While doing some research for ecotourism efforts and environmentally friendly hotels in my favorite destinations, I came across some very startling information. According to The Best Green Hotels website, the most ecofriendly hotel in Thailand is the Royal Cliff Beach Resort located in Pattaya. I was quite surprised that a resort hotel of this nature would exist in Pattaya, one of the most polluted and eco-unfriendly resort destinations in all of Thailand. Not only is Pattaya an environmental cesspool but as one of the world’s most popular sextourist destinations, it is a moral cesspool as well. Going through the heart of the resort area, almost all the vegetation and greenery has been stripped to accommodate the uncontrolled tourism development, where loud open air beerbars, strip clubs and girlie bars, cheap hotels, shops, restaurants dominate the landscape. Not only that, but air and water pollution is a problem as well - swimming at the beach is not recommended here. Pattaya has very few redeeming qualities, one of which is the aforementioned Royal Cliff Beach resort. Next time I pass thru Pattaya, I will have to visit “this green resort”.

Located just south of town, Royal Cliff is one of the greenest hotels in the world with its comprehensive environmental friendly policies. The hotel’s green actions include Xeric landscaping, water conservation, eco-friendly food, guestroom recycling bins, compostable disposables, donation to charity and cotton towel/sheets. As someone who markets ecotourism and environmentally friendly travel, I truly support their efforts towards make this world a greener and better place.

I came across an interesting story in the online edition of the Bangkok Post about a unique type of homestay tourist service in Thailand. A number of proprietors who manage fish farms not far from the pier at Rayong, a small city on Thailand’s Eastern Seaboard, have become tourism entrepreneurs as well. Their unique “homestay hostels” consist of small floating rafthouses which are connected with each other by wooden walkways. While facilities and accommodations are rather basic, these floating homestay hostels are especially popular with Thai Tourists who are looking for a unique and affordable weekend getaway. Snorkeling, crab hunting and squid baiting are popular activities here, and seafood delicacies for dinner – including squid sashimi and barbequed fish - is one of the featured attractions.

If you’re a seafood connoisseur, you might want to check these places out.

I need some help planning a 12-day/11-night itinerary to Malaysia for travel in mid November. While I have traveled extensively in Thailand and Southeast Asia, I decided to go somewhere completely different this time around – MALAYSIA. If you have been following Calypso Island Chronicles, you know that I am not too fond of big cities and tourist traps. I am partial to small non-congested beach resorts (like Koh Chang or Kamala Beach in Thailand); I enjoy wildlife observation and nature as well as spending some time in the countryside or mountains. In addition, I like places that are rich with history and ambiance. I will be flying from Bangkok.

Here is what I have come up with so far:

• First 2 nights and last night in Kuala Lumpur … just to get a feel for Malaysian culture and big city life
• 2 -3 nights in Malacca – I have heard that this place oozes with ambiance and history
• 3 nights in Cameron Highlands – for rest, tranquility and some nature walks. My friend from Thailand wants to track down Jim Thompson, a legendary figure in Thailand’s silk trade industry who mysteriously disappeared in this region and never was heard from again
• 3 nights TBA

OK, readers…if you have been to Malaysia or live in Malaysia, do you have any ideas what I can do for the remaining 4 days/3 nights before I return to Kuala Lumpur? Possibilities

• Penang – if it is as commercialized as Phuket or Cancun, I would rather not go.
• Pulau Langkawi – heard there are some good beaches on this island
• Taman Negara National Park or Perhentian Islands (Monsoon season?)

Remember I prefer someplace located in the rural countryside or perhaps a real laid back beach resort.

Have you ever totaled up the number of countries that you have visited in your lifetime? Furthermore, how many times have you traveled to each particular country? Breaking it down even further, what places/cities have you visited (with at least one overnight stay) in each destination/country? If you answer all these questions carefully, you’ll have put together your own TRAVELER’S RESUME.

Let’s start out with yours truly. My inaugural trip as a traveler happened in Dec. 1973 when I went to Mexico for 3 weeks. Over the ensuing 35 years, I have traveled to 25 different countries. If you look at my RESUME, you will see that I’m very partial to the tropics. Call me the tropical traveler if you may.

