The travel journalist usually has great aspirations when tackling a new adventure - to be able to share insightful commentary on one’s journey on a daily basis is usually the idealized goal. This was indeed my goal when I started my 42-day odyssey to Thailand and Laos, which commenced on Nov. 8th.

Unfortunately, “the x-factor” (as well as the z & y factors) threw a literal monkey wrench into my journalistic plans. You see, today is Nov. 17 and I am nine days into my journey, and up to this point, I regret that my journalistic efforts have been stalled as I haven’t had the time or energy to begin my commentary up until now. As my body and mind have finally recovered sufficiently from the mental and physical duress from the weeks leading up to my trip (as well as my hectic business and social schedule in Bangkok), this indeed is the starting point of my travel commentary. During the nine days that I have been in Thailand, I have had a wealth of experiences, insights and anecdotes to share with you (and the world). Stay tuned!

As an aside, I just would like to say that being in Southeast Asia sure beats the stress and doldrums of being in the westernized confines of California and the USA!

I bet everybody who is familiar with tropical plants and flowers will easily be able to identify this plant of the week. Of course, it is the Bougainvillea, a genus of flowering plants native to tropical South America. Of all the tropical flowers that I have seen, by far the most common is the bougainvillea. I have seen it throughout tropical Latin America, the Caribbean and Southeast Asia as it a very popular ornamental plant. The bougainvillea also thrives in warmer climates throughout the United States - I have even seen this plant in some gardens in the San Francisco Bay Area in California. The paper flower (Bougainvillea glabra) is by far the most popular ornamental species of the Bougainvillea genus; the bracts that surround the small white flower come in many different colors and they look very much like paper, hence the common name ‘the paper flower”. In my travels, I have come across a number of hotels that are named after this popular tropical flower including my favorite hotel in San Jose, Costa Rica , the Bougainvillea Hotel and there is a hotel in Barbados, aptly named the Bougainvillea Beach Resort.

STOP THE PRESSES…Commencing on Nov 7th, the supremely talented and insightful co-author of Calypso Island Chronicles will be embarking on a 42-day odyssey to Thailand and Laos. Departing on a redeye flight at 12:10AM from San Francisco on EVA, the Taiwanese flag carrier, my air itinerary includes a connection in Taipei before finally touching down at 11:00AM on Nov. 8 in Bangkok, Thailand’s vibrant and exciting cosmopolitan city. Lasting over 17 hours in the air, it is going to be a very long journey but the payoff will be very rewarding.

Needless to say, I am really looking forward to this trip. As usual, I will be visiting some of my old haunts including Koh Chang, my favorite beach resort in Thailand in addition to touring the region known as the Golden Triangle in Northern Thailand. This will be 3rd trip to the Golden Triangle, a very mountainous and rural area with wonderful countryside scenes and home to many ethnic hilltribe communities. For the most part, I will be staying in Mae Salong, a picturesque Yunnanese village at about 3000 feet above sea level surrounded by miles of tea plantations. I will also be returning to Doi Tung located on the other side of the mountain from Mae Salong. Doi Tung is the site of two magnificent botanical attractions - the Mae Fah Luang Botanical Garden and Arboretum - and was the small community where the King’s Mother, one of the most revered people in recent Thai History, spent the final years of her glorious life.

Whenever I travel to Thailand, I always explore some new locales in order to learn more about the country and culture. This time around, I will journey to the quiet mountain village of Sangkhlaburi, a long and arduous 6-hour bus ride from Bangkok, breaking up the journey with a couple of days in Kanchanaburi, site of the famous Bridge over River Kwai. Overlooking a small lake with jungle clad hills in the background, Sangkhlaburi will be the perfect place to chill out! In addition, when I exit Laos sometime in mid December, I will spend a couple of days in Isaan, a word which refers to the provinces in the Northeastern region of Thailand as well as one of the country’s largest ethnic groups. This will be the first time that I will have ventured to this part of Thailand - I will be staying in Udon Thani, the largest city and commercial hub of Isaan.

