Back to the old school, back to my roots

Well, I've reached the final round of the World Traveller Intern competition, and just uploaded my final application video, which is on my lovely hometown Nottingham:



The whole competition has rushed by so quickly I haven't really had much time to reflect on it. It is still very hard to believe that I have made the top ten, especially considering I only heard about the competition two days before its deadline, and had to be persuaded by a friend to even put my first video up.

This last part of the competition has left me feeling very strange. Every time I watch one of the other videos, I get a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. The reason I suppose that is, is that at this point of the competition, everyone is so talented, it's very hard to imagine who might win. All my friends keep telling me that this is the perfect job for me, and I know they are right, but then all the other applicants get the same comments and I just think: what makes me special? We all have different sets of skills, so what are STA looking for in their interns?

I want to win this more than anything, mainly because its the opportunity I've always been looking for and now its so close to my grasp it will be very difficult to let it go if I don't win. I think I could make a good job of it, after all my career plans revolve around travel journalism, and it's something I'm going to be doing regardless of whether I win or not, but to win the competition...well I suppose that would really help me get my foot in the door of a notoriously difficult career.

I feel like I've really stretched myself during the competition, and that is definitely a good thing. I've learned how to make movies, improved my blog, and found out a lot about social media that I never knew before. These are all such great skills, and I'm so thankful that STA gave me the push that I needed to learn them.

My plan for if I don't win is to get a job teaching in Sri Lanka and save up money until I have enough to travel around for a year. Then I'm going to attempt to make some socio-political documentaries in Asia. If that sounds interesting to anyone reading this, please get in touch as I would love to build up a crew - I still have a lot to learn and I think I could learn a lot from the other WTI applicants, as well as other travellers.

If you liked my video, feel free to vote for me here, it would really help my cause!

The finals!

Well, I actually made it through to the final round! I've beaten hundreds of other applicants to make it through to the top 10, and now have to make one final video to try and secure myself a winning place. My video is going to be on Nottingham, a vibrant and unique city that often gets overlooked. To find out why I made it this far, visit: The STA World Traveller Intern homepage and check out my application video.

I should have my Nottingham video up soon, so keep checking back for updates. I also need all the votes I can get, so if you like my video, click the VOTE NOW button on my STA homepage.

A little cultural insight: photo of the day

Ok, so this isn't exactly a person, but I had to get this photo in somewhere. I found this monkey in a temple in central Phnom Penh, Cambodia. About two minutes before this photo was taken it was snacking on an enormous piece of chocolate that it stole from a tourist, and has clearly been well over-fed!

A little cultural insight: photo of the day

Today's photo was taken in Suzhou, (pronounced Soo Jo) a sleepy suburb of Shanghai. This Chinese man slowly makes his way down a canal that backed on to people's houses:

A little cultural insight: photo of the day

I spotted this man selling fruit on a East Coast beach in Thailand. I liked his snazzy outfit so took a picture of him:

A little cultural insight: photo of the day

This Chinese girl teaches her dog how to surfboard in Hainan:

A little cultural insight: photo of the day

Having just read Paddy's newest blog post, I've been inspired to start a daily series of photos of the interesting people I have met along my travels. I'm kicking it off with this photo of a Cambodian mother and her daughter selling fried spiders on the side of the road at a bus stop just outside Phnom Penh:

Five tips for solo travellers

I came across this article on the Lonely Planet website about ways to combat loneliness when traveling abroad. Whilst some of the tips were handy, they were a bit geared towards older travelers, so I thought I'd add a few more student-relevent ones of my own:

1: Stay in hostels: hostel bookers is a really useful website for finding a good hostel. It lists user ratings, so you can see which hostels are most popular. Not only does this mean you can pick the nicest hostel, but it means that you will stay at a busy hostel, thus ensuring there are plenty of people to make friends with.

2: Network: Talk to everyone when you travel, locals, tourists, backpackers, whatever. Don't ever be afraid to start up a conversation with people. I often find people are very enthusiastic to talk to you when they learn you are travelling by yourself. Find out from other travellers where the best places to stay are, and ask locals what they recommend you see whilst you are in their country. They are sure to be able to give you some historical information and tips that you wouldn't have had otherwise, don't just follow your guidebook, it can't tell you everything.

3: Use an alternative to your normal cashcard: If you are travelling by yourself, one of the main concerns is getting robbed. If you have all your money taken off you and you are completely by yourself, it really puts you in an awkward situation. STA travel have come up with a great solution to this problem, with their travel cashcard which allows you to top it up with credit, and then use it just like your normal cashcard at any ATMs which accept mastercards. It's not linked to your bank, so if its stolen, you will only loose the money that is on it, and you can block it instantly should you need to. Just make sure you carry your actual cashcard in a different place to the STA card. Money belts are useful for storing things that you need to keep secure.

4: Organise group trips/tours: Sandeman's New Europe tours offer free walking tours throughout most of the capital cities in Europe. They are very popular, and give a great introduction to the city, as well as being a good way to meet people.