NORTH AMERICA:

• Mexico (18)

Puerto Vallarta (3), Mexico City (3), Guadalajara, Villahermosa, Merida,
Mexican Caribbean – Cancun (4), Playa del Carmen (2) and Tulum; Oaxaca (5),
Puerto Escondido (5), San Blas(2) Ixtapa/Zihuatanejo,
Baja California - Cabo San Lucas (4), La Paz and Loreto,
Costa Alegre - La Manzanilla (2) and Bahia de Navidad

CARIBBEAN:

• Jamaica (30+)

Kingston, Blue Mountains, Port Antonio, Montego Bay, Ocho Rios, Negril,
South Coast - Black River, Treasure Beach and Milk River Bath; Cockpit Country,
Mandeville and Christiana

• Barbados (6)
• St. Lucia (2)
• Antigua
• Dominican Republic

Santo Domingo and Sosua Beach

• Cuba

Havana and Varadero Beach

• St. Vincent
• Trinidad
• St. Maarten/St. Marten
• Bahamas

Nassau and Eleuthera

• Caribbean/Panama Canal Cruise

SOUTH AMERICA:

• Colombia

Bogota, Cartagena and San Andres Island

• Peru

Lima, Cusco, Sacred Valley including Machu Picchu, Amazon basin

• Ecuador

Quito, Otavalo and Mindo

CENTRAL AMERICA:

• Costa Rica (6)

San Jose (6), Heredia (2), Sarapiqui (2), Manuel Antonio (3), Dominical,
Pacific Lowlands – Carara ; Guanacaste – Canas and Palo Verdes NP (2), Tamarindo Beach (2), Ocotal and Los Innocentes; Jaco, Tortugero, Monteverde (2), Osa Peninsula, La Fortuna and Arenal (4),
Caribbean Coast- Cahuita (2) and Puerto Viejo; Wilson Botanical Gardens
(San Vito), San Gerardo de Dota and Nicoya Peninsula - Playa Samara

• Guatemala (2)

Guatemala City (2), Antigua (2) and Lake Atitlan

WEST AFRICA:

• Ghana

Accra, Gold Coast, Kumasi

• Togo

Lome

• Mali

Bamako and Mopti

• Ivory Coast

Abidjan

SOUTHEAST ASIA:

• Thailand (7)

Bangkok (7), Chiang Mai (5), Mae Sa Valley (2), Phuket (3), Koh Lanta, Koh Jum,
Koh Samui (2), Koh Chang (5), Pattaya (3), Khao Sok National Park, Chiang Rai Province – Doi Tung (2), Mae Salong (2) and Chiang Kong; Kanchanaburi (2),
Sangkhlaburi, Sakaeo, Sukhothai (2), Ayutthaya and Mae Hong Son Province-Pai (2), Soppong and Mae Hong Son (2)

• Laos

Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Mekong River Cruise

• Cambodia

Siem Reap(Angkor Wat)

EUROPE

• England

London Area

Please note: Number in Parentheses () indicates the number of visits

Feel free to submit your Travel Resume here!

Travelers grow and evolve over a period of time. The desire to experience different things, new cultures and places is a very strong motivating factor for a traveler. He looks forward to his next adventure and to exploring a new destination. When a traveler stops traveling, a certain part of him dies - sometimes when we get very old it becomes physically impossible to travel; other travelers may retire prematurely when they settle down to raise a family or become absorbed in a career. Some people go to the same place year after year for their annual holiday – that becomes their comfort zone. As an example, I know some middle-aged ladies who have traveled to Negril, Jamaica every year for the last 15 years but really haven’t been anywhere else in Jamaica or in the Caribbean. Negril is their comfort zone. Their sense of adventure got lost at some point in their lives. Travelers they are not.

On the other hand, yours truly, Hanumann aka Ling Yai is definitely a traveler. After getting my baptism in 1973 on a 3-week adventure to Mexico, I have kept growing over the years as a traveler. While I often return to some of my favorite haunts, I always make it a point to explore some new places and destinations. I never remain static. In 1995, I traveled to West Africa and in 2001, I began traveling to Thailand and Southeast Asia. In my 7 trips to Thailand, I have traveled all over the country and every time I go, I make it a point to check out some new places – whether it be Sakaeo, Koh Jum , Khao Sok or Sanghklaburi. Last year (2007), I made three trips – late March, I spent 10 days in ‘My Secret Paradise’ (La Manzanilla) on Mexico’s Costa Alegre; in late August, I traveled to Peru and Ecuador in South America and in November, I returned to Thailand.

Coming up - in November 2008, it’s back to Thailand, then I am off to Malaysia for the first time. I guess you can say that I am a traveler.

My career as a traveler (and travel agent) finally blossomed in 1980’s. The pivotal movement happened at the Kingston airport in April 1980 - I was preparing to leave Jamaica after a 6-week stay when I saw a poster advertising REGGAE SUNSPLASH, Jamaica’s International Music Festival. As a serious reggae enthusiast, upon returning to the San Francisco Bay area in Northern California, I decided to market a special tour package to Jamaica for this “new summer music festival”. It was in 1981, that I escorted my first tour group numbering about 80 participants to Montego Bay, Jamaica for Sunsplash. With this relatively auspicious beginning, I became the leading tour operator (and promoter) in Northern California for Sunsplash over the next 13 years or so. Every year until 1994, I traveled to Jamaica as a tour escort and supervisor for my tour groups – sometimes I would go to Jamaica twice a year. Needless to say, I developed quite a name for myself in the travel industry and in the local reggae scene.

