The Travel Bug Goes Viral

By Michael Godfrey

After retiring in 1999, the author enjoys travelling the globe with Lian, his Malaysian wife.

This is the third book in the Travel Bug series, following the success of Catch the Travel Bug and No Cure for the Travel Bug.

The trips have taught us the inherent friendliness of local people we have met all over the world, and all that is required is a smile and a greeting to turn suspicion and a frown into a hug or handshake.

Each chapter is self-contained and covers a different journey. It is not meant to be a guidebook. Just pick a section from the contents page that interests you, and let us transport you there.,

Included are trips to: Ladakh in northern India - the delta region of Vietnam - a trek in Upper Mustang, Nepal for the 3-day Tiji Festival - travels around Costa Rica and Panama in Central America - Hokkaido in Japan - snorkel with the Whale Sharks off Cebu Island in the Philippines - by road from Yangon to Inle Lake in Myanmar (Burma) - Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan and the ancient cities of Khiva, Bukhara and Samarkand China, take the southern Silk Route from Kashgar to Xian - to West Timor in Indonesia for audience with the Raja of Boti - Kerala and the backwaters of southwestern India - find a living bridge in Sumatra, Indonesia to Palawan Island in the Philippines and its underground river, - Cuba and old Habana, - a climb into an active volcano with the sulphur miners on the Indonesian island of Java.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Sep 13, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543747676

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 by Michael Godfrey.

ISBN:               Softcover             978-1-5437-4768-3

                         eBook                   978-1-5437-4767-6

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

www.partridgepublishing.com/singapore

Books by Michael SN Godfrey:

Catch the Travel Bug. (re-edited for publication Aug 2018)

No Cure for the Travel Bug (re-edited for publication Aug 2018)

The Travel Bug Goes Viral (re-edited for publication Aug 2018)

PREFACE

Michael Stephen Newton Godfrey was born in London in 1939, and enjoyed an English ‘Public School’ in south London.

Trained and qualified as a Quantity Surveyor with a British construction company before spending the majority of his working life in Nigeria, Afghanistan, Oman, the UAE, Malaysia and Mauritius, as well as stints back in England.

He is a Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators.

He retired in Malaysia in 1999, and enjoys traveling to interesting but out of the way destinations with Lian, his Malaysian wife. Lian not only makes a wonderful travelling companion, but does most of the research for the trips.

We continue to be budget conscious on our travels. If we can get a small clean hotel in a good location at half the price of a hotel full of facilities that we are unlikely to have time to use, then we can stay twice as long for the same cost. However, after a few days rough traveling, one appreciates so much more the crisp white sheets provided in a better hotel.

This is the third book in the TRAVEL BUG series, following ‘Catch the Travel Bug’ and ‘No Cure for the Travel Bug’, and again follows the trials and tribulations encountered by independent travellers to places normally thought to be off the beaten track. Michael’s goal is to let a reader feel that they have shared the experience of the trip being described, but all from the safety of their armchair.

The trips have taught us of the inherent friendliness of the local people we have met all over the world, and all that is required is a smile and a greeting to turn suspicion and a frown into a hug or a handshake.

Each chapter is self-contained, and covers a different trip, and is not meant to be guidebook. Just pick out a chapter in the Contents Page that interests you, and let us transport you there.

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1

India – A Trip to Ladakh in Northern India.

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The ruins at Basco Gompa.

The low-cost terminal at Kuala Lumpur International Airport has been closed, and the low-cost services have been taken over by the much larger new KLIA2 terminal. I found this recently opened terminal a big disappointment, as it appears to be designed based on a complicated shopping mall. Shopping friendly maybe, but certainly not passenger friendly. This was our first use, and due to the poor signage, we had to ask several people before we found Departures.

Our Malindo Air flight to Delhi was to take off at 6:15 pm, with a flying time of just over five hours. On arrival, we then took an onward domestic flight, northwards to Leh, on Air India for 1hour 20 minutes.

On the way, we flew over the Skardu area and saw some amazing snow-covered mountains, and valleys shrouded in cloud.

We touched down at the 6:45 am local time, to a pleasantly cool 66F (19C) and an altitude of 10,500ft (3,200m).

The Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir is split into Kashmir to the west, with Srinagar as it’s capital, and Ladakh to the east, with Leh as it’s capital. This is the most northern state in India and is bordered by Pakistan to the west, and China to the north and east.

Leh.

