Wanderlust travel magazine April 2017 issue 175

Wanderlust Issue 175 (April 2017) South-East Asia ♦ Alaska ♦ Western Australia ♦ Swedish Lapland in summer ♦ Solo Travel ♦ Reader Travel Awards ♦ Pocket guides: Kyoto (Japan), Snowdonia (Wales), New Zealand

Alaska

Take a road trip from Canada to the USA on the Alaska Highway

T R AV E L M A G A Z I N E www.wanderlust.co.uk April 2017

SOUTH EAST ASIA

Swim with whales Jump in with Humpbacks in Western Australia

W i n!

A trip to Nica for two peo ragua ple...

See p4

Swedish Lapland ...in summertime

YOUR ULTIMATE GUIDE

Solo travel TOP TIPS FOR GOING IT ALONE

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First 24 hours: Kyoto, Japan Short Break in Wales Travel Icon: New Zealand & much more...

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CONTENTS

Issue 175 April 2017

360˚ – NEED TO KNOW

nder 6Viewfi to know this month...

12GoNeed 14 Eatnow this...

165 minutes with… Cerys Matthews 18 Know your…

Falkland Islands 20Top tour operators 22 Norwegian fjords, owls in full flight and surprising desert patterns...

Cable cars are a rising global trend Head to Copenhagen, where hip meets history in the Danish capital Fire up your food in Latin America, home of the humble chilli pepper The Welsh singer on her homeland’s 2017

There’s so much more than just the War The signature trips from the companies you voted ‘best’

▲ Cover story

40 South-East Asia

From cosmo cities to sprawling jungles, the classic icons to undiscovered lands, here’s our definite trip planner to South-East Asia, one of the world’s most diverse and travel-rich regions.

TRAVEL MASTERCLASS

68The masterclass 72Take better travel photos clinic 74Travel 76Instant expert: Hadrian’s Wall guide to… walking 77Traveller’s trousers

Large family trips don’t have to be stressful: here’s how to have a multi-generational trip to remember Outdoor Photography editor Steve Watkins shares tips on how to capture nature underwater Doctor Jane explains how to stay safe on your aquatic adventures The largest Roman remnant in the UK celebrates 30 years of UNESCO status

Putting their best legs forward are eight of the top travel trousers on the market

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WIN! A nine-day trip to Nicaragua for two, p17

Cop

Alaska, p24

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“But Copenhagen’s pastel-hued harbourside is just the starting point for a city that sits on a cycle-able intersection of Nordic history and modern Scandi-cool.”

“As I left for Kluane National Park, a black bear strolled casually across the road in front of the car and I screeched to a halt to watch its big brown bottom bound into the forest, a wide grin plastered to my face.”

Phoebe Smith

133 Wanderlust Reader Travel Awards 2017, p91 The results are in! Countries, cities, guide books, airports and more – they were all rated by you for the Wanderlust Reader Travel Awards 2017. And the winners are…

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“Amid the fevered Tolkien comparisons, New Zealand’s native culture is often overlooked, which is surprising given the landscape is so entwined with the traditions of the Maori.”

Falkland Islands, p20

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ROMAN RAMPARTS...

Hadrian’s Wall, p76 FEATURES

Beyond Sydney 24Alaska

Take a drive New alongSouth the Alaskan Wales Highway, 75 years construction isn’t just about Oz’safter mostitsfamous city linked thea world state toofitsepic mainland counterparts, for – there’s coastlines, great remote national parks andvalleys frontiertohistory wilderness and wine-rich explore too SwimDiscover with whales India the last Australia’s great habitat Ningaloo Reef latestOur of the Asian lionbecomes in Gujaratthe PLUS: location can swim with humpbacks guide to where India’s you other must-see species PLUS: other wildlife-filled swimming Philippines Leave behindexperiences the bustle Sweden just forof winter of Manila forLapland the rawisn’t splendour rural – in summer it’s a hidden haven for Luzon, exploring vertiginous rice paddies, hiking, leafy pastures andspluttering hilly scenery cliff -hanging graves and volcanoes Solo travel With more of you Tanzania East Africa isn’t just known alone, here’s forroaming the Big Five – head to our the advice Mahaleand tips to helpfor your globetrotting smoothly Mountains its solo star attraction: wildgo chimps

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FROM THE ROAD

POCKET GUIDES

108Your story

Reader Caroline Nye treks with medicine for Nepalese refugees, while inspiring Tim Ashdown battles his demons and the odds to conquer the mountains of Vietnam Readers’ pictures Your fantastic photos, including peaking in Canada, taking time out in Wadi Rum and being festive in Reykjavik. We’re not jealous, promise...

