Travels Without Baggage

  • Destinations
    • Myanmar
      • Yangon / Rangoon
      • Outside Yangon
    • New Zealand
      • Wellington
        • Wellington walkways
    • The Camino to Santiago
    • Singapore
  • About Me
  • About Travels Without Baggage
  • Travel Stuff
  • Home
  • Destinations
    • Myanmar
      • Yangon / Rangoon
      • Outside Yangon
    • New Zealand
      • Wellington
        • Wellington walkways
    • The Camino to Santiago
    • Singapore
  • About Me
  • About Travels Without Baggage
  • Travel Stuff
  • Home

No Widgets found in the Sidebar Alt!

The Camino to Santiago

My pack and me – an uneasy relationship

What should I take for the Camino? This exercised my mind in the few weeks I had to prepare. A lot. And, it also exercises the mind of most people…

read more
July 16, 2018
Myanmar, Yangon / Rangoon

The Soothsayer at the Sule Pagoda

I’m a sucker for a fortune teller. And so, when I heard the second most famous pagoda in Yangon  had resident soothsayers, I headed straight there. When I arrived and…

read more
August 21, 2018
The Camino to Santiago

Beguiling Burgos

  Burgos turned out to be a pretty decent place to be unwell for a few days. I now think of my first Camino as ‘before Burgos” and “after Burgos”.…

read more
July 15, 2018
  • Myanmar,  Yangon / Rangoon

    Ethical and Beautiful Shopping in Yangon

    August 25, 2018 /

    If there is one shop in downtown Yangon where you can buy a gorgeous souvenir and help make a difference direct to local artisans, Hla Day is it. The name of the shop means ‘beautiful’ in Burmese and it’s hard not to feel good when you walk through the door. Founder and Lead Designer Ulla Kroeber agrees. “People clearly enjoy our products. They come here because we are a happy place,” she said. The visually stunning craft outlet was established at it’s current site around two years ago by a group including Kroeber. The shop aims to help talented local craftspeople develop their skills, market their goods and, ultimately, have a…

    read more
    sueteodoro 2 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Yangon in the Rainy Season – Things to do

    August 20, 2018

    The Soothsayer at the Sule Pagoda

    August 21, 2018

    The top four hotels in Yangon

    August 23, 2018
  • Myanmar,  Yangon / Rangoon

    The top four hotels in Yangon

    August 23, 2018 /

    My favorite hotel in Yangon is not, probably, the best hotel in town, but it’s certainly the most gorgeous. In a city which seems to open a new hotel every month, it’s pretty hard to choose the top four. There are a slew of brand new, high-rise places each one more shiny and slick than the next, as well as older, more established places. If you like modern, high-rise hotels, with (mostly) good views and standard amenities, you will be spoilt for choice. The newly opened Pullman, the Melia, the Park Royal, the Rose Garden and many similar places will give you all that and more. The problem with these,…

    read more
    sueteodoro 3 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Ethical and Beautiful Shopping in Yangon

    August 25, 2018

    Yangon in the Rainy Season – Things to do

    August 20, 2018

    The Soothsayer at the Sule Pagoda

    August 21, 2018
  • Myanmar,  Yangon / Rangoon

    The Soothsayer at the Sule Pagoda

    August 21, 2018 /

    I’m a sucker for a fortune teller. And so, when I heard the second most famous pagoda in Yangon  had resident soothsayers, I headed straight there. When I arrived and saw the monstrous traffic that stood between me and my destiny, I almost lost my nerve. Because Sule Pagoda and its palm readers and astrologers also happen to occupy a huge traffic island slap bang in the middle of the busiest part of a city notorious for heavy traffic. There, bus, taxi and truck drivers smack their feet to the floor as they vie with one another for the tiny gaps in the roaring sea of vehicles. So near and…

    read more
    sueteodoro 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    The top four hotels in Yangon

    August 23, 2018

    Yangon in the Rainy Season – Things to do

    August 20, 2018

    Ethical and Beautiful Shopping in Yangon

    August 25, 2018
  • Myanmar,  Yangon / Rangoon

    Yangon in the Rainy Season – Things to do

    August 20, 2018 /

    If you visit Yangon any time between May and September, chances are you will get caught in the rain. A lot. That’s why most visitors come between November and February, when the temperatures are moderate and rainfall low. However, there’s a certain charm to the city in the rainy season. Not least of which is low prices and no crowds. Also, Yangon is not normally a city for gentle rambles on the sidewalks, even in the best of weather. Pavements here, generally, are a route between one destination and another, not a place to linger and smell the roses. And so, many of the best things to do can be…

    read more
    sueteodoro 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    The top four hotels in Yangon

    August 23, 2018

    The Soothsayer at the Sule Pagoda

    August 21, 2018

    Ethical and Beautiful Shopping in Yangon

    August 25, 2018
  • The Camino to Santiago

    What to take on the Camino to Santiago?