5:Arrange to meet people along the way: Ask everyone you meet where they are going next, and if they are moving on to any of the same places as you, get their email and arrange to meet them. Also TravBuddy is a social networking site for people looking for people to travel with. You can create a profile and search for people who are travelling to the same places at the same time as you. Be warned that there are a few weirdos on the site though, and if you do arrange to meet anyone, make sure you meet in a safe, and crowded place in case anything should go wrong.

Thailand - worth a visit?

I'm writing an article for my student magazine Hullfire at the moment about whether or not Thailand has been ruined by tourism. Ever-popular with student tourists, Thailand’s reputation seems to precede it. Whether it’s the idyllic islands, sex tourism, infamous beach parties, or the Leo DiCaprio film The Beach that attracts the millions of visitors that swarm into Thailand each year, this prominent South East Asian country certainly seems to have made its mark on the tourism business. In fact when I spoke to the STA branch manager in Leeds, Ewan Clarke, he said: "“If you take Australia out of the equation, I’d say Thailand is probably the most popular single destination to go to.”

So what makes Thailand so special? And is there still a chance to experience some real Thai culture when, according to www.1stopthailand.com/facts, up to 12 million visitors are flooding in on a yearly basis? Well of course there is!

Here's some highlights:

Cooking Courses in Chiang Mai:



There are dozens of schools offering to teach you how to cook Thai food in the Northern city of Chiang Mai. Most classes last about a day, and start with a trip to the market to give you an introduction to Thai ingredients. The strong smells and vibrant colours of the market make for a great start to the day. You then go back to the kitchens, where you can chose which meals to cook. Popular dishes include: Tom Yam Soup, Papaya Salad, Pad Thai, Thai spring rolls, and Red/Green Curry. In my course, we all shared each others dishes, so we were able to try every meal on offer and sample a real variety of Thai cooking. At the end of the day you are usually given a cookbook with all the recipes in to take home with you.



Jungle treks:



There are many jungle treks on offer in the North of Thailand, an activity which gives you the chance to escape the bustling citylife of Chiang Mai and Bangkok, and experience some of the breathtakingly beautiful scenery that Thailand has to offer. Most treks include an overnight stay in a hill tribe village, and sometimes bamboo rafting and elephant riding are included too. I chose to escape the tourist-heavy treks on offer in Chiang Mai, and went slightly further North to a little town called Pai to do my trek. The trek was amazing, although very challenging as we were walking for eight hours a day for two days. My feet literally started bleeding on the second day, as you can see in this picture:

Our tour guide was fantastic. I think its really important that you find the right tour guide for you, as some people told me that their tour guides shot animals in the wild for dinner, or smoked opium pipes. Perhaps these things appeal to you, so you should pick your tour guide accordingly. My tour guide, however, simply told jokes the whole time, which made the walk a lot more fun. He even made us cups out of bamboo, and then encouraged us to use them for drinking games in the evening!



The guide also took us to see two different hill tribes, which was an insightful experience. Some of the hill tribes are still very remote, and often still wear traditional clothing and live essentially very rural lifestyles. There is some controversy about whether tourism is having a damaging effect on these tribes. But I'll reserve my judgment on this one. Go there and decide for yourself!



The idyllic beaches in the South/East Coast:



I'm not really a beach kind of person, but have to say that the picturesque beaches in Thailand really are worth checking out. The Southern beaches have whiter sand and clearer sea, but are more crowded with package-holiday types, whereas the East Coast beaches are more deserted, but not quite so beautiful, and the sea is not so great for diving in. Films such as The Beach might make you wonder if there is still unexplored islands left in Thailand, but whilst this might be the case, you'll have to race all the other tourists still looking for the illusive deserted islands. This being said, if you visit Thailand out of peak season, there is much more opportunity to get one of the Southern beaches practically to yourself, provided that you stay away from the bigger, more popular islands such as Koh Samui and Phuket.

Koh Samed was my favourite of the Thai islands. Located on the East coast, Koh Samed is a relatively small island quite easy to get to from Bangkok. Although its beaches are not perfect, it offers some cheap accomodation and is a beautiful sight to see at night, when the whole island lights up with glowing lanterns in a myriad of colours, and fire shows make for great entertainment when sitting at the waters edge enjoying a bucket of alcohol in the evenings!



The opulent temples:



(picture from google images)

Travelling round South East Asia for two months, I saw more temples than I care to recall, however there really are some breathtaking temples in Thailand that are well worth visiting. My favourite was Wat Doi Suthep, a golden temple on the top of a hill in Chiang Mai. The hour long drive up the hill is well worth it, and you can get amazing city views from the mid-way point. Here it is at night, lit up beautifully:



and here it is in the daytime:


(picture from google images)

food, glorious food

So I actually made it into the top 50 finalists of the STA travel intern competition! Which means I'm only 49 people away from my dream job. Here I am on the STA travel intern home page:


I now have to fill out another form of information, which includes some rather tricky questions. One of the ones I am really struggling with is "What travel experiences have you had?" The reason I am finding this particular question so difficult is because I have had so many amazing experiences, I couldn't possibly tell them all, because it would be pages and pages of writing. So how do I paraphrase all my experiences and break them down into mini, manageable chunks that the STA travel team will want to read about? So far I've just written up my travel highlights, but for some reason this seems to keep coming back to food, thus the title of my blog today. It would seem that food really is an integral part of my travel experiences, whether it is because my search for a tasty dinner leads me into some kind of adventure, or because of the people I end up eating with. A taste, just like a smell can trigger some of the most powerful memories.