I will also be venturing into Laos, Thailand’s neighbor to the northeast. Crossing the border at the small town of Chiang Kong, I will be boarding a slow boat for a two-day journey down the Mekong River to the fascinating provincial city of Luang Prabang, a UNESCO world heritage site and Laos’s original capital. The slow boat is definitely a poor man’s cruise - the boat itself is rather a primitive affair but I will manage as I consider myself a relatively hardy traveler. From what I have read in many travel guides and on the Internet, Luang Prabang oozes with old world charm and ambiance and is a real traveler’s mecca. People from all over the world come here to enjoy the tranquility and sleepy pace of this small, enchanted city serenely situated in a mountain valley. Of all the places that I will be visiting on this odyssey, Luang Prabang has to be the one place that I am ‘most jacked up about”. All told, I will be spending nine days in Laos including five days in Luang Prabang and three days in Vientiane. Famous for it’s fresh baguettes, aromatic Laotian coffee and leisurely paced lifestyle, Vientiane is the capital city of Laos.

Factoid: Laos is the 10th poorest country in the world and the government is ‘communist”. Laos gained notoriety during the Vietnam War era as being the” bombed out” country on this planet. All bars and nightclubs close down at 11:00PM.

Of course, many of who have been following Calypso Island Chronicles over the last couple of months, have seen me touting unabashedly the Royal Flora Expo, Thailand’s International Horticultural Exposition, which is being staged in the northern city of Chiang Mai from Nov 1, 2006-Jan. 31, 2007. Attending this royal horticultural extravaganza is at the very core of ‘my grand adventure”.

The final leg of my journey will be in Bangkok - This intrepid old traveler is definitely going to party and let it all hang out those final three nights! They say that “One night in Bangkok will makes a hard man humble; I can hear the devil walking next to me”. (from the famous song, “One Night in Bangkok” by Murray Head).

I will be keeping an online dairy of this 42-day odyssey and posting it to Calypso Island Chronicles. I am inviting each and every one of you to follow my journey. To do so, you can subscribe (free) to the RSS feed of this blog, and you will be notified whenever I make a new post. Don’t miss out on this once in a lifetime adventure! Wish you were there…

I’m just curious if anybody who’s reading this blog attended the grand opening of the Royal Flora Ratchaphruek aka ROYAL FLORA EXPO, Thailand’s International Horticultural Exposition, kicked off yesterday - November 1, 2006 - in the Northern city of Chiang Mai. This horticultural extravaganza is scheduled for a 3-month run and is expected to be a huge boost to tourism for the Chiang Mai area and Northern Thailand. Royal Flora Ratchaphruek is being held to commemorate the King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s 60th year on the throne and his 79th birthday on Dec. 5. Knowing how much HRM is revered and beloved by the Thai people, I can imagine that opening day was full of pomp and circumstance and colorful pageantry. So please, can anybody out there report first hand on the opening day ceremonies? I’m extending a special invitation to you to fill us in with the all the wonderful details.

Information on a special 8 day/7night Royal Flora Tour Package

For those readers who might be interested - yours truly, Hanumann, will be taking off on a six week odyssey to Thailand and Laos starting on Nov 8 and I will be in Chiang Mai from Nov 26-30 to attend the Royal Flora Expo. More details on this travel odyssey in my next post!