Letters In our mailbag: traversing the planet by train; praising the UK’s best walks; our readers’ other favourite hikes from around the world; and making room for leafy escapes while embarking on a city break...

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24 hours: 129First Kyoto, Japan

Japan’s ancient city may be a hub for temple seekers, but you can still get your culture fix in peace, with modern delights to enjoy, too

131Short break: Snowdonia, UK

Its rugged peaks are just the tip of this Welsh region, with hearty food, legendary culture and timeless villages beyond...

icon: Maori culture, 133Travel New Zealand

Beyond those epic landscapes, delve deeper into the rich traditions of its earliest settlers which are forever entwined in the land and sea its built on

129 Copenhagen, p14 Snowdonia, p131

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“We yomped through a Swedish forest of dwarf willow and gnarled birch, treading a carpet of groundcreeping juniper and bilberries.”

Mark Stratton

“Escaping Kyoto’s tour-group crush is often a simple question of stepping off the main thoroughfares and exploring its backstreets instead, winding narrow alleys past teashops and stores.” James Hadfield

Kyoto, p129

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South-East Asia, p40

“I’d always envied Ningaloo’s aquatic transients – breaching the waves one minute, then diving to a realm of giant squid and mystery the next.” Emma Thomson

Western Australia, p54

TALKING HEADS Cerys Matthews, p18

New Zealand, p133

“There’s the magnificence of the Welsh landscape, but the small things too: the sing-song accent and the language. These are things I don’t hear day to day in London.”

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Alaska Highway

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Alaska Highway

BLAZING A TRAIL In 1942 a new road ploughed through the remotest parts of Canada’s Yukon to connect Alaska with the lower 48 states. 75 years on, we hit the road...

WORDS PHOEBE SMITH PHOTOGRAPHS NEIL S PRICE

Lone Range Rover The Alaska Highway cuts through Kluane National Park in Canada’s Yukon

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SOUTH EAST ASIA

T R I P

P L A N N E R

Fuming mountains, iconic temples, wild forests, electric cities, classic beaches… Here's how to get the most out of ultra-diverse, otherworldly South-East Asia WORDS ALEX ROBINSON

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Bright in Bangkok The Wat Arun Temple appears illuminated at sunset, Thailand

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Swimming with

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Australia

Australia’s west coast is now one of only four places in the world you can swim with humpback whales. We head to Exmouth to see how tours are helping both the land and the seas…

WORDS EMMA THOMSON

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G O I N G

More people than ever before are choosing to explore on their own.

Read on for our tips, trips, trails and trials in our solo traveller special, beginning with Sandra Reekie, who regularly leaves behind a husband, two daughters and six grandkids for the open road‌

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Solo Travel

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Y Solo Travel

ou will never see a sky as beautiful as the sun rising over the Himalayas from Darjeeling,” my father said with an unaccustomed hint of nostalgia in his voice. I was five years old and we were sitting atop a hill watching the sun go down over the Essex town where we lived.

From that moment, that exact moment, I longed to see that sunrise for myself and visit Agra, where my grandfather was stationed with the army when dad was born.

But it took me a while. Fifty years later, my daughter and I travelled independently to

travelling to Kochi, Mysore and Ootacamund; then I said goodbye and headed alone for the railway station in Bangalore to catch the overnight train to Hampi.

This fascinating historical site, set in a strange and beautiful, boulder-strewn landscape, was the perfect place for me to explore for the first time completely on my own. Each day my confidence grew and with it my sense of awareness and safety. What was I doing? Was it respectful? A deserted restaurant was probably not as safe as a full one. I learned to trust my gut feeling when it came to judging people. I found that all these long-buried skills, which we all possess, were slowly getting stronger. And before I left there, I’d even found myself in a Bollywood movie.

I needed to travel north, but I wanted to see Panaji, the capital of Goa, and for the first time caught an overnight bus.

