Travel China and Beyond

Vacation in Phuket - Patong Beach

Nai Harn Beach Holiday Inn Patong

Well, I am sure many of you are thinking about the next holiday — there are several coming very soon:
New Year’s, Chinese (Lunar) New Year, Valentine’s Day…wedding anniversaries (there must be some between now and March for some of you)… Any of those holidays warrants a trip to a beautiful place like Phuket. My family (my wife, daughter, and I) spent a wonderful week there during the last Chinese New Year. It took me a while to write about it because we had many other things to write about plus Phuket is tough to write about — you simply have to go there to truly appreciate it.

Nevertheless, I decided to write a few lines and give you some ideas as to where to go and what makes sense to do:

Places to stay — we recommend the Holiday Inn Busakorn Wing at Patong Beach

Beaches to go to: Patong Beach, Nai Harn Beach — probably the most beautiful beach in Phuket

Places to eat: sounds strange but the Thai restaurant at the Holiday Inn in the Busakorn Wing is excellent!!! Try it - you will enjoy it.

Things to do: (1) Diving/snorkeling at Nai Harn Beach, rent a speed boat for the day and go to James Bond rock and then to other uninhabitted islands with pristine beached.

(2) Visit a rubber plantation and take an elephant ride. Interesting experience.
Elephant ride Islands off Phuket Kristin and Sarah in Patong

For more interesting ideas you can use Lonely Planet’s guide Thailand’s Islands and Beaches

Vacation in Phuket - Patong Beach

Nai Harn Beach Holiday Inn Patong

Well, I am sure many of you are thinking about the next holiday — there are several coming very soon:
New Year’s, Chinese (Lunar) New Year, Valentine’s Day…wedding anniversaries (there must be some between now and March for some of you)… Any of those holidays warrants a trip to a beautiful place like Phuket. My family (my wife, daughter, and I) spent a wonderful week there during the last Chinese New Year. It took me a while to write about it because we had many other things to write about plus Phuket is tough to write about — you simply have to go there to truly appreciate it.

Nevertheless, I decided to write a few lines and give you some ideas as to where to go and what makes sense to do:

Places to stay — we recommend the Holiday Inn Busakorn Wing at Patong Beach

Beaches to go to: Patong Beach, Nai Harn Beach — probably the most beautiful beach in Phuket

Places to eat: sounds strange but the Thai restaurant at the Holiday Inn in the Busakorn Wing is excellent!!! Try it - you will enjoy it.

Things to do: (1) Diving/snorkeling at Nai Harn Beach, rent a speed boat for the day and go to James Bond rock and then to other uninhabitted islands with pristine beached.

(2) Visit a rubber plantation and take an elephant ride. Interesting experience.
Elephant ride Islands off Phuket Kristin and Sarah in Patong

Kazanlak - Next stop on the trip in Bulgaria

Kazanlak is located in the province of Stara Zagora, in the foothills of the Balkan range in Central Bulgaria. The travel time from Nessebar (on the Black Sea coast) to Kazanlak was about 3 hours (if traffic is not heavy as the road is a divided highway with one lane in each direction — thus passing could be tricky if you encounter slower traffic).

Kazanlak is famous for several things:

• The Thracian Tomb - a UNESCO protected site dating back to 4th century B.C. Here is a link to a detailed description of the architecture of the Tomb
• The Rose Festival and the Valley of Roses — the city is located in this famous rose growing region of Bulgaria. Based on information I heard in Kazanlak, the Rose Valley produces some 70% of the world’s supply of rose oil - essential component in perfumes;

Here are some images from the region of Kazanlak to give you some idea of the area and local color:

Entrance to the Thracian Tomb View of the old town of Kazanlak (from a hotel terrace)

view from one of the suburbs of Kazanlak Another vew from a hotel terrace

Near the town of Kazanlak is the Shipka mountain pass (a pass allowing you to cross the Balkan range and go from Northern into Southern Bulgaria). The Shipka pass is famous for a huge battle fought during the Rusia-Turkey Liberation War (1877-1878) - a war that lead to the liberation of Bulgaria. A big monument reminds the visitors of the fierce battle fought during July and August 1877. Today you can also visit a great chirch - Храм-паметник „Рождество Христово“
(in Bulgarian) which is a great example of East Orthdox (sometimes refered to as Greek or Bulgarian Orthodox) architecture. The village of Shipka (near-by where is the chirch) is several miles to the North-west of Kazanlak, while the mountain pass is high in the Balkan range (above Kazanlak) at about 1300 meters (4000 feet) elevation.

If you go to the mountani pass location you could also sample some “Bivolsko mylako” - yogurt produced from water buffalo milk. It is very good and rich tasting type of yogurt (you could also purchase just milk).

