when I was a child. 

You will recognize the top attraction, Angkor Wat, from Cambodia's flag.

The first word you learn from Angkor Wat is wat. Wat means temple. 

Angkor means capital city. So Angkor Wat means temple of the capital city.

Angkor Wat is only the most famous of the temples around the area north of the city. You need a tuk-tuk and driver.

Tuk-tuk and driver.

The Tuk-Tuk

Visiting Angkor Wat can take half a day or even a whole day. First your TukTuk (motorised trishaw, motorbike drawing an opensided canopy four-seater) drives you north of the country's second city Siem Reap, to the place where you buy tickets.  If you decide to buy a three day ticket, you have to join another queue.

The taxi drivers and guides are good linguists. This is part of the problem. One speaks Japanese, another Chinese, another, Thai, another French. 

They have a good grasp of some essentials, such as, 'how much is this water,? this postcard, this guidebook. Two for the price of ...' However, asking, 'Where is the toilet,' and 'where is my guide'/taxi driver?' involves finding a Japanese speaker who can understand a Vietnamese speaker who understands English who can translate into Khmer.

Angkor Wat walled city complex approached by a long walkway across the wide moat.

Angkor Wat

Then you drive to the car park at the entrance to Angkor Wat. The place is huge. 

The car park is huge. Your driver will insist that you swap phone numbers and take pictures of him and his tuk tuk with the number plate. 

When you get back later in the day, you will find twice as many tuk tuks and tourists, and maybe a second car park has opened. t

Tourists lose their tut tuks regularly, so the drivers have a system in place. If you are lost, or can't locate your driver, any other English speaking driver, will phone him for you.

You need a photo of your driver. You cannot pronounce his name, but you will rcognize him, you think. When you leave your hotel, the pale skilled Australian owner, the chinese man with almond eyes on reception, and go off with a dark skilled local driver with big diagonal eyes, a black moustache, you think you will easily recongize him. But the temple car park has a hundred tuk tuk drivers, all dark skilled, with large eyes, with black hair and a moustache.

Besides, you get back late. The temples have guards and one way systems. You are not allowed to exit through the entrance. You now need a map, a guidebook and a human guide, and local money. By the time you get back, you will be wondering if he had gone off for lunch, to the toilet, or to do another job, while waiting.

What takes so long? Look at the map and you will see a long pedestrian passage across the moat to Ankor Wat. The temple, is at the centre of the walled city. 

Miles of outside and indoor walls are adorned with statues and frescoes and carvings. Each one deserves a photo, first ot its own, then with you. What do the scenese of battles and parades celebrate. All are described in the books and maps and postcards. You either listen to a human guide or read the guidebook, or both.

Miles of the four outside walls, its sections, rooms with statues, ladders to the next floor, postcards sellers, water sllers, queues to be photographed by statues. 

You think you have had enough, but you still have to do the central temple. Again, that is a complex of several rooms, passages, queues, statues, detours, photo oportunities, plaques to read.

When you finally think you have finsihed, you have to find your way back. One way systems lead back to the north, south, east and west exits.  

Angkor Thom, South Gate.

Angkor Thom - big city

If you have a three day temple ticket, and a three day tuk tuk hire, your next temple stop or day might include Angkor Thom. Thom means terribly big. Angkor, agains, means capital city. This large one was built a century later.

Its major feature is the massive heads of ministers of the day, lining the bridge leading to the South Gate of the city. Every face different. Every expression different.  Impressive.

Bayon Tample

Inside the walls, peering out, from within the complex are numerous gigantic depictions of a serene, smiling Buddha.

Actually, watch out for these statues. Our tuk tuk parked next to a gold Buddha in a canopy outside and said, 'meet you here at the coffee kiosk beside this statue in an hour to two hours, however long it takex you.'  He promised, "I wait."

What he didn't say was that there are several more similar statues inside the complex. Also one statue is outside each of the four gates on all sides. 

I was with my husband. But he was willing to climb a vertical ladder to get a view from the top of a statue. I was not. I had to take the ground floor route. I never found him inside the complex. 

After following several conflicting instructions through the interior maze I found the exit, and statue,. But no coffee kiosk! Had it closed for the evening?

I eventually found somebody who spoke English. He said, 'The coffee kiosk is at one of the other statues.'

I had no choice. I had to run around the whole complex, four walls, half an hour or more. Would my husband and driver still be waiting? Luckily, the coffee stall was by the next statue. Beyond it!  

I had given up hope and was racing past the statue when my driver recognized me and raced out to stop me.