The airport at Leh is quite small but functional. It took a while to get our bags, and bundled them into a taxi. Lian had booked us for a couple of nights into the ‘Sia-La Guesthouse’. The taxi driver took a while to find it, as the access was down an alleyway.

Gulam and his wife Zarina run the ‘Sia-La’, and they were very helpful in advising us on the local tourist trips available.

Had a shower and a rest to catch up on our lost sleep, before setting out to explore this small town.

The altitude and lack of oxygen were immediately noticeable on climbing the stairs to our room or walking up a slope.

On our stroll, we found the ‘Penguin Gardens and German Bakery’ and enjoyed an excellent lunch sitting out under the shady trees.

We enquired at local travel agents and taxi drivers on the cost of local trips and found that the authorities have printed a set of standard taxi rates - but we soon discovered that a discount could be negotiated.

Next morning we made cups of tea in our room, before going down for a simple toast and omelette breakfast in the garden.

It’s like an English spring morning, with lots of English flowers: hollyhocks, cornflower, roses, dahlias, multi-coloured petunias, cosmos etc. But whereas in England one would expect a central lawn, this ‘lawn’ is a vegetable garden of cabbage, spring onions, and spinach. Practical, green, and no mowing required.

Leh town is very laid back, and shops open only at 10 am. The town is dominated by the old palace, built on a steep rocky hill and overlooking the town like a miniature Potala. An older monastery sits on a hillside high to the right of the palace, standing like a sentinel over the town. Behind the market is a labyrinth of lanes and houses laid out at the base of the palace hill.

We then wandered along the sides of the main market, where some major road and drainage works are being undertaken.

Although we saw several Tibetan Refugee shops and areas, we were surprised that generally the people and shops are more Muslim than Tibetan.

We see quite a few of armed soldiers on duty, all carrying automatic rifles.

Several shops are hiring motorcycles, and these are usually Royal Enfield motorbikes, now made in India.

Saying Julay to anyone will usually evoke a big smile, as this is the standard greeting.

Out walking, we spoke to a couple of Travel Agents in order to compare prices for them to obtain for us the special permits needed to enter the Nubra Valley. There is a charge per day for the permit, together with a daily charge for the Wild Life Department, and a sum for The Red Cross.

Back at the ‘Sia-La’, we discussed our accommodation and travel plans with Zarina. We agreed on a price for using their car, going to Lamayuru and staying one night, using Samad as the driver.

Then we will return for a couple of nights, before setting out for a two-night stay in the Nubra Valley.

For lunch, we tried out the Lamayuru Restaurant. I had pea and mushroom curry with naan (a local flatbread baked in a tandoori oven), and Lian had chicken curry and naan. All very filling. They also had Wi-Fi, and I was able to download a lot of emails, and BBC news.

Lian usually buys a local SIM card when we travel, but here we found it not practical, as it is limited to only the Leh area, and takes 24 hours to register.

We walk eastwards through the market, and then southeast to a big tiled two-tiered ceremonial arch and some stupas. Here we have a view over the Indus valley below to snow-capped hills.

On our slow wander back I peer over a high wall to look into an old Muslim cemetery. The earth is piled up over the graves, and there are no headstones or markers that I can see. It looks like there has been a convention of giant moles.

We stopped at ‘Penguin Garden’ for a pizza of tomato, cheese and olives. When the cook found that the black olives still had stones in them, he passed them to an underling to de-stone. This guy had the bright idea of doing this by smashing them with a hammer. So the pizza was covered with lots of small olive stone fragments.

Checked with Gulam when we got back, to find that we do not have a room available when we get back from Lamayuru, but they will arrange something for us through a relative of Zarina.

The trip to Lamayuru.

It was 9 am when we left with Samat, our driver, in his Toyota. There are a lot of police and army about as Modi, the new Prime Minister of India, is making his inaugural visit here today.

The road goes south into the valley, passing the airport before we turn westwards onto the main east/west road. For several miles/ kilometres, military camps line both sides of the road.

Phyang.

We soon took a detour to the north for a few miles/kilometres to the ‘gompa’ (monastery) at Phyang. The route is dry and rocky before we reach the small village, surrounded with a patchwork of irrigated fields and poplar trees. The ‘gompa’, in its deep red and white paint, stands on a hill in the middle of the narrow valley, with great views towards the head of the valley. Stark rocky hills surround it. We walk up the path, past stone retaining walls. They look recently repaired, and the walls recently repainted. Saw a couple of monks walking outside, but unfortunately, the ‘gompa’ is all locked up.