Imagine a double decker painted bright yellow, with homemade reclining seats.

I was allocated a window seat that reclined so far back my feet were above my head.

Next to me sat an enormous, bald German man whose bulk spread from his recliner on to mine. As we rattled our way along the

Beyond boundaries

I subsequently returned to India on several occasions, sometimes alone, sometimes not.

I also travelled along the Silk Road – starting in Istanbul, I crossed Turkey, Syria, Iran and Turkmenistan with its bizarre capital, Ashgabat; then travelled on to Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and China where I visited the largest Silk Road market in the world at Kashgar, before crossing into Pakistan at the highest paved border crossing in the world.

I made many friends along the way.

Sometimes I joined up with people who were going my way for a few days or a week or two, such as the young man with whom I shared the hire of a car to cross the Pamir Mountains.

I have wonderful memories of many people – the Sikh man who, without my knowing, kept an eye on me during a three-hour wait at an Indian railway station and who, when I nearly boarded the wrong train, gently took my arm and shook his head; the lady on a bus journey in Iran who planted a large bag of sweets on my lap; and the student in Syria who waited 20 minutes with me to ensure I caught the right bus and that the driver knew where to let me off. I have a well of such memories.

‘Life isn’t a rehearsal, and looking back over my life I now realise that whenever I made myself do something that scared me, it always turned out to be the best experience ever’ India, and we did indeed see that sunrise and Agra. A nine-week trip with my daughter made me realise that it was possible to find your own hotels, discover what’s down that small and interesting-looking road the tour guide walks you past and, most importantly of all, learn just how incredibly friendly and kind people are to a stranger. The travel bug had bitten, and bitten hard.

Solo steps

The following year I had a close call with cancer and, when I didn’t die within the predicted year, I resolved to go back to India.

No-one would or could come with me so, pig-headedly, I said I’d go on my own. It was an easy thing to say, but could I really go alone? Really on my own? After I’d said goodbye to my husband at Heathrow, I went into the ladies and sobbed. What was I doing?

I had never travelled on my own. When we went abroad on holiday I had never even used the foreign currency – I was petrified. So I had cheated a little and booked the first ten days with a small group adventure travel company to help me get over my initial nerves. We spent those first ten days

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bumpy Indian roads in the pitch black, any ‘comfort’ stops were made at the side of the road and each time at least one person came back with cuts and grazes, having fallen down a ditch. But we made it to Goa. Those who had the top deck fared best, as most were enjoying some ‘happy baccy’, but I had a new German friend.

From Goa I found my way by bus, train, taxi and rickshaw to the ancient caves at Ellora and also to those at Ajanta. At the Ajanta Caves I was adopted by a taxi driver who decided that, as I was older than his mother, I needed looking after. I suspiciously thought he just wanted to overcharge me for each ride, but how wrong I was. It was another lesson learned – to trust my own judgement and not go by the alarmist stories you hear.

I was so proud of myself. I had not only achieved my first trip alone, but had managed all my travel arrangements, even come to grips with the bureaucratic purchasing of train tickets and, finally, with just two days before my return flight, made it to Mumbai, arriving in the early hours at that wonderful carved stone-and-marble railway station six weeks after setting out. Boy, did I feel good!

In northern Pakistan I met a young jeep driver. The following year I returned to live with his extended family for a month, teaching at the local school, before taking two months to travel through every valley between Afghanistan and Kashmir.

We all know old sayings like, ‘Life isn’t a rehearsal,’ and looking back I now realise that whenever I made myself do something that scared me, it always turned out to be the best experience ever. Travelling alone is one.

I can’t deny it can be lonely, but travelling with the wrong person is far, far worse. After years of being a daughter, wife, mother and granny, I am now me. If people aren’t going my way, I know I can happily go on my own.

At 73 I must confess that it’s time to retire my beloved rucksack and get something on wheels, but so long as I have a good guidebook and a water heater to make a cup of coffee, there’s nothing that can stop me.

For more inspiring tales from solo travellers – including Phoebe Smith, Hilary Bradt and the Sandra Reekie story excerpted here – get Roam Alone (Bradt, £11), out on 5 April.