Ta Promh / Ta Promkei - Overgrown Ruins

A third  fascinating feature I must mention is the overgrown temple with trees growing through the outer walls and the huge temple and huge big-eyed statue in the centre.

Cambodia's temple area around Siem Reap is a highly recommended trip. 

The moral is; The more local words you can learn, the better.

Here's a start. 

Khmer - English

allo - (hello when answering the phone) 

Angkor - capital city

Angkor Thom - big capital city

Angkor Wat - Capital City Temple

(Mr/Mrs) Chey/Jey/Jay (Surname from Sanskrit Jaya) - victory or victorious

Kampung - port or harbour

(Mr/Mrs) Keo - surname meaning glass, crystal or jewel

nung - and

Phnom - hill or mountain

Soustei - hello

ta - ancestor

Thom - terribly big, huge

Wat - temple

English - Khmer

ancestor - Ta

and - nung

big capital city - Angkor Thom

capital city - angkor

capital city temple - Angkor Wat

harbour or port - kampung

Hello when answering the phone - allo

hello/hi (informal) - soustei

hill or mountain - Phnom

temple - wat

terribly big/huge - Thom

Pronunciation Tip 

Ponunciation of tuk-tuk, like the past tense of take, took-took, I took a took-took.

For more useful words and phrases

Useful Websites

Translate google

Wikivoyage Cambodia Phrasebook

For a reprise or the travel and reminder of the language, come to the languages club LILT, on Sunday March 3rd. We meet every Sunday at 1.30 pm lunchtime in London in the UK, and 9.30 pm in Singapore. Contact me or Carolyn Street.

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Which landmarks are your favourites in each country? The places everybody researches?

Someone has searched for the place we search for on the internet. Not necessarily the same as the places people actually visit.

THE AMERICAS

The places everybody researches are the unsurprising Niagara Falls in Canada. Yes they are also in the USA, but all the excitement of walking behind the falls and the museums is on the Canadian side.  

EUROPE  & UK

In Europe, the Eiffel Tower in France is another place searched for.. 

In the UK Stonehenge was a bit of a surprise. Not so easily accessible. I have been to Stonehenge. (I must admit that blank stones don't inspire me much. 

ASIA

I was more impressed by the faces in Cambodia.Ankor Wat is there most searched for place.

THE MIDDLE EAST

 Petra in Jordan is a firm favourite. Hasn't it been in numerous films!  I took a camel ride to see it. Jordan has lots of Roman ruins too. Column after column. But if you want columns, so do Rome and Greece. And a few other countries. Petra is unique, another culture.

Useful Websites

 https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-12539567/What-world-wants-VISIT-Fascinating-map-shows-popular-landmarks-country-Stonehenge-Statue-Liberty.html#comments

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Where to see Memorials to Katyn and Khatyn, in the Belarus Republic, Poland, Russia and Worldwide - And Survivor Stories

 

I was confused about the spelling. Belarussia or Belorussia? It is now the Republic of Belarus. Previously under the Soviets it was  - let's take the Wikipedia comments.

Belarus (/bɛləˈruːs/; Belarusian: Беларусь [bʲɛlaˈrusʲ]; Russian: Беларусь [bʲɪlɐˈrusʲ]), officially the Republic of Belarus (Belarusian: Рэспубліка Беларусь; Russian: Республика Беларусь) and formerly known as Byelorussia or Belorussia (Russian: Белоруссия), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe.^[12] It is bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital and most populous city is Minsk.

....

Belarus lost almost half of its territory to Poland after the Polish–Soviet War (1919–1921). 

Much of the borders of Belarus took their modern shape in 1939, when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were reintegrated into it after the Soviet invasion of Poland, and were finalized after World War II.^[14][15][16] During WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a quarter of its population and half of its economic resources.

...

Many countries have hidden histories of massacres. 

For example: Oradour-sur-Glane in France.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oradour-sur-Glane_massacre.

'On 10 June 1944, the village of Oradour-sur-Glane in Haute-Vienne in Nazi-occupied France was destroyed when 642 of its inhabitants, including non-combatant women and children, were massacred by a German Waffen-SS company.

A new village was built nearby after the war, but President Charles de Gaulle ordered the original maintained as a permanent memorial and museum.

In more recent times we have heard about the Pol Pot massacres, the killing fields in Cambodia. And Nigeria, the conflict .'

The Anne Frank Foundation has an exhibition, showing how the Never Again message still need to be heard.

In a previous post I described the Brest Fortress.

Khatyn, Belarussia.