Back on the main road again, we see ahead of us quite a few cars parked on the side of the road, and some stopped on the road. Is this an accident or a police checkpoint? No - it is a ‘magnetic hill’. It even says so on a notice board and a huge sign on the hillside. At this location, the magnetic influence is so strong that it will prevent a vehicle from moving, even when it has stopped on an obvious slope. So we try it. Firstly stop the van in the area marked on the road, put the gearbox in neutral, then let off the handbrake, - and then nothing happens. We stay still by magic, as iron in the car has glued us magnetically to the rocks below the road surface. Whatever it is, it’s fun.

The sky is blue with a few fluffy white clouds, and the hills stark with hardly a blade of grass to be seen.

Our road follows the upper reaches of the Indus. This is a muddy brown, and we stop at a vantage point to watch the waters of the grey coloured Zascar River push into, and be swallowed by the mighty Indus.

We pass through Nimmu and see army camps all the way to Basco, the former capital of lower Ladakh.

Basgo.

About four miles (6km) past Basgo is a track leading to a fantastic and captivating set of ancient ‘gompas’, comprising three main buildings set high, at 4,800ft (1,463m), on rocky cliffs overlooking a steep fertile valley. The oldest, built from mud bricks between 1450 AD and 1490 AD, is on the verge of collapse, as is another, built in the 1600’s. However, the Serzang temple, built in the 1600’s, is under restoration by the Basgo villagers, and the stone clad walls have been painted white, and some retaining walls have been repaired.

The whole place is deserted and locked up, and we enjoyed following a maze of steps and pathways around the buildings and ruins.

Then we came upon a small temple with a timber walkway around it. The narrow, precarious walkway, was wreathed in prayer flags and had a few prayer wheels on it. This was the only unlocked temple, and it contained a Maitreya Buddha.

Likir.

We drove back onto the main road again, before taking a side turning to visit the Likir Monastery. This is a picture postcard set of red and white buildings coiled around a hill adjacent to a poplar-lined stream. Originally founded in 1065 AD (a year before the Battle of Hastings), the Monastery now houses 100 monks.

The buildings have been redecorated externally to receive the Dalai Lama, who recently visited Likir.

We were able to enter the main temple and found it most impressive, with circular multi-coloured silken decorations suspended from the ceiling. The maroon coloured cloaks used by the monks to wrap themselves up during prayers, were left carefully coiled on the seats awaiting the monk’s return. Glazed timber doors protect the many holy books on either side of the prayer hall, with the walls above covered with paintings. Some seated Buddha and sacred figures sit behind glass doors on the hall’s front wall.

One fascinating wall painting, which especially intrigued me, comprised a pathway snaking upwards, on which a total of seven small elephants were being led upwards by monks. The lowest one is all grey, but by the time an elephant reaches the top, he is all white. The ones on the way up look like tapirs, getting whiter and whiter on the way, like a dark shadow lifting from front to rear of the animal. Then, near the top, an elephant is seen lying down next to a monk. The pathway then becomes a rainbow ribbon floating to the sky, and one sees two more white elephants with monks on their backs using the ribbon path to fly away. Often the monks and the elephants have ‘bubble speech’ like Sanskrit words painted above them. I really wonder what they are saying?

On a wall by the covered entrance of most temples, one can usually see a painted ‘mandala’. This usually shows a complicated square with four entrances and a central maze. All are different, but represent the symbolic path to be followed by devotees to reach the higher levels of Buddhism - Nirvana.

We enter a small temple containing a complicated three-dimensional ‘mandala’, behind a glass case. The four colourful sides are full of steps and ladders and small gods and demons and other Buddhist symbols. Strings of white pearls festoon one level as well as the four entrance gates.

Outside, a giant golden Buddha figure overlooks the monastery, sitting on a multi-coloured painted seat. His feet are in the ‘western style’, both side by side on the ground, while his left hand is in the raised teaching position with thumb and forefinger signifying the ‘wheel of life’.

Back again to the main road. Stopped to buy a bag of small apricots, before crossing a bridge on a ten-minute side trip to Alchi.

Alchi.

The Alchi Gompa is entirely different from the others, as it is set in a garden area along a pathway lined with souvenir stalls. The grounds contain many single storey stupas, with paintings on some internal ceilings. An ancient frieze includes a white horse on a grey background. On the saddle, it carries a religious artefact. The unusual thing is that the horse not only has a fierce eye, but shows so much movement, with one foreleg about to stamp on the ground, and the rear legs trotting along.