    July 18, 2018 /

    What to take for a 800km walk, in one backpack? One thing is almost certain – what you start with is not what you will end with. Camino albergues are littered with discarded gear. Some depends on what you normally use. Do you walk in shorts? Pants? Whatever. Take it, but just make it light. Some depends on whether you are carrying your pack. There are excellent services that will pick up and deliver your pack every day. Your accommodation will sort this out for you for about 3 euro a day. This post is probably not for you, unless you get unlucky… No, this post is for the people…

    read more
    sueteodoro 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    My pack and me – an uneasy relationship

    July 16, 2018

    I’m doing the Camino

    August 1, 2017

    Days 1 and 2 – St. Jean to Roncevalles

    September 13, 2017
  • The Camino to Santiago

    My pack and me – an uneasy relationship

    July 16, 2018 /

    What should I take for the Camino? This exercised my mind in the few weeks I had to prepare. A lot. And, it also exercises the mind of most people before they go – judging from the internet. Also a lot. I decided I would carry my pack, even though a bag toting service was available. Anyway, I hadn’t much time so I stuck to basics. I hardly ever check bags so it all had to weight less than 7kg. This was in line with internet advice which said to carry no more than 10% of body weight. For me, this meant 6 to 6.5kg was optimal. When I left…

    read more
    sueteodoro 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    I’m doing the Camino

    August 1, 2017

    Beguiling Burgos

    July 15, 2018

    What to take on the Camino to Santiago?

    July 18, 2018
  • The Camino to Santiago

    Beguiling Burgos

    July 15, 2018 /

      Burgos turned out to be a pretty decent place to be unwell for a few days. I now think of my first Camino as ‘before Burgos” and “after Burgos”. After taxi-ing through from Santo Domingo, I holed up in a cheapish place right in the historical centre – the creaking Hotel Norte y Londres with its ancient plumbing and intimidating wooden furniture. Not that I saw much of the historical centre for the first few days. The main attraction here was the bakery within a 100m walk of the hotel’s front door. Luckily I had brought a small medical pack from New Zealand, including antibiotics for respiratory infections from…

    read more
    sueteodoro 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    The Camino Cough – it got me!

    October 2, 2017

    Days 1 and 2 – St. Jean to Roncevalles

    September 13, 2017

    What to take on the Camino to Santiago?

    July 18, 2018
  • The Camino to Santiago

    The Camino Cough – it got me!

    October 2, 2017 /

    Yes it happened. I got sick. Very sick. Too sick to carry on. So what’s it like being sick on the Camino? The short answer is miserable. The long answer is interesting. Because you’re a long way from home. And on a mission. But you can’t get ahead with walking 20 plus km a day, or even do much at all. So the fretting kicks in. About getting it done and wasting time. And you’ve got a lot of time to think. That’s why it’s miserable. And interesting. And very very challenging. But the truth is the Camino stretches us. It needles our weak spots. Be they feet, tendons, muscles…

    read more
    sueteodoro 2 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Days 1 and 2 – St. Jean to Roncevalles

    September 13, 2017

    Beguiling Burgos

    July 15, 2018

    My pack and me – an uneasy relationship

    July 16, 2018
  • The Camino to Santiago

    Days 1 and 2 – St. Jean to Roncevalles

    September 13, 2017 /

    Twenty five kilometers over the Pyrenees is no joke under any circumstances. Add a 8kg pack, no training and jet lag and it’s bad! A few weeks before leaving I’d decided to stay over halfway at Orisson and got booked into their overflow gite at Kayola. Turned out to be a good choice, considering. The first few kms out of St Jean aren’t too bad. Plenty of undulating hills through green fields and guest houses. Then, suddenly, a few hundred meters before the hotel at Honnto, everything changes. A do-able walk becomes a very very steep uphill climb. With my pack and my fitness (both bad) a pleasant walk quickly…

    read more
    sueteodoro 2 Comments

    You May Also Like

    Beguiling Burgos

    July 15, 2018

    I’m doing the Camino

    August 1, 2017

    The Camino Cough – it got me!

    October 2, 2017
  • The Camino to Santiago

    I’m doing the Camino

    August 1, 2017 /

    My Camino to Santiago starts in about 30 minutes. My pack is packed. My passport and money are in place. This is really happening! Until today, preparations involved booking a one way ticket to Paris, lying on the couch reading a book on what to take (half-way) and another book on how it changed someone’s life. Also trawling the one-and-only Trademe, New Zealand’s iconic online shopping destination, for gear, which turned up the perfect now packed pack. No training has been done… So my Camino starts here in Wellington, through Auckland, Shanghai, Paris and on. Truly expecting to get lost. Or eaten by wolves.      

    read more
    sueteodoro 0 Comments

    You May Also Like

    The Camino Cough – it got me!

    October 2, 2017

    Days 1 and 2 – St. Jean to Roncevalles

    September 13, 2017

    Beguiling Burgos

    July 15, 2018

Archives

  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017

Blog Stats

  • 6,923 hits

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Contact me

+6421384355
sueteodoro@gmail.com

Follow Us

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
Ashe Theme by WP Royal.