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Recent destinations for me in the past 12 months – and I’m only giving you snatches of information about these places - have included:
Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur is a thriving metropolis, the capital of Malaysia and one of the best places on Earth if you’re a shopaholic. I’m talking high quality goods for such a bargain price it will make you frantic. And when you’ve finished shopping get out of the city – very easy to get around, very friendly – and get yourself to somewhere like Penang or Langkawi, both hugely popular tourist spots with fine accommodation.
These are beach resorts with a high quality infrastructure in place. Personally my pick is Langkawi – it’s quieter, more serene, less ‘touristy’ although there are plenty of visitors they tend to be the ones who want to get away from it all rather than those who want to party.
Thailand
A favourite with our family. Bangkok is mad, fun, exciting and choked with traffic but if you know that beforehand and tell yourself to be patient and go with the flow, it’s a wonderful city that blends old and new. Take a tuk-tuk instead of a taxi for a seriously crazy ride.
Absolutely beautiful properties if you’re into the upmarket stuff and who can resist the market shopping in Patpong Road at night. Great fun.
Head south to Phuket, which was affected by the tsunami but has picked itself back up and offering a fantastic holiday once again for visitors. Sadly the beautiful Phi Phi Island may never recover – it’s questionable whether investors will ever build tourist properties there again. That said, Phuket in March 2005 was magnificent and prices as usual are terrific in Thailand. We found a fun little family run eatery just off the Royal Phuket Yacht Club and main beach called Food Mamas and we were eating full on cooked breakfasts with all the trimmings for around AUD$5….yes, you read that right - $5!
You’re guaranteed to fall in love with the Thai people too. Head north into Chiang Mai for a different sort of experience.
Athens
Last year we travelled to the capital of Greece to see for ourselves how the city shaped up post-Olympics. It was a terrific surprise to note how much had changed for the better – other than the viciously dishonest cab drivers that is (beware!). Athens used to be a city that people would fly into and out of rather quickly, the aim being to see the Acropolis and then leave as fast as possible. Now it begs you to stay a little longer and deservedly so with the world’s latest metro that is not only clean and incredibly efficient but it’s like a museum with wonderful displays of ancient artefacts to view in the stations.
The boulevards are clean and no businesses are permitted to hang up ugly signage any more. It’s a slick, inviting Athens these days that encourages you to walk the streets and meander to the Acropolis before heading down into the busy Plaka for shopping, restaurants, busy Athens life.
Now all the major icons are connected via the rail network so it’s not cumbersome at all to get around the city. Full marks!
Rhodes
I love Rhodes – there’s just something about a walled medieval city that fires my blood! However, I hate the zillions of visitors who flock off the endless stream of cruise ships coming out of Athens and making a beeline for one of the favourite islands, made famous for its legendary Colossus and because it was where the Crusaders based themselves all those hundreds of years ago before they headed off to fight the Turks (Saracens). I must qualify that I don’t hate the tourists individually of course – I just hate them as bulk that choke the city and make it raucous and just too ‘touristy’. Unfortunately we were there whilst it was still very hot last October but go there end November and the majority of sweating, sunburned package tourists have gone and the restaurants change their menu almost overnight into something far more authentically Greek, so we were assured by one of the lovely restaurants we ate in that was forced to serve chips with almost everything in high season!
Get away from the main square and haunt the back lanes, getting a feel for what an important city this was centuries previous. Do some tours, make sure you have a guide book and go into all the museums. They’re not very well run but you’ll see some wonderful sights and you can touch things!
Rhodes is also a perfect launching spot to go off Greek island hopping. This visit we took a day ferry to Ixia and were not disappointed – it looks like a picture postcard.
Istanbul
Ah, now I knew I was a stranger in a foreign land. Although Istanbul is very western in its outlook it has not relinquished its incredibly exotic feel and that's exciting for this visitor. The city was busy – it was Autumn and although raining there were still thousands of visitors in town but miraculously I was able to visit the Grand Bazaar and shut them out, pretending these hordes of camera swinging people (of which I was one) were locals and I could almost imagine how it must have been like in the middle ages. It’s not a great leap for an imaginative mind to get a picture of how it must have been. The locals are friendly and grateful to all tourists for visiting so they go out of their way to please, make you feel welcome. It’s wonderful really. We ignored McDonalds and found some authentic restaurants where people sat on cushions and ate the exotic dishes being served. Our hotel was in the old quarter and this is definitely a must. We opened our window, threw open the shutters and could hardly believe our eyes. Right in front of us was the Blue Mosque, lit spectacularly and the muezzin was calling the faithful to evening prayers. It was wonderful and a tour the next day of the mosque was breathtaking and I was particularly inspired to learn more about the Muslim faith, what it means to be one of the faithful. St Sophia Church is a must and of course my mission was to get into the Topkapi Palace and its infamous harem.
One of the best surprises during our very brief stay in Istanbul was visiting the Roman
Cistern. A truly magnificent experience. Don’t miss it – too many people do.
Standing in the Hippodrome is an awesome feeling and for this visitor who swears by the work of Guy Gavriel Kay I could hear echoes of his Sarantine Mosaic duology as I listened to guide telling us about the corridor that connected the palace to the hippodrome. There’s not much left of it but what there is, is worth seeing. I wish we’d had longer in Istanbul and indeed Turkey. We will definitely return to explore beyond the city and into the provincial regions.
London
Oh dear too brief! My home city and I only got a few hours in it but I did get to smell and touch South Kensington again and realise how much I do love London and miss it. Hope to see it again later this year and actually do some walking around the old haunts, spend a day at the British Museum, etc. Watch this space.
Lincoln
Now what an interesting city this is. They say that nothing stops the winds blowing from the infamous Urals in Russia to the tip of the spire of Lincoln Cathedral – both stand so tall and on such a high plain. They are right – I was nearly blown off my feet around the utterly majestic Lincoln Cathedral. A fantastic sight at night when it is lit against the inky sky. Try and stay around the cathedral too – this is the old quarter, the medieval centre. We did a truly spooky ghost tour that had me rushing to flick on every light in our b&b cottage that night. Walk down the hill and out of the old quarter and you’re in a bustling modern city that’s doing wonderful projects like reclaiming the old canal area and turning it into a tourist mecca with restaurants and night clubs, cinemas and shops. I was in my comfort zone in and around the castle, though, and one of the best times to visit is in December when it holds one of the world’s largest Christmas markets. You won’t be able to move terribly fast over the cobblestones but apparently it’s a magical time.
Lincoln is home to the Red Arrows for anyone who grew up with them as I did. They used to roar across the Brighton skies doing amazing acrobatic stunts and I hadn’t realised that they were coming from the RAF air base in Lincoln, the key southern air base for the world wars and where the allies, Americans and Aussies were based. Lots of great history to be enjoyed in this city. I loved it. Countryside flattish, lush with lots of cute villages and great old pubs.
Fiona McIntosh