This was only one of several villages where the buildings were burned and the people were burned to death.

Khatyn memorial, Belarussia.

In Belarus the Bielski brothers led a group of survivors in the woods, of Jews, including children and the elderly, who had escaped. The film is fascinating.

Katyn, Poland

For some chilling survivor stories, read the accounts online from Yad Vashem. 

For light relief, in Belarussia see the Chagall Museum, or the Grandfather Frost Residence.

For light relief in Poland, see the Chopin museum.

Useful Travel Websites (Alphabetically by Country

BELARUS

https://www.belarus.by/en/

https://www.brest-fortress.by/?sec=2

https://www.belarus.by/en/travel/belarus-life/chagall-museum

https://www.belarus.by/en/travel/belarus-life/khatynand hs

(khatyn not to be confused with Katyn

CAMBODIA

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_Fields_(film)

FRANCE

Fascinating account of survivor of the WW2 massacre in France, how he and a couple of others survived. How do we know who died? Apart from survivors, from relatives who were not there such as his sister who had married and moved away.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_H%C3%A9bras

JEWISH/WW2

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocaust_survivors

POLAND

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katyn_massacre)

About the Author 

How to edit your travel photos - starting with the map

I start with a map of the country on the world, or in relation to next door countries. Wikipedia is a good source of copyright free pictures.

I also include the country's flag. Label it with the country. 

 You can often get two photos from one by selective editing. Or start with the big picture, then show a close-up.

Add captions. Map of Cambodia, showing it is on the sea to the West, with Thailand to the north and Vietnam to the East - handy if you want to do a two-country trip.

Add people. To boost readership, add famous people. Add the British Royal family, Trump, Marilyn Monroe. Add pictures of them at the destination. Find their hotel, restaurant, stadium, event.

(More later.)

Useful Websites

https://www.wikihow.com/Shrink-a-Picture

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Copyrights

wikipedia

wikimedia

wikitravel

wikivoyage

wiktionary

wikihow

translate Google

tripadvisor

About the Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Please share links to your favourite posts. Come back for more. I plan to tell you how to insert a zip for extra security and create a reversible jacket.

Orange Surprise - making home made marmalade from a balcony plant

Miniature potted orange tree. Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Orange Surprise

Our latest success with growing a tiny tree and cooking home made food from our plants was with oranges. 

When I saw the orange tree I thought it would have sweet oranges you could eat. I tried one and it was bitter. What a disappointment!  Was it poisonous? However, my husband explained, "It's a bitter orange, and you use bitter oranges to make marmalade, which is simple jam from bitter oranges. Like the oranges from Seville." 


Seville in Spain. The word orange is said to come from the Spanish for orange, naranja. 

At first our family chef said he would not bother to use the little oranges to make marmalade.
He said, "It's too much time and effort. Not worth the trouble." 

Then he decided to remove the shrivelling oranges, to encourage the new small green wines to ripen. With a bowl of oranges in his hand, he decided to use them.

He said, "It seems a shame to waste them. I'll use them to make marmalade."

He found an online recipe. The English language websites have many recipes.



He often goes to a French recipe site in addition. He translates the recipes using Google translate.

He found the perfect recipe. But the quantity of fruit he had was under the required amount. So he added an ordinary (sweet) orange.

Recipe
First you cut up the oranges and separate the inside from the peel. Separate but save the pips. 

Next remove the peel. Turn over the pieces of peel and and removed, scrape off, pith (white part underneath).

The membranes (bits separating the inside of the fruit) can go with the pips, or be discarded.

Place the pips in a muslin bag so you can later remove them from your boiled mixture.
Put pips in a muslin bag and crush with pestle and mortar and add to mixture to add pectin.

Boil

Boil the bitter oranges (everything except the bitter pith) until peel softens and becomes translucent. (About an hour.) 

After an hour or so bring up the temperature. the temperature is raised to about 104 centigrade, above the boiling point of water, 10c, to set the pectin to make it gel instead of just being a runny orange flavoured sauce.

Bottling
Then leave to cool and put it in a sterile, lidded jar in your fridge. You cannot handle the scalding hot glass, even be careful with the lid just out of sterilising scalding hot steam or water. Use a clean oven glove and clean towel, one to hold the glass and one to hold the lid. 