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New South Wales Promotional feature

Ultimate Australia

From iconic Sydney to the wild Outback beyond, it’s time to really discover New South Wales: the quintessential Australian experience

Now sea here

The stunning blue waters of Sydney Harbour are just the start of New South Wales and the manifold delights it contains

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W

New South Wales Promotional feature

hen Captain James Cook first cast his eyes along Australia’s unmapped eastern coast in 1770, the sandstone cliffs and rising green hills led him to conjure up a British-influenced name: New Wales, later to become New South Wales. Fast forward almost 250 years, however, and the region has proved itself anything but a facsimile of the UK. Home to swathes of rainforest, subtropical beaches, red Outback plains and perhaps the greatest harbour city on the planet, Australia’s aptly nicknamed Premier State stands as a true travel icon.

But for travellers, the key gift of New South Wales is its diversity. Within the state borders you’ll find every one of the key components that makes Australia such a phenomenal destination: the surf-swept coastline, the rich Indigenous heritage, the unique wildlife, the vibrant urban buzz, the cascading natural scenery, the heavenly food and wine.

It’s little wonder that so many visitors to the country find themselves here for weeks at a time, and then still come back time and time again.

The spectacular state

Sydney is the starting point for most adventures in New South Wales. A place apart, this city is fringed with beaches and blessed with an easy-going, sun-soaked way of life. Its dramatic focal point is Circular Quay, where both the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge stand, but the city has a kaleidoscope of different faces, from its glamorous coastal suburbs and its bohemian counter-culture to its rainbow spread of cafes, galleries, museums and bars.

Sydney though is just one port of call along New South Wales’ 1,600 kilometres of coastline, which translates into a vast range of coastal and aquatic adventures. From scuba diving, kayaking and clifftop walks to whalewatching, fishing and surf schools, the state’s stunning Pacific shoreline has outstanding credentials. Gravitate to classic beach destinations like Byron Bay or Coffs Harbour, travel out to one of the state’s shimmering islands, such as Lord Howe Island, or discover your own slice of coastal wilderness on an ocean road trip.

But that coastline is just one of New South Wales landscapes. When you head inland, you’ll quickly discover just how exceptionally kind the gods of the great outdoors have been to it. The state has close to 900 national

parks, forests and reserves, among them such gems as the UNESCO-listed Greater Blue Mountains Area and the Snowy Mountains, the latter home to mainland Australia’s highest peaks. Elsewhere you’ll find an extraordinary variety of eucalypt forests, waterfalls, lush wetlands, rainforests and wildlife-rich conservation areas.

These are also ideal places to become better acquainted with Australia’s furred and feathered inhabitants, who are as central to the national character as beach barbecues and ice-cold beer, and in New South Wales you’ll find them in numbers.

Its national parks play host to everything from wallabies, kangaroos and echidnas to emus, possums and koalas, while its water-based wildlife includes seals, penguins, dolphins and whales. The birdlife is similarly rich, and the state also has some first-rate wildlife parks for up-close encounters with endemic rock warblers, increasingly endangered regent honeyeaters and superb fairy-wrens.

A legendary land

Of course, the lands of New South Wales have been inhabited for tens of thousands of years, throwing into sharp relief the relatively recent era of European ‘discovery’.

Today no state has more Indigenous inhabitants, and there are some excellent options for travellers keen to learn more about the ancient poetic intricacies of Aboriginal culture, including guided ‘walkabout’ tours through significant landscapes, age-old galleries of rock art and a number of dedicated cultural centres, such as the Minjungbal Aboriginal Cultural Centre in Tweed Heads Historic Site.

An Aborigine experience is just one reason to head into the endless expanse of red plain known as the “back O’Bourke”, or back of beyond – the fabled Australian Outback.

Those with the appropriate equipment and know-how can enjoy its road trip potential, while the remote town of Broken Hill and the haunting dunes of Mungo National Park provide highlights in their own right.

But New South Wales also has less rugged delights to enjoy. The state’s food and wine scene covers everything from globally lauded city restaurants and serene wine regions to lively farmers’ markets and charming country pubs. Whether you’re after seafood or Shiraz, cheese or chocolate, craft beer or freshly grilled meats, you won’t be left wanting. The Hunter Valley, Australia’s oldest wine region, famed for its Semillon and Shiraz, is an essential itinerary inclusion for gourmet travellers.

It’s the perfect spot to raise a glass to this quintessential Australian state.

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