EC-Rider Travels

We had an early breakfast (better than some!) and met Pang and Hell at 8.30am for a pretty ‘full-on’ day (we later discovered that it is usually two!). First stop was down to the Mekong river to take a lovely long wooden boat up stream, for a couple of hours, to the Tham Ting Cave.…

It was a bit of an early start and sad farewell to unbelievably kind Alex and Tippy who have given me just the most amazingly, spoiling five days. Sweet Naruesha had risen even earlier to make the most delicious chicken/rice/herby soup. Bit different from my usual fruit and yoghurt breakfast, and I was not too…

We woke this morning to news that the haze was sadly not just due to the heat but in fact, a forest fire in Laos. If anything it was thicker today which was such a shame. Tippy and Alex had a meeting at the new house, so I happily stayed with the dogs and caught…

Today has been a bit of a travelling day, heading off fairly promptly to the airport and catching an Air Asia flight which whisked us up to Chiang Rai. Here we were met by a lovely driver and went to the most heavenly cafe/restaurant called Chivit Thammada for lunch on the river. Alex and I…

Another important appointment this morning with the nail bar to have my toes done! Sweet Ali was again my escort and trying to help me explain what I wanted to the non-English speaking Thai girl .. hilarious. He then returned to escort me on a quick shopping spree to buy a few essentials for the…

This morning, Alex brought me the most delicious pomelo for breakfast, which I am not sure I have ever had before except in Chase’s gin! Definitely, another new fave. He then sweetly took me all the way back to the airport to identify the ATM machine I had used on the off chance the card…

Surprise, surprise, I felt a little emotional leaving India, even though it was six in the morning and pouring with rain (bit of a surprise!). I have had a really fantastic three weeks and there has been so much that I have loved and also surprised me. I was last in India in 2009, with…

I was collected by Morgan this morning, a charming Indian of Portuguese descent. Our first stop was to see an extraordinary lunch delivery service, unique to Mumbai. The dabbawalas or Tiffin-wallahs have been delivering lunch to city workers since the late 1800s. As more migrant workers came to Bombay, from different parts of the country,…

Once again, having thought everything looked rather sophisticated and together, on my midnight drive into Mumbai, the reality this morning is a little different and perhaps the hotel too. I think I have been rather spoilt over the last couple of weeks, and this is something different – more of a hostel with Indian cleanliness…

This morning Sanjit had arranged for his friend to take us to the village in his tuktuk. Again not really knowing where we were going we headed off with our charming, but almost non-English speaking driver. Just for a nice change, there was a festival going on to celebrate the opening of a new temple…