Planning your next adventure can be both very fun and very time consuming. There seems to be an infinite number of resources on the Internet that you can utilize to get background information on destinations -including out of the ordinary places to visit and recommended sightseeing expeditions. There are also dedicated hotel review sites, including several that cater to the ‘backpacker”, budget type of traveler. Two of my favorite sites for hotel reviews are Trip Advisor , where readers contribute their reviews on hotels around the world and TravelFish, a travel site which deals exclusively with travel to Southeast Asia - Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos- and has some excellent recommendations for the young, backpacker type of traveler (travelers on the cheap). Travelfish in particular is a very easy and straightforward site to use and I highly recommend it if you are planning a trip to SE Asia. Another interesting site is Virtual Tourist, a community of mostly intrepid travelers who share their travel experiences with recommendations on hotels, things to do and see, places to eat in addition to posting some of their travel photos. Good Stuff! A couple of sites worthy of mention, especially if you’re trying to garner some info and get some tips from fellow travelers on Thailand or Bali, is the Travel Forum.

If you’d really try to learn about other people’s travel experiences in depth, you’ll definitely want to check out a variety of travel blogs on your favorite destinations for an insightful and sometimes very personalized perspective. One of my favorite travel blogs is Calypso Island Chronicles by yours truly . This blog features such tropical destinations as Thailand, Costa Rica and the Caribbean and a variety of topics are covered including hotel reviews, travel commentary, some very humorous travel anecdotes and stories as well as a very unique plant of the week feature. The blog is loaded with wonderful pictures and a decidedly natural history bent - ecotourism and sustainable tourism topics are explored. A little bit nepotism goes a long way. In fact, you are reading this blog right now, LOL!

In addition to the wealth of information on the Internet, you may want to go to your favorite bookstore and pick up one of the many useful travel guidebooks available. Lonely Planet, Moon Travel Handbooks, Rough Guide, Let’s Go Travel, Frommers and Fodors publish some of the more popular travel books. There are also specialized guides for the adventure and the high end, luxury, elitist traveler (boo). Insight Guides and National Geographic Traveler publish the travel books with the most beautiful and glossy photographs.

Once you have figured out where you want to go and what you want to do, you can search for online travel agencies or tour operators who offer an itinerary or travel package that matches your particular needs and budget. If you need to obtain your own air arrangements, you can go to an airline website and look for special web fares or go to established air resellers like Expedia, Travelocity, Orbitz or Cheap Tickets to see if you can get ’ a sweet deal ’ on airline tickets. Other alternatives are Priceline, where you can submit a bid for airline seats and hotel rooms; the deal here is that you can’t select a specific carrier that you’d like to fly on nor a specific departure time. A special search engine selects the flights/hotel rooms based on your bid; if your bid is accepted you’ll be charged on your credit card for the air tickets or hotel rooms and your monies of course are nonrefundable. I have never purchased anything on Priceline, so I don’t really know what to say. Another alternative is to look for travel agencies/travel consolidators that specialize in discounted air tickets. Buyer beware - there are a lot of crooked companies selling discounted airline tickets on the web!

Now if you don’t want to spend hours (and hours) doing research on where to go, what to see and which hotels will be best for you, I would recommend contacting a travel agent who has expertise in the destination or type of activity (i.e. birdwatching, tropical garden tour, watercolor workshop tour etc ) that you have chosen. The travel agent in question probably has extensive in depth travel experience as well as pretty good familiarity with a wide variety of hotels in your preferred destination, The travel agent will save you a lot of time and aggravation - imagine the countless hours that you could spend researching your long awaited adventure/vacation to your dream destination on the internet. You may even burn yourself out doing too much research and lose interest in going anyplace! Of course, by hiring a travel agent to handle all the logistics and RSVNS will cost you more monies than booking everything by yourself on the Internet. I’m ‘guestimating” that it will cost you about 10-20% or more on the average. Please understand, that if you have hire a professional travel agent who has specialized expertise or is a destination specialist, he (she) is worth his weight in gold and the agent must be compensated properly for his services and expertise. Going through a travel agent for the arrangements will save you a lot of time and aggravation, that’s for sure!

Calypso Island Tours has considerable travel expertise for Costa Rica, Thailand and the Caribbean and we offer both group and customizable independent tours for travelers on any budget. In particular, we specialize in botanical adventures and nature tours. Check out our diverse tour offerings today!