During the Sunsplash era, my travel resume would expand as I flew to other islands in the Caribbean from Jamaica – among the islands I visited were Barbados (5), St. Lucia (2), Trinidad, St. Vincent, St. Maarten, Antigua, Bahamas and Dominican Republic. In addition, I made an exploratory trip in 1984 to Colombia in South America -visiting Bogota, Cartagena and San Andes Island - and I made numerous trips to Mexico – Ixtapa, Cancun, Cabo and more importantly five visits to the beautiful colonial city of Oaxaca and to the hip beach town of Puerto Escondido. Towards the end of 1980’s, I made my first of six trips to Costa Rica. As a traveler, I was really starting to spread my wings.

My moniker at the time was BUS STOP, and that’s the name that everybody knew me by. In September 1982, as a publicity stunt, I ran from Montego Bay to Negril on Jamaica’s North Coast (a distance of approximately 52 miles) over a period of 3 days. Many on the island shook their heads in disbelief, believing this stunt of mine was actually a hoax. But after several people sighted a wiry, bushy-haired white man running along the coastal highway in the late morning tropical heat, word spread like wildfire across this small island about the authenticity of my crazy stunt, a feat that many Jamaicans considered impossible. A legend was born….

I have taken numerous trips to foreign countries over the years. Approximately 90% of the time, I have traveled solo (without any excess baggage) that’s the way I prefer it to be.

There are advantages and disadvantages of traveling solo – the obvious disadvantage is that it can get awfully lonely at times; as a result you’re forced to find ways to entertain yourself and occupy the time. Eating breakfast and dinner all alone is probably the worst, but in time you get used to it. Let’s face it, most people travel with at least one other person (a friend or a love interest); solo travelers are definitely a minority. In my humble opinion, the fear of loneliness is probably the #1 reason, why most people do not travel alone. Besides the companionship factor, sharing certain travel expenses – taxis, ground transportation and dinners - is another advantage of traveling with a friend. If I travel with a friend however, I make it point to get separate rooms. I value my privacy and I don’t mind paying extra money for a single supplement.

However traveling solo has many advantages. The biggest is FREEDOM - you’re free to do what you want, when you want. Sometimes when you’re traveling with a friend, you find yourself always making too many compromises; also some friends can be too demanding and you can end up becoming a babysitter if they are uncomfortable being alone. Call this the excess baggage factor! In addition, traveling on the road with somebody for an extended period of time is fraught with pitfalls - you know the expression, travel brings out the worst in us. I have heard of many friendships and relationships disintegrating during a long vacation.

Another advantage of traveling alone is that you’ll meet a lot more people - both fellow travelers and locals. From my experience, traveling solo forces me to be more outgoing and gregarious than I am at home. When people are on vacation, they tend to be more sociable and receptive to meeting other people as well. Travelers love to share their travel stories and talk about themselves with fellow travelers. Take a man away from his home environment and he’s less territorial - that is the nature of the beast.

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Circa February 1980 I had just spent two weeks in Mexico - this was just the first leg of my travel adventure. From Mexico, I flew to JAMAICA in the Caribbean where I would stay for an additional 6 weeks. I know what you’re thinking – that I went to Jamaica to smoke copious amounts of ganja, grow some dreadlocks and listen to reggae 24/7? Totally untrue as I abhorred marijuana and dreadlocks was a phase I went through during my hippie years at UC Berkeley, however I admit to becoming a real reggae enthusiast after seeing the cult movie “The Harder They Come” in 1974. Professionally speaking, my plan was to become familiar with Jamaica so I could effectively market it as a travel destination.

My travel plans hit a minor bump in the road when Mexicana Airlines notified me that they were discontinuing their direct flight from Mexico City to Kingston. As a result, the airlines rerouted me through Miami. Upon getting off the plane in Kingston Airport, I was immediately greeted by the humid tropical heat that Kingston is famous for. Stepping into a waiting taxi, I could hear the strains of Toots and the Maytals famous song “Funky Kingston” in my head as my taxi driver took me to the Mayfair Hotel located in the hills of New Kingston.

During my 6 weeks in Jamaica, I visited the major tourist resorts on the North Coast - Montego Bay, Negril, Ocho Rios and Port Antonio - and also explored the rugged Cockpit Country, staying mostly in small (cheap) guesthouses and in the homes of Jamaican families. I guess you could say that I really sewed my wild oats as a traveler - I had some good times (and some bad times) as I traveled around the island, but overall it was a very rewarding trip.