Labelling By Hand When cooled you can add a label. take an address label (a roll bought cheaply from a cheap shop or stationers. Draw a neat border using a ruler. Draw a pencil line for the name of the product. Mark the number of letters in m a r m a l a d e. (Nine dots, one in the centre, four on both sides. And/or add your name or surname or a brand name. For example, Mark's Marmalade or Mum's Marmalade or Mama Mary Home Made Marmalade. Use dots so you don't get to the end of the word and find the last letter won't fit on. Copy a calligraphy font in pencil. 

How To Print Two Labels
Alternative print a label with a pretty font. Cut the edges with serrated paper scissors. Or use a guillotine. Measure the edges and cut off sticky tape to the right length and attach the label to the jar. Add a second label to the back, either with the ingredients to look professional, or simply to be sure you can always see the label if you are not religious about putting things in the fridge with the labels at the front and visible. 

My family now has home made marmalade and home made bread. What about butter? 

Home Made Marmalade Verdict
I don't normally like marmalade. It is too bitter. And too sweet. However, the home made version was aromatic and tangy.

We declared, "This marmalade is better than shop bought marmalade!?"
I asked, "Are you sure it was worth the time and trouble?"
"Sure. I could eat three slices, but I won't."
"Because we only have a jar and a half or because you are watching your diet and calorie count?"
"Both." 
"Will you do it again?"
"Yes. And I shall add extra ingredients."

Alternative Ingredients
"What have you learned?"
"My hobby is good. I could use oranges, lemons, or another local fruit called calamansi, which is made into a drink in Singapore."

Flavours To Add
"I don't like whisky. How about something healthy?"
We bought some fancy jams in Seam Reap in Cambodia and more from the Shangri La hotel food shop in Singapore.
Next time we will add ginger.

So, now you know. Whether or not you grow food on your windowsill or balcony, at least you know how to make marmalade.

About the Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. See my other posts on growing food, learning languages and more.

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Need a country flag image for free? Can you identify these flags? Quiz!

Sometimes you need a country flag. It is useful to label a box file storing maps and leaflets before during or after a trip. You might want to add it to a blog as a heading.

But first you need to pick the right flag. Some are so similar. Lots of crosses on the Union Jack and Scandinavian flags, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland. 

Lots of Crescents on other flags. 

A flag which looks like the flag of the USA. 

Two countries with dragons. One is Wales. The other is?

Lots of stars.

How many? Which colour? How many points?

Union Jacks with stars for Australia and New Zealand. Which is which? Which flag has the most stars - which country?

You might recognize flags with red and white stripes. But that could be Monaco or Poland or Singapore or Malaysia. Red above or below? Anything added?

What about multiple stars? That could be the EU or Linguafranca.

What about red, white and blue? That's France. Or is it the Netherlands? Vertical or horizontal stripes?

Red yellow and black. That's Germany. Or is it Belgium?

Red white and green, easy peasy, Italy. But there's another red white and green flag. And red white and orange? Which is Italy? Which is Ireland? What is the third?

Here are some flags. Get ready for a quiz! Which country is this flag from? Some hints later. If you don't like your score, read the answer and see if you can improve.

1

2

3

4

5

 6

7

8

9

10

Hints

1 Could be Singapore or China or Malaysia.

2 Could be Vietnam or Cambodia. 

3 Could be India or Spain. 

4 Could be France or the Netherlands?

5 Could be Canada or Wales?

6 Could be Australia or New Zealand.

7 Could be Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Serbia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine

8 Could be Italy?

9 Could be China or EU

10 Could be the USA or Malaysia or Indonesia.

Answers (alphabetically)

Not in right order - try matching them up!

Brazil

Canada 

China 

EU 

Esperanto 

France 

Iceland

India 

Interlingua 

Israel 

Italy

Madeira

Malaysia

New Zealand

Peru

Portugal

Scotland 

Singapore

South Africa

Spain

Switzerland

USA

UK

Wales

Answers in right order:

1 Singapore

2 Vietnam

3 India

4 The Netherlands

5 Canada

6 Australia

7 Latvia

8 Italy

9 China

10 USA

Useful websites
Wikipedia
Wikitravel
Simple wiki
wiki voyage
https://www.countryflags.com/en/australia-flag-image.html
https://www.countryflags.com/en/europe/

While we are on the subject of free, whole books for free:
https://studyreadwrite.com/2015/01/03/how-to-free-textbooks/

How to remember flags
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2019/01/blog-post_71.html

Quiz on flags
https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2018/07/quiz-on-flags-with-stars-can-you-guess.html

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Selina and family boating along beautiful Halong Bay, Vietnam

Ha Long Bay, Vietnam

Ha Long Bay is one of the world's top sites and sights, competing with Ankor Wat of Cambodia as the public's favourite place in polls. Ankor Wat is walking and man-made. Ha Long bay is natural scenery, lots of sitting, on the car, taxi or coach to get there, on the launch out to your overnight cruise ship, clamber onto the boat, and more sitting as you sail - or rather row your canoe or share a boat, admiring the natural scenery and greenery covering the rocky outcrops reflected in the water.