Prayer flags are strung along the pathways and between the low buildings. The river flows along one side of the grounds, with high cliffs on the other side.

Founded between 1020 AD and 1035 AD, the main three-storey temple has a famed two-storey entrance, with intricately carved and unpainted wooden columns and beams. Internally it contains famous painted walls.

Lamayuru.

About half an hour before reaching our destination, we pass through a very narrow valley, with nearly vertical sides over 1,00ft (300m) high.

We drive past the villages of Saspul, Rizong and Khalsa, before arriving at Lamayuru.

Time to find accommodation for the night. Lian was torn between two guesthouses, but chose the newly opened Greenland Guesthouse after looking at both a couple of times.

Can’t find my small but powerful LED torch. Must I have left it in the room in Leh?

The car took us up to the ‘gompa’. This strategically placed monastery sits on a craggy hillside overlooking the village below, and has a backdrop of mountains. It is undoubtedly one of the most photographed sites in Ladakh.

Founded in 1145 AD, in the 16th century, it even gave criminals sanctuary and was called ‘place of freedom’.

We then spend an hour and a half wandering around. The main temple is a dark and mysterious prayer hall. More sparsely furnished than the Likir ‘gompa’, the Buddhas and deities have a rather sinister look about them in the half-light, and paintings of the dark-skinned guardian gods are positively scary.

Many of the lower buildings are vacant and in a sorry state of repair with collapsed mud roofs. However, we could see that some masons were cutting square blocks of stone, so there is hope that all will be repaired in due time.

We followed some novice monks, clothed in ochre yellow shirts and maroon robes, to the smaller Avalokitesvara temple, where they were about to make their devotions.

As we left, we saw a row of eight Royal Enfield motorbikes. We had seen a group of Caucasian motorcyclist earlier in the day at Alchi when they were having a problem finding a way through the jammed car park. Now they were being accommodated in the monastery.

We got back to the guesthouse by 6:15 pm and decided to eat at their restaurant. They had a menu with a wide range of cuisines, but we were told to choose Indian food from the menu, as that’s all the Indian cook could cook. Agreed to eat at 7 pm, but Sharul, the manager, then came back to say that power in town was only available from 7:30 till 11 pm, so we agreed to wait till 8 pm. We should be hungry by then, as we had no lunch.

The hot shower was cold. I told the manager, and he sent someone to climb on the roof and found that the water to the solar heater had been turned off – so all now should be OK. But as it was now dark, the solar heater naturally stayed cold.

We sat outside watching the light changing on the mountains.

For dinner, we had Shani Paneer (cottage cheese and tomato curry), and Mushroom Marsala (garlic and onion curry), and roti (unleavened flatbread). This was an excellent meal, and not just because we were both famished.

Lamayuru to Leh.

It was late morning when we left for our return drive to Leh, this time keeping to the main road. We stopped for a while in the gorge, admiring the steep rocky cliffs and the swiftly flowing river.

Suddenly, Lian called out to stop the van as we were passing some ruined stone houses. She had seen a running ground bird. We searched the area, and then saw a pair of Chukar Partridges, that then played hide and seek with us, before crossing the road and disappearing in a rocky hillside. Despite their distinctive plumage, they became invisible as soon as they kept still.

At Saspol we stopped at the roadside by a stream, to photograph the ruins of an old fort up on the hilltop.

Traffic was quite light, apart from a convoy of Army lorries. They kept on coming at us, and I counted sixty-seven.

Soon we start climbing from 10,000ft (3,050m), in a valley away from the Indus River, rising to an 11,400ft (3,475m) undulating plateau, before dropping 1,000ft (300m) to the valley floor near Leh. On the way down, we enjoyed great views of the ruined Basco Gompa.

Spitok.

Located not far from the end of the airport runway, and situated on a rocky mound in the middle of the valley, sits the Spitok Gompa, and we stopped for a visit. The Gompa was founded in the 14th century, and yet is in a good state of preservation. Good views are available over green fields and poplar trees stretching into the distance. One can see up the runway to the town of Leh.

A ‘puja’, or prayer, is taking place in the main temple, and we go in to watch. The monks, sitting cross-legged, are gently swaying back and forth as they chant the various mantras.

Leh.