It was on the final leg of my itinerary that I had one of my most memorable experiences. I had just returned to Kingston - at my guesthouse, I met a young dreadlocks who did some work for the famous reggae superstar, Bob Marley. I had met Mr. Marley for the first time in San Francisco circa 1975, when Bob Marley and the Wailers were on their inaugural concert tour in America. When the bloke told me that Bob Marley was scheduled to arrive the next day in Jamaica from Zimbabwe (Africa), I asked him to hook me up with Bob. So here I was in the backyard of Bob Marley’s rambling estate on Old Hope Road; he had just arrived that morning and was kicking a soccer ball with his buddies. Bob, acknowledging my presence, says to me in a very thick patois “Welcum to mi yard, Rasta. Jah Rastafari, Haile Selassie I!”

Fast forward to the next day - I was at the Kingston airport, getting ready to board my return flight to the USA when I happened to see poster advertising Reggae Sunsplash, Jamaica’s International Music Festival. Little did I know at the time, but Reggae Sunsplash would play a pivotal role in my career as a travel agent (and as a traveler).

If you’re a butterfly enthusiast, you may want to head to Thailand during the month of June for the 4th Annual Butterfly Sighting Festival at Pang Sida National Park. Located in the eastern province of Sakaeo, Pang Sida is host to over 350 species of butterflies including many exotic swallowtail and birdwing species. The best time to observe butterflies is in the early morning, about an hour or two after sunrise. For a sample of Thai butterflies, see our Thai butterfly gallery . Also check our Butterflies in Thailand video.

Located about 2 hours from Bangkok by car, Sakaeo has a variety of attractions to keep you busy for at least 3-4 days - in addition to Pang Sida, there are the bizarre earth pillars and dunes at Lalu, affectionately called “The Miniature Grand Canyon of Thailand” and some rather small but remarkable Khmer ruins near the city of Aranyaprathet. In close proximity to the Cambodian border, Aranyaprathet has the largest border market in eastern Thailand. Pang Sida Park is about 20 minutes from downtown Sakaeo while Laluk is about 80 minutes northeast and Aranyaprathet is about 1 hour to the east.

Like many cities in Thailand, Sakaeo seems to be relatively nondescript but once you are there for a while, it kind of grows on you. Actually, I find Sakaeo to be a rather pleasant place and despite it’s boring reputation, there is sanuck to be found. You just have to know “where to go”.

Want to visit Sakaeo Province? Calypso Island Tours offers Explore Sakaeo, an introductory 4 day/3 night tour package to this ‘off the beaten track’ destination in Thailand

I had my taste of travel on a 3-week adventure to Mexico in January 1974. Back at home, I found myself drifting into a career in travel – not only did I become a travel agent/entrepreneur, I had become a traveler. However another six years elapsed before I commenced my 2nd adventure – it was in February 1980 that I flew to La Paz, the capital of Mexico’s Baja California. From there, I took the bus to Cabo San Lucas, the new ‘chic’ beach resort located at the very tip of the Baja Peninsula. As Cabo was in “its infancy” as a beach resort, there were only a handful of hotels in the resort area. From Cabo, I took the car ferry overnight to Puerto Vallarta. Upon arriving at the ferry terminal in PV the following morning, I caught the bus to my next destination – San Blas, a relatively small obscure beach town that had become a favorite port-of-call with birdwatchers.

Although San Blas was located only 100 miles up the coast from Puerto Vallarta, the journey would take a good 5 hours or so because there was no coastal road at the time. As a result, the route went inland into the mountains thru Tepic, the capital city of Nayarit , where I had to overnight before completing the journey the next day. The ride on the local bus from Tepic to San Blas (a good 40 miles) was a most scenic drive – descending from the mountains to the coast on a very winding switchback road, we passed by lush coconut and banana plantations.

I have some wonderful memories of my first visit to historic San Blas, a sleepy hole-in-the wall surrounded by mangroves and some very lush tropical vegetation. Back in the late 17th century, San Blas used to be an important Spanish stronghold and port city – located on a hill overlooking town are the crumbling ruins of a large Spanish military fort. Except for the jejenes (sea gnats) - which come out en mass sometime before dusk - San Blas was my concept of paradise. The pace was slow, the ambiance special and the tropical setting just heavenly. While I was there, I befriended the head immigration officer in San Blas who took me on a memorable birding expedition in the mountains some distance away from town. As a bonus, my stay coincided with the celebration of the annual Carnival. Next the journey continues to JAMAICA.