Look carefully at this picture and you will see: 

the tree-covered slopes, 

the triple deck cruise ship far right, 

in the centre background a man standing, rowing, several more, small, boats. 

Everybody is wearing the provided life jackets.

It is ideal for a honeymoon, wedding anniversary, birthday, family holiday, or any break. 

Travel Information

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Planning a trip to Vietnam, north or south or both?

Fascinating country. Just as the UK had Boadicea fighting the Romans, and Elizabeth I, Vietnam has its female military heroines, including two sisters.

In modern times the country was split between the communists backed by the Russians in the North, and the American-backed regime in the South.

The Chinese influenced the language before the Roman alphabet was adopted. Also expect to see noodle soup. China is the northern neighbour, which explains the past influence and invasions, as well as the modern business influence and incoming tourists.

The French left behind their breakfast habits of coffee and bread.

The temperature varies from north to south.
Christmas is a good time to go if you don't want the weather too hot, too cold or too wet.

Problems
A What will it cost?
B How long need I go?
C Which sights should be on my list?
D Which ones should be my priority?
E Can I combine my trip with the capital of Cambodia, or Laos?

A One price quotation I saw was for 10 days, about US$1000, per person, sharing, with dinners, not flights from the USA, but includes internal flights. Various extras such airport /country taxes and evening dinners - might be some museum entry fees. Extras for single person room or upgrade of hotel.
B
C The capital, Hanoi. In the North. to east to the coast.
Fly south to
The old capital, Hue.
See the city of lanterns.
Ho Chi Minh City. See the mausoleum of Ho Chi Minh, big, solid, square; you might see only the outside depending on the time of year.)
The tiny tunnels with narrow entrances, used by the ultra-slim communists invading the South.

The famous rocks in the water -

D Choose your favourites. Mine are:
Crazy House
Bottle Temple

Sources
tripadvisor
vietnam tourist board
wikitravel
wikivoyage

Author
Angela Lansbury

How Stamps Enhance Your Travels - Childhood Anticipation of Cambodia's Angkor Was

Problem
As a child, I loved collecting stamps. I loved stamps showing the exotic Far East. I never dreamed that one day I would go and live there. Nor that one day I would see Angkor Wat in Cambodia which would exceed my wildest expectations. (For those who have not yet been there, Ankor Wat is the largest, a walled are the size of a small city, but the entire area is full of a dozen or more temples, one of the most dramatic sights being the bridge lined on both sides by huge stone heads leading to a gateway.

Somewhere, amid a library size collection of books, I hope I still have my old childhood stamp album, and could check which stamps inspired my dreams and made me want to travel.

When I was a teenager I discovered that I had ruined my stamps by tearing them of envelopes, or floating them off. I visit a rich cultured family whose son showed me his stamp collection, consisting entirely of first-day covers. I discovered that you were supposed to leave stamps on envelopes, and buy special stamps, issued only briefly, with special postmarks.

For little countries, stamps are big business. Some countries it is said, make their living mainly from selling stamps of themselves. I must have read this about some tiny, photographic place, probably San Marino.

Small hilltop countries and hilltop hotels, nowadays, just like when I was a child, have long queues to drive up the hill, no parking place, so just time to jump out and by a postcard and set of pricey stamps to prove you were there, in a place where nobody needs stamps because all the neighbours are in walking distance, so long as your ankles can still manage the slopes and cobbles. Then before you know it you are directed around the one-way system and find yourself driving downhill and away.

Preserving Stamps
How can you rescue stamps? New stamps are sold at post offices worldwide and online from post offices and stamp shops which are re-selling and other collectors. You could also do swaps with a penfriend. Or just write to a friend in another country which produces good stamps, instead of merely franking letters.

Stamps For Teaching And Entertainment
If you are staying with friends or family, even staying in hotel or visiting an office, or even a shop where you are a good customer, you might ask them for envelopes or discarded stamps. Children over the age of three (who can be trusted not to eat or swallow papers) would love to look at stamps, even the ones with slightly torn or crumpled corners which have no value to a collector.

As a teacher you can show them the stamps, or photos of the stamps which you took when you were on holiday. For a slide show for the family or grandparents who cannot travel, the stamp of the country makes a good opening slide, or repeated as a border frame.