Here are my top 4 favourite eating experiences:

The meal with the crow:
I had been working in Sri Lanka for almost two months when I started to really miss English food. It wasn't so much meals in particular, but specific items that were hard to find. Cheese was one of them, and mayonaise was the other. I was craving mayonaise like nothing else, and so every time I went to eat, I would desperately scour the menus for the all-illusive mayo. Eventually, just as I was about to give up, I found a restaurant that offered egg mayonaise sandwiches. It was a rather Westernised restaurant, and had extortionate prices, but I was willing to pay anything for a taste of that mayo, so I ordered my sandwich, and sort of explained my story to the slightly confused waiter, who I think took most of it in. He came out after a while with my sandwich, and said: "you lucky girl, this last one!" and sat the plate down in front of me. At that exact moment, to my utter horror, a rogue crow flew in from outside, picked up my sandwich and flew off into a nearby tree! I was so suprised I wasn't even upset about the sandwich, more baffled at why this crow was so obviously bullying me! I didn't get to eat any mayonaise until I got back to England two weeks later, but I did get to watch the crow try and steal a steak only ten minutes after its intial attack, and fail miserably, bringing the steak and plate crashing to the floor, and enraging the German customer who had ordered it.

(picture from google images)

Club food:
In my first week in Thailand I made my way down to Koh Samed, an island on the East Coast, with a couple of Korean girls I had met in Bangkok. We quickly made friends with a group of Thai students, who took us to their favourite club which backed on to the beach. After a couple of buckets of alcohol, we were keen for some food to sober us up, and we noticed that there was a noodle soup bar at the side of the club. In England everyone is always snacking on chips and kebabs at the end of the night, so I was rather relluctant to believe a noodle soup could be quite as satisfying, but we sat at the bar and ordered the vegetable noodle soup. In Thailand noodle soup is always served with a little range of condiments which usually includes dried chillies, vinegar, and a couple of other bits that I didn't recognise. I had tried using these condiments to improve my soup in Bangkok, but hadn't found the taste very satisfactory. The Thai group we were with, however, skillfully added the right amount of each thing to our soups and I was to discover that a piping hot bowl of broth tastes like heaven after two buckets of Sangsum. The flavours were amazing. The soup was tangy, spicy and refreshing, and now every time I go on a night out in England, I always find myself longing for another hot bowl of noodle soup at the end of the night.



A taste of something different in Vang Vieng:
Before I arrived in Vang Vieng, I read in my Lonely Planet book to avoid the TV-restaurants food at all costs, because most of the restaurants use the same menus, and their attempt at western food isn't too great. As soon as I arrived, I immediately set out to find somewhere that would sell authentic Laos cuisine. My searches fell a little short of the mark, and I spent my first night eating a rather repulsive spaghetti and tomatoe sauce dish, that tasted like baked beans. I was running out of money a little at this point, and had heard that many farang (foreigners) were working in bars in Vang Vieng for free food and drink, so I went on a search for a job. Luckily for me the first bar I went into had jobs available, and I quickly settled in to my new job, making good friends with the manager, Peng. On my third day, Peng invited me to have a meal with his family, an experience I was hardly expecting to find in tourist-flooded Vang Vieng, and I happily accepted his invite. We sat down to the best meal I ate during my whole time in Laos. There was fragrant sticky rice, green-tinged (I have no idea why) sweet rice, tangy fish soup, and spicy papaya salad. The taste of each dish was amazing, and we ate entirely with our hands (apart from the fish soup). Not only was it the tastiest meal I ate in Laos, but experience of eating with a Laos family, who gladly explained to me how to eat each bit as I attempted to use my hands as spoons, was unbeatable.

(picture from google images)

Learning to cook Thai-style:
I think Thai food is some of the best food I have tasted on my travels. It's diverse, flavoursome, and utterly delicious. Whilst I was in the North of Thailand, traveling through Chiang Mai, I decided to take a cooking course so that I could carry on eating Thai food at home. The course was in this beautiful outdoor kitchen, surrounded by plants, and we began the course by shopping for ingredients in the market, where I was able to learn all about the spices and vegetables that go into Thai cooking. I learnt how to make six different meals on my course, including Thai Green Curry, Tom Yam Soup, and Papaya salad amoungst other things, and after making each course, we sat down to eat what we had produced. After six courses I literally didn't want to look at food ever again, but the experience of cooking all my own Thai food was brilliant, and I have made lots of the dishes again since.


I take pictures of my food sometimes when I'm traveling. Check it out on my Flickr