A Perigrino (pilgrim) on the Camino de Santiago de Compestella, Northern Spain

Hello the image below is me a day before starting the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compestella. I am writing this post to you from the kitchen of my walking partner Tony in Ashford Kent UK. We leave @ 600hrs

Malcolm Williams the Perigrino

Santiago de Compestella is believed to be the burial place of St James the apostle. For the last 1000 years pilgrims have walked to the site from far away lands. We chose the French route St Jean Pied de Port in the foothills of the Pyrenees. The same route as Mr Tom Avery as in the movie >the way<
http://www.santiago-compostela.net/

Our reason for the walk?
Cancer has touched us both
To follow us and donate to the Pilgrims Hospice for Cancer
www.justgiving.com/Tony-weaver1

My friends wherever you are we wish you well as we walk the many miles to Santiago de Compestella. Please think of us >two old mates< giving thanks for our many blessings.

Bon Camino

Malcolm

Pam's Birthday Bash in Bangkok

So what do you give a lady for her birthday who has just about everything a girl could want? 
Difficult question!

Your blogger was surfing the web with not a lot of direction. The opportunity, a new airline flying the Gold Coast to Singapore route. "Scoot". The specials were mind numbing to a poor traveller like me. 
"Pammie, I said. Here is your birthday present, 6 days in Bangkok.

Bangkok here we come.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bangkok

Journal 6th to 13th August 2012
Monday the 6th August  saw us on the strip at Gold Coast airport boarding "Barry". An airbus. One of the 2 planes "Scoot" flies. (We reckon the other one is named "Clive").
http://www.flyscoot.com/index.php/en/

Barry

For those that have not had a visit to Bangkok. It is a big city 12 million, very busy and very modern in places. Our previous visits have been over the last 10 years. This time we did see a difference in clean air. The Tuk-Tuks are now run on gas and have silencers fitted . The buses run on gas. And it seemed the big trucks were not on the roads. The result is a cleaner environment and the street noise level is tolerable. The city is hot and humid and at the time of our visit it rained every afternoon at about 3.00. I mean rain, not some simpering English or Melbourne excuse for rain I mean like 25cm in 15 minutes rain. 
It is still very good value and of course the food is to die for. And the beer, oh yes! Cold and tasty Singha, Tiger,  Chang, Heineken and several other local brews with a kick. Need any more excuses to travel to Bangkok? Nah.

We have been to Bangkok on previous occasions. The Emerald Buddha is a must see along with the Royal Palace. Travel is cheap on the river ferries, average 50c per trip. Food is cheap and very very good if you like Thai food, if not then they do Chinese as it was a Chinese city up until 100 years ago and traditions do not go away. I reckon Bangkok has something for everyone no matter what your taste. 

It was the Queens Birthday on the 12th August so the week preceding the city is visited by the Thais in the thousands. We were there.

Get out of the taxi from the airport 

The hot air hits me. 
I sniff and sniff take a moment and sniff again. 
Aaah the fabulous smell of Asia.
Chilli and ginger mixed with floral scents and the overall smell of vegetation. 
(Dirty boots Pam reckons)
I love it.

I booked a Retro Hotel in the Palace area. 
The Hotel De Moc. 

Fair Dinkum!  In my imagination I could see the GI's from the Vietnam War on R&R walking in the hotel.  It was so real down to the old pool. Comfortable, friendly, good food and a massage area by the pool.

Unfortunately the guest of honor got sick with a horrific cold picked up aboard "Barry". (Gee I wish people would wear a mask when they are ill. I realize it is generous to share but some things should be kept private.)

However the week progressed well. Thai boxing, where the boxer tries to take his opponents head off with his foot. These athletes are so fit and nimble. Average weight 62kg. The crowd goes wild and the bookies take bets with sign language.

The security: Riot police with batons.
Link
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdmNHiuXwgE&feature=share&list=ULqdmNHiuXwgE

Foyer Oriental Hotel

Pam's birthday:  "Oriental Hotel". Fantastic food in the old Colonial hotel on the banks of the Chao Phraya River. Made famous by Somerset Maugham and others as a hideaway haunt from the world. I suspect the opium was good. 
The Hotel does not disappoint. It is sumptuous. Pam got spoilt as a lady should. Her aim is to drink a Margarita in all the fabulous places in the world. (She still has some to go). But her scorecard is impressive. 

Pam adding to her scorecard

Besides she reckons "you have to have a goal".

We visited the infamous Bridge over the River Kwai and the death railway of the Second World War. Visiting and paying homage to 6000 soldiers and civilians of all nationalities, prisoners of the Japanese that perished building that railway to Burma.

I tried to buy Pam a "Pussy Cat"! for her Birthday but she reckons it would not fly.

Our very special restaurant on the banks of the river was ruined by the recent floods and most of the smaller riverside habitats we had come to love were closed or gone. We rode the ferries in the canals and on the river. Shopped at the fabulous centres and in the markets. Visited the national Art Centre. 
Too soon it was time to board "Barry" and fly home via Singapore for a 1 day stop over.