Aside from these monuments, you can just enjoy the beautiful mountains and country side and also visit a big dam (the Koprinka dam) on the bottom of which is the ancient town of Seuthopolis (currently under water but the local government is creating plans and gathering funds to uncover and preserve the ancient town and site. Here is a an image (courtesy of the local government - obshtina Kazanlak) of the project concept:

If you would like further informaton on this area of the country please contact us. Happy travels!

Travel to Melnik, Bulgaria

First let me give you an idea as to where we have traveled so far and where we will be going next. Here is a map of Bulgaria with our route (step 1 through 5) on this trip:

After staying in Bansko for two days, we decided that it is time to experience some more of the nature and sites Bulgaria has to offer. So we drove to the town of Melnik — according to government and provincial statistics (Melnik is located in the province of Blagoevgrad) - this is the smallest town in Bulgaria. Population: approximately 230.

The town is not that difficult to find.  From Bansko, we first drove  through the town of Razlog, to Simitli, where we got on the E79 highway (which leads also from Sofia to Greece).  While on E79 watch out for the city of Sandanski (it will be about 40 minutes before you get close to the city).  After you go through Sandanski, look for exit for Melnik.  The road to Melnik after E79 is a tiny one with hardly any traffic… You will pass through several small villages before you reach Melnik.  The long journey is well worth it.  Melnik is a very old settlement (according to scholars dating back to Thrace and the Roman Empire).  Later on in the middle ages, the Crusades passed through and currently the town is restoring a small chirch which dates from that time.

Melnik is famous for its sand piramides (limestone or porous stone formations in the mountains surrounding the town),  interesting houses (see pictures in this posting) and very good wines.  The climate is good and there are many wineries in the town.

      Kristin and Sarah in Melnik (they enjoyed the trip)
With regard to timing, you can make the trip from Bansko to Melnik as a day visit.  This will give you plenty of time to walk around the town, sample some of the wines, see the architecture, may be even do a short hike in the hills outside of the town.  Enjoy!

Travel in Bansko, Bulgaria, part 2

So we continue with the trip in Bansko. Once in the hotel (we stayed at the Kempinski on the outskirts of town) you are almost a stone throw away from a great mountain park. Here are some images to give you an idea about the location of the hotel:
hotel Kempinski view from the hotel towards the Pirin mountain. As you can tell the high peaks, skiing and hiking are all near by

If you leave from the hotel, turn right and head up the street you will encounter one of the many entrances to the mountain park. Drive or hike up the road and you will come to many beautiful ski lodges, hotels, and just wonderful nature. Here are some more photos:

Climb or drive up the road and you will find many places where you can park your car (if you drove) and from there embark on a hike for a few hours or a day. You will enjoy it.

Trip to Bansko, Bulgaria - part 1

Here is the first part of several postings about some interesting places to visit in Bulgaria. This Eastern European country is a good place to visit and enjoy both winter (skiing, hiking) and summer (hikinig, swimming) activities. This summer my family and I had a good visit to several nice resourts in Bulgaria and this is a quick write up about it.

Bansko is located in the Southwest part of Bulgaria Continue reading Trip to Bansko, Bulgaria - part 1…

Starting information flow about Bulgaria as well

It is time to write a bit about my experiences (over the years) of visiting European destinations and especially Bulgaria. I have my connections with that country — I actually grew up there and left in 1987.

So, I will now start to include information on Bulgaria as well in my blog, plus add also entries about some other countries in the region — e.g. Macedonia, Greece. Continue reading Starting information flow about Bulgaria as well…

Current Airline Deals - Flights and Vacations

With the rapidly approaching Christmas, New Year, and Chinese Lunar New Year holidays, Here are some pointers to current airline deals:

China to Europe:

* SAS airline has a deal for flying to Europe starting at RMB5100 with upgraded economy class fares starting at RMB11000

* British Airways is offering RMB3990 fare from Beijing to London and fares from RMB4990 to many European cities;

* Check out Austrian Airlines - in my experience from this summer travel season, Austrian offered the most competitive prices on flights to Central Europe;

Continue reading Current Airline Deals - Flights and Vacations…

The World is Becoming a really small place; Travel in Seoul

On a recent business trip to South Korea, I had an interesting experience. But first let’s set the stage. Once immigration and customs are cleared, the next task ahead of a business or pleasure traveler is getting to their destination in the city they are visiting. If you are traveling to Seoul, South Korea, most likely you will arrive at Incheon International Airport. The airport is a long way away from downtown Seoul so you need to figure out a way to get there. There are several options: Continue reading The World is Becoming a really small place; Travel in Seoul…