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Distant Lands – Close Up
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Having just enjoyed the Chipping Norton Literary Festival and with Shakespeare’s birthday falling this week, it seems appropriate to write about literature today. Or more specifically, travel literature – our favourite kind!
Authors Nick Bullock and Jason Lewis at the Chipping Norton Festival event sponsored by Panoramic Journeys
Every Friday, we’ll be bringing you the PJ news from Distant Lands and Close Up. You’ll hear what’s been happening in Mongolia, Bhutan and Burma, and what we’ve been up to in our UK office in the Cotswolds – a little insight into the workings of a small travel company…
This week has been all about touching base and remembering what’s important to us.
From over there:
Sad news from Mongolia. Adiya, who with her husband Chuluun ran our private refugio, died suddenly at the beginning of the week from a suspected heart attack. Our thoughts are with her family.
Adiya in 2007 teaching Sam to crawl.
Travelling off the beaten track is arguably the best way to get to know the heart of a country. If you are lucky enough to stay with its people in their own communities, away from the well-trodden tourist trails, it can give you a real insight into their culture, a window into their lives. PJ guest, Nancy Johnson, who travelled with us to Burma earlier this year, found the experience of ‘getting up close’ was both a privilege and a hoot! Here’s what she wrote about her homestay in the village of Patu Pauk:
After a day walking filled with lovely scenery and friendly locals, we arrived in the village of Patu Pauk for our overnight village home-stay, just as darkness was falling. We followed the cows home from the field into the village, accompanied by a boy riding a water buffalo, and another buffalo pulling a cart in which a man was sleeping deeply, oblivious to the rough ground he bumped over. Thankfully, the animal seemed to know where it was going!!
Scenery on the walk from Kalaw to Inle
At last, the days are getting longer and the sun is making half-hearted attempts to occasionally shine. The thought of a cold beer on a hot day no longer feels like wishful thinking, more a matter of time. All is looking up in the Cotswolds and with preparations hotting up for our birthday celebrations in a couple of weeks, we got to thinking about parties in general and how much we like them. As you’d expect with ‘travelling types’, the talk among the PJ team was all about the parties they’d been to in foreign climes.
So Harry, how do they party in Mongolia?
Attending a ‘do’ in Mongolia, one quickly observes that the top party pursuit is the consumption of the notorious airag. This fermented mares’ milk has to be tried to be believed – it is certainly an acquired taste! However, being offered the mildly alcoholic milky tipple is a great demonstration of Mongolian hospitality and therefore not to be sniffed at (actually, it is much better to hold your nose as you drink it). Another classic Mongolian party trick is the practice of throat singing. This haunting call of the wilderness is as old as the hills in which it was conceived. In proceedings, the throat singing tends to come shortly after the drinking of airag, for some reason…
Mongolian children in their party best
Every Friday, we’ll be bringing you the PJ news from Distant Lands and Close Up. You’ll hear what’s been happening in Mongolia, Bhutan and Burma, and what we’ve been up to in our UK office in the Cotswolds – a little insight into the workings of a small travel company…
It’s been a busy week. James and Karina have been away, taking a well-earned break with their boys, so Kath, Harry and Jade have been holding the fort. We’ve had quite a few tours returning home from Burma and Bhutan, and the film shoots continue apace in Mongolia, so it has been business as usual here in the uk.
Although, we’ve seen some sunshine, it is still unseasonably chilly. So while the cat’s away, the mice have been dreaming of where they’d rather be if they weren’t stuck in the PJ office…
Uma Punakha COMO Shambhala spa, Bhutan
As part of our 10th Birthday celebrations, we are revisiting the most significant trips of the last decade. This journey – a pilot visit to the remote village of Rukha in the Jigme Dorje Wangchuk National Park - was documented by our guest, Pat Barlow, a seasoned traveller and previous guest of PJ to Mongolia in 2005. Pat was amongst the first travellers we took to Rukha, to explore the possibility of a community-based tourism project there. Here is an extract from her diary:
The remote village of Rukha – Hidden Bhutan