Pam said to thank everyone that sent her wishes. 
She did have a Bangkok birthday Bash and she loved it. 

Pam could not take home her Tiger. So now she looks for a restored classic car.

Good present?

In search of Persia: Tehran Capital of Iran journeys end,

Journal entry 14/11/11

Train pulls into Tehran central station. 
This is the city of Persians.

Waiting for the very late night train to Tehran

Tehran central station

We hop off. 
Tehran Central is the same as all central stations anywhere in the world busy and bustling. The difference is there is no coffee houses or places to sit and get our bearings or meet.
No matter we head off and catch the subway on our way to find a hotel. There are plenty of hotels and we find one in a good neighbourhood that is clean and the staff friendly. It is to be our last hotel on this journey. 
Tehran is a huge city 8,400,000 people. It sits in a valley surrounded by mountains. It featured as a major trading city on the Silk Road for 2000 years. It had been snowing overnight,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehran
We found it to be a modern city albeit stuck in the 70s with ageing architecture and dull shops. A metro system is partially completed by a French company and extensions to the system are on hold because of the boycott by Western Nations. Tehran is reported to be the world's cheapest city to live in. We found it to be pleasant, but the traffic was horrific due to the lack of infrastructure.
Of late there has been civil disturbances not reported in the Western press due to control of the press and travel restrictions. The students demand freedom of the press, women want liberty and equality.

We spend the next two days enjoying the sites of the city 

The Peacock Throne

Shah Pavlovi summer palace for Guests

We visit:

1. Shah's Summer Palace as it was in 1979 when the Pavlov's left for exile
2. The Jewelery museum is breathtaking. And to think the Shah took a lot with him into exile. It is staggering the amount of jewels, gold and silver . The Peacock Throne is a  treasure beyond value. Ceremonial urns, chalices, crowns and swords. There is nothing like it anywhere. We thought the Ayotollahs had broken it all up. But no, it is there for future generations to see.
3. The original Golostan Royal Palace used by Shahs back to the 16th century. It is there in all its glory in good condition, fully furnished
4. The Bazaar [and yes we did buy a carpet it is a Kerman Kilim / colour of the desert]. We wandered the gold market and bought some souvenirs gold and silk. 

Golostan Palace  Throne Room

Just one of the royal Crowns in the Jewel museum

Journal entry 16/11/11 
It was time to say goodbye to Persia. 

Citt and I got on the subway to ride the end of the line to get closer to the airport. The train stops 20km from the airport and it is necessary to get a taxi from there. As always we had attracted a group of young people who tagged along. They cheerfully guided us continually asking questions.  They got me to the correct area for a taxi. 

Citt bid me goodbye and sent wishes to all her friends as she shut the cab door on me. (Citt was leaving next day for Kyrgystan.) The Persians cheered as they sent me on my way.

I had a lump in my throat and an overwhelming urge to cry as we travelled on the road to the airport.
My mind was racing full of faces and places. 

The guy on the bike at the border, a Hammam in the hostile Azerbijian border region, the houses cut from stone, the wonderous carpet Bazaar of Tabriz, honey on fresh hot crisp  bread with goats cheese for breakfast, long bus rides with hospitable locals and lots of laughs. The sound of the police-man crunching the CDs containing beautiful music, our Kurds in the car taking us along with half the farm mad music blaring, the  Esfahan Square with country folk riding old sulkies on a Sunday afternoon, women in black shadur swishing past mysteriously, the Christian Armenian cafes with huge meat meals and big fat cheery hosts, kebabs and more kebabs, grilled, broiled or just burnt, chicken, beef but no pork, ceramic covered mosques, citadels some still standing from biblical times, caravanserais still in use  hundreds of years after the last camel train passed on the silk road.  Banders, Kurds, Turkmanis, Persian, Baluchi, Jews, Turks, Assyrians and other tribes, the fish factory and our host  Hojat, Arab dhows, the beautiul and hospitable family in Shiraz. Persepolis, summer palace of the Persian kings, Kerman, Moshad, and the Shahs Garden carved out of the desert, the richness of  pomegranate juice over fresh salad, cold ice sweets, baklava and lucsious sesame seed Hulva, the engneering genius of the Quanut channels. Mosques, Christian churches, Synagogues, Zoastrian, Hindu temples, Shiite, Bhahi, Sunni diverse, friendly, hospitable people who made sure we would never get lost always sharing their food. Little kids loving the fun of a twisty balloon. 

There is so many untruths about these people of Iran. 

The truth was told early "that one never tells a Persian what to do". I do believe it!

Malcolm Williams-- Journeyman - blogger

 It vexed me as the plane taxied down the runway preparing to fly away from this mystic land.

Have I really found what I came in search of? .... Persia