Bargain Buy Holiday Pants For Hot Countries - Traditional Trousers and Fisherman's Pants

Problem
What can you wear that's cool in a hot country?

Answer
In Thailand, Singapore and Cambodia you can buy Fisherman's pants (trousers) from clothes shops and market kiosks. In Cambodia they are known as traditional pants and Cambodian pants. They look like culottes but wrap around with overlapping sides down the outside leg.

I had bought several pairs in Singapore for the novelty and because when looking for a long skirt I sometimes found a delightful fabric was bell shape pantaloons and the shopkeeper persuaded me to buy them by making a reduction. I am a sucker for bargains. However, I never wore them for about ten years. They didn't look right in London, too happy, nor in Singapore, the land of the cheongsam and miniskirts.

However, when I arrived in Cambodia in 2017 in stifling heat my first thought was I should have brought loose pyjama bottoms for night wear under my long night dress to keep off mosquitos.

And by day, maybe not pyjama bottoms. How about protecting my legs from flying insects with long pants or trousers as we say in England. Then walking around Ankor Wat I saw lots of tourists wearing fisherman's pants and regretted not having brought at least one of my pairs with me.


What are the advantages of fisherman's pants? They look like culottes but they are even cooler at the sides. You can walk up stairs safely without tearing the seams of tight jeans or trousers.

They are not tight on the crotch. They are flexible with two pairs of ties, front and back, to fit you as you expand in the heat or when you overeat.

They flat creating a cool breeze.

You look like a local in Cambodia.

We passed a kiosk on the path up to the entrance to the Sras Srang Royal Pool (like a huge square lake). I could not resist asking the price. The red and blue trousers, a print on a material similar to cotton although probably synthetic, no label, was three dollars. I then looked at a fancy oscillating colour wine fabric pair (used to be known as shot silk, or Thai silk, now mostly admitted to be synthetic but still very attractive and elegant, five dollars.

I called over my travel companion for advice. We had run short of cash because the tickets for the wats are sixty dollars for thee days and the office takes only cash. Three dollars.

Agreed. I had not tried them on but hoped they would fit. That's another advantage. Like wrap skirts, so long as they are not made for midgets, they fit any size.

Back in the hotel I tried them on. They were cool and they fitted. Bargain of the year. I think I must have paid three times the price in Singapore.

I had reckoned that if they didn't fit I had enough material to make something else, such as a skirt or bolero or scarf. As they do fit, I can use them as a template to make any leftover material, such as a spree length, into a fit me anytime, or fit anybody, pair of fisherman's pants.

Trousers and Toilets
I have now worm mine successfully in Cambodia. Any disadvantages? Yes. They are not ideal for quick removal and replacement in toilet cubicles which do not have spotlessly clean floors. You have to practice which pair of ties to remove and how to pull them between your legs quickly and tie them up again.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Recycling Suitcases & Bags, Pre-packed

In the good old days when everybody had only one handbag, and it was a good one, a bag came with a zip up pocket containing a zipped purse attached by a chain to the bag, and a tiny mirror.

If you buy Travelog bags, they often come with multiple pockets and some models even come with a tiny torch attached. My experience of tiny torches is that the battery is always dead and you cannot find how to turn them on. In fact you often can't find them at all. The more pockets you have, the longer it takes to find anything.

Second-hand and Vintage
I do recycle - buying second hand bags on eBay. Some people have many co-rodinated travel outfits. Others travel with just black and white. A black and white jacket does for summer and winter and lightens an all black outfit which otherwise looks like you are chief mourner at a funeral and/or suffering from incurable depression. In my heyday as a travel writer, when I was often doing two trips in a week, I used to keep my travel clothes permanently in the travel bag.

Quick Pack And Unpack
One tip I picked up from a friend at the Writers' Holiday, pack one outfit per day and at the end of each day, put your clothes back in the suitcase, (perhaps in a bag marked laundry or a hotel's laundry bag), so on the last day there's only one outfit to pack. When you get home, put everything in the washing machine - don't waste time sorting out whether there's one item you never wore.

Colour Coding
If your clothes are colour coded you wore everything. For example, black and white on Saturday night, red on Sunday, orange on Monday, pink on Tuesday, green on Wednesday, yellow on Thursday, blue on Friday, black on Saturday.

No time or space for complete outfits? One, two or three basic outfits, shirt or trouser suit, dress or caftan in a neutral colour. Beige, or black skirt and white blouse, with a tie or scarf or cravat in a different colour.

Jewellery
Jewellery silver or gold or silver or gold tone, or black and white, or three two colour necklaces, one red and pink, one green and blue, one yellow and orange. You could make your own from beads if you are handy, or buy a set of multicolour bangles. or buy two of those magnetic bracelets which wind around, one for a necklace and the other as a bracelet. You could even use a third to make decoration for your belt or bag or shoes.

The packing list stays taped in the lid of the larger suitcase or front pocket of the small carry-on one.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author, speaker.

Night train service at weekends in London from September 12th 2015

To misquote somebody (Disraeli or Mark Twain): you can run some of the train lines all of the time, and all of the train lines some of the time, but you can't run all of the train lines all of the time. The new night services start in London from September 12th 2015.

So the plan is that the entire Victoria and Jubilee lines will run for 24 hours, covering Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights. other lines the busiest parts of the lines may operate, but not necessarily further stations and branches of the line.

If you previously used late night buses, you now have an alternative route, and also in some places and times the train route can cut your journey time by up to twenty minutes.

If you still need to take a taxi part of the way, your taxi fare could be cheaper.

That's good news if you are at a conference such as the World Travel Market and want to attend a weekend dinner or stay in London for a late meeting the weekend before or the weekend after the midweek conference and still have time to get home to the suburbs.

If you plan to come to London over Christmas and New Year, the late night buses and trains could also be useful to you. The bus map is already online. You could print out your own copy. Nearer the time I expect they will print out the maps and distribute them at the relevant stations, or at all stations so that you can plan your travel and also restaurant and hotel bookings which will be near the lat night lines, to be sure your meeting venues and sleeping venues are either your starting point or ending point.

If you are arranging a conference, restaurant meal, or accommodation for staff, guests, friends or family, you might wish to pick a venue on the line or to give your guests the information.

If you are looking for a job such as in a hotel or restaurant and willing to work late you might find opportunities. If you a hotel or restaurant owner, or are in marketing, advertising or web design you might need to update your existing ads and websites, or to use the new line as a selling point or excuse for a seasonal offer or celebration.

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/first-look-at-the-official-map-for-londons-night-tube--due-to-launch-in-september-10335452.html

You might also like to note the new uniforms:
I shall have to see them to form an opinion. I like blue. I also like the jolly red and orange ties, and the more discreet and elegant blue ties.
http://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/tfl-uniform-redesign-unveiled-in-first-update-for-decade-10283336.html