We were back in Leh by mid-afternoon, and the driver took us to the house Zalina had arranged for us. Her sister’s big house was said to be 10 minutes away. A nice looking house from the outside, but we did not get out of the vehicle. It was situated well out of town in a housing area, with no nearby restaurants, so we tried to find somewhere nearer to town.

Closer to the ‘Sia-La’ I wait in the car, while Lian goes off searching for accommodation.

She found the nearby ‘Hotel Te-Suru,’ which will be OK for a night. Hot water was available in both the basin and shower. It even had a stopper in the sink, an unknown occurrence to date. Towels, toilet paper and soap, were also provided. The room had windows on two sides, with French doors onto a ‘private garden’. It was indeed a charming room.

Samat, the driver, was due to meet us at 4 pm to discuss the price for a Nubar Valley trip. But he did not appear.

On the way back from dinner, I had to use my old headlamp to walk back, as the ‘Sia-La’ staff said they did not find my torch in our vacated room. Indeed, a sorry loss!

One dog needs castrating. He kept barking for several extended periods during the night.

We slept in, and were late getting out in the morning.

By luck, we saw Samat, who has other customers and was just about to leave for a trip. The fact that he did not keep yesterday’s appointment was a clear signal that he did not want to go with us. Some people do not like to say No, and would instead say nothing and just go away. At least we can now write him out of the equation and find other transport.

Walked to ‘Penguin Gardens’, checked email and had our breakfast: eggs, hash browns, grilled tomato, toast, butter, jam and coffee. I was quite full up at the finish.

Lian borrowed a phone and arranged to meet another driver, who had been recommended to us. The driver’s name is Sonam, and after some haggling, a price was agreed for a three-day trip to the Nuba Valley. Price to include vehicle, fuel, driver and his food and accommodation.

We then had to visit Norbu, our friendly travel agent, to buy the required permit for the trip. We hand over our passports and are told we can pick them up at 4 pm.

Now that the Prime Minister of India has left, we no longer see soldiers carrying their automatic rifles.

We stroll around, looking at local shops selling T-shirts and Tibetan style souvenirs, including in a Tibetan Market.

Went in to pick up our permits at 4 pm, but Norbu had not returned, and it was about 5:30 pm before our permits arrived. While waiting, we had a chat with two Russian men. Big chaps, with lots of tattoos, and one sported a long black bushy beard and a shaven head. I certainly would not like to meet them on a dark night!

Walked along to the central Gompa, where they show a 115-minute film on this area, every evening.

We looked around for a restaurant. Met an Italian Buddhist monk at one, and had a chat before moving on. When we had found one with Wi-Fi and placed our order, suddenly there was a power cut, so no Wi-Fi. The problem was compounded when I ordered a beer, as the waiter came back to say it was a Thursday or it was some public holiday in India - so no beer would be served this day.

We like our hotel, and arranged to stay here for the rest of our time in Leh, on condition that we have the same room on our return from the Nubra Valley.

Tour to the Nubra Valley.

It is light here at 6 am, yet restaurants only serve from 7:30 am, and shops open at 10 or 10:30 am. So we had breakfast of cakes and bananas in our room.

Soon after 8 am, we left with Sonam in his Toyota van, on the three-day, 290 miles (460km) round trip excursion to the Nubra Valley.

The valley lies to the north of Leh, on a southeast to northwest axis, and is separated from Leh by a mountain range. Access is by way of the Khardung Pass, the highest motorable pass in the world at 18,380ft (5,602m) high.

As the tarmac road leaves Leh, it starts a gradual climb up to the police checkpoint at 15,300ft (4,665m) where all permits are checked. The road surface is dirt from here to the top. The low gradients allow the army trucks to have access for the maximum period during the winter months.

We spend fifteen minutes at the summit before leaving at 12:30 pm. At the top are a few huts, and the hills to either side are draped in prayer flags. The summit is crowded with Indian tourists, all having their photographs taken before the signboards showing the height and location. We walk around slowly here, as breathing is noticeably more difficult.

There are some fascinating and instructive signboards, including a board telling of the accomplishments of Col. Chewang Richen. This hero of the Ladakh Scouts joined the army at the age of 17 and later was noted for his bravery, resourcefulness, leadership, and dedication. Examples are given of winter battles at 22,000ft (6,700m), in snowfields, and other reasons for his award of many medals.

One notice instructs that ‘Staying more than 20-25 minutes can be harmful to your health’.

Another extols the benefits of drinking black tea. Not only will you have healthy arteries and increased blood