The Travel Group, 28 May 2015, had a visitor speaking to us this month. It was Ian Thomas, talking about his walking holiday, and circumnavigation of Mt Blanc, through France, Switzerland and Italy with his wife.
He was on an organized group tour where their bags were transported for them and most of the meals were provided. Accommodation was in hotels and sometimes hostels. He also spent some time biking in the Loire Valley.
Ian said they saw some of the most stunning scenery every day and his photos certainly proved this point. The highest point they went to was 12,000ft which made them a little breathless.
Jonathan Spink was our speaker after morning tea and he spoke about his trip to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, using Peregrin Tours. This was a small tour of 12 people and was run in January/February. Jonathan ended up purchasing a long skirt as he didn’t take any long trousers and it is a requirement that you cover your legs and have bare feet when entering temples.
The country is very run-down but welcome tourists as they are anxious to earn some money. Yangon (formerly Rangoon) is a modern city whereas Mandalay is still very old. Generally the main highways are very bad. The people there have 2 days off a month one of these being when there is a full moon. He went up to a hill station where the English used to retreat to cool down in the summer months. Whilst there he witnessed a procession which was a young boy going into the monastery. The tour party went down the river in canoes to Bagan and stayed at the Inner Lake in chalets in a resort. Whilst in Bagan they visited a vineyard and a monastery. He then went back to Yangon and had a few extra days east of there. Jonathan showed some very good slides of his tour.