If you are a keen stamp collector and visit foreign countries, spare a thought for saving stamps. You are preserving history. You are also recycling. With luck, and care and research,  they could also be an investment. At very least, a souvenir.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

Water For Walkers, Picnics In Pockets, DIY Kendal Mint Cake

Water
Walking back in the cold or heat can be tiring and sometimes dangerous. Everybody needs water bottles.

Find a supermarket with cheap multi-packs. In Cambodia our driver would stop for six-packs of water bottles. He later charged us for the water, which, on relection, was entirely reasonable.

When you are met by a hire car at the airport for transfer to your hotel, the bottled water in the back pocket is not necessarily free. Before drinking, check the price.

Another system is for the leader of the group to supply water top-ups. Alternatively to allocate one person with a car and cool box to supply the others.

You also need a picnic lunch and snacks. It's amazing how fast they restore morale and energy and turn a tiring trek into a tremendous trek.

On day one, one person might not realise you need a packed lunch. Some people like to take a bag of food which can be shared, such as nuts, grapes, small pastries, multi-pack chocolate bars.

Kendal mint cake is a UK produced bar of chocolate-coated rock hard sugar, compact to carry. mint flavour. If you can't find it, you can make your own.

Useful Websites
https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/user/3308686/recipe/original-kendal-mint-cake
https://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/p/romney-s-kendal-mint-cake-white

Author
Angela Lansbury

What's cheap and what's not? England, Wales, Cambodia, Kenya, Singapore ... read more

Problem
Where can I go to get good value for money? It can be swings and roundabout, lose on some gain on another. What's cheap and what's not?

I'm going to compile a list of countries with cheap flights, seasons and accommodation, food, attractions. I'm starting the blog today and will keep adding to it. When it gets too unwieldy to read, and the seasons and circumstances have changed. I'll start another post.

You will find bargains and cons all over America, Europe, Asia, Australia.

ENGLAND
SHOPPING
GAIN
Cheap stores:
Poundland.
Poundstretcher.
CLOTHES
Primark.
Charity shops: St Luke's.
LOSE
Some charity shops seem to charge higher prices. Oxfam.
FOOD
Supermarkets:
Aldi.
Lidl.
£1 sandwiches in Poundland, Tesco Express.
Reduced prices in a reduced price area, or through the shop towards closing time - good if you are a night owl and eat late. It's on food which is reaching its 'eat by ...' date.
LOSE
You could find your fruit or hummus has gone off if you leave until tomorrow breakfast time - or even midnight, after the shop has closed and they won't accept a return next day.

CAMBODIA
GAIN
Tuk-tuks or motorcycle taxi are cheap. It is probably cheaper to hire one by the day or week than to keep taking different taxis. We were asked 6 pounds/dollars for one one-way journey but 15 for the whole day.
LOSE
The temple entry tickets are expensive. You can't just buy a ticket for Ankor Wat. About £20 for a day. We might have visited one temple a day, or two, maximum five, with an hour's walking at each if we were determined to get our moneysworth. So a three-day pass for one of us was £60. For two of us £120, paid out on day one - a lot of cash, so you might run out of cash, if they don't take credit cards or charge extra for your use of a credit card. Check the cost in advance. It might go up or down since I was there and you might be getting a reduction.

KENYA
Shared taxis.
Cheap Hostels and homestays. I haven't done this but read about it in Wikivoyage.

SINGAPORE
SHOPPING
GAIN
Cheap or good value department store with huge variety:
Mohammed Mustaphas by Little India.
MUSEUMS
TAXIS
GAIN
Use uber. Sign up and they email regular deals.
Share a taxi from some queues in busy shopping malls and stations.
LOSE
Regular taxis if you go in the Central Business District (CBD for short) especially in peak, hours, and more surcharge for after midnight. Phone for a taxi and some companies charge for an advanced booking fee for a taxi.

WALES
GAIN
Many free museums fun by the government or local council, for example, Cardiff.

SEASONAL
CHINESE NEW YEAR
GAIN
If you head for a shopping mall before opening time on New Year's Day and are first through the door of a family shop or even a supermarket, you might be given two oranges, or offered a reduction because you are the first customer and bringing luck.

RAMADAN
LOSE
You might find no restaurants open during the day. In Malaysia look for or ask for a Chinese restaurant. They are exempt (so long as they are not Muslim).
GAIN
Many mosques and other places offer free food for breaking the fast after sunset.

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.