The World Awaits: travel tales to inspire your wanderlust
Where does your wanderlust lead you?
To Melbourne’s cafes or the vast deserts of the Empty Quarter, a New Zealand vineyard or the pavements of New York… what’s your neighbourhood?
Join travel journalists and editors Kirstie Bedford and Belinda Jackson for stories and inside information from across the world.
Hosts Belinda Jackson & Kirstie Bedford
Website <a href="https://theworldawaits.au "> </a>
Instagram @theworldawaitspodcast
Support us https://ko-fi.com/theworldawaits (thank you!)
The World Awaits: travel tales to inspire your wanderlust
EP 95 A river cruise through Laos on the Boheme; the world's most ravishing runway & set-jetting travel; inspo from the TV and movies
"The best way to see the Mekong is slowly," says travel journalist Michael Turtle.
He takes us on a cruise down the river in Laos on board the beautiful new boat Boheme. With only 13 cabins, it runs between the royal city of Luang Prabang and the capital, Vientiane, connecting you to the lifeblood of the country, all while exploring Laos' cuisine and visiting its villages.
"Watch longtail boats, see temples... on a river cruise, you see the river at all times of the day, while people are fishing or swimming," says Michael of the six-day sailing journeys.
For more about the Boheme, visit mekongkingdoms.com and add a stay at the Avani+ Luang Prabang, avanihotels.com And to follow Michael, see timetravelturtle.com
Also, what's the world's most beautiful airstrip? This list of ravishing runways will have you fighting for the window seat. https://www.allcleartravel.co.uk/blog/the-worlds-most-beautiful-airport-landings/
And finally, tap into the set-jetting trend and get your travel inspiration from movies and TV series. We're talking Thailand, Malta and the UK - tune in to see what's filmed where.
This mini-series is brought to you by Avani Hotels & Resorts. With more than 40 properties across five continents, Avani offers city hotels, tropical resorts and retreats in nature. For more, visit avanihotels.com
READING RECOMMENDATIONS
If you'd like to read Belle's story on the young woman shaking up PNG's traditional drumming scene, visit airniuginiparadise.com
Visit us at https://theworldawaits.au
Welcome to The World Awaits. Travel tales to inspire your wanderlust. Welcome back to The World Awaits. This mini-series is brought to you by Avani Hotels and Resorts. With more than 40 properties across five continents, Avani offers city hotels, tropical resorts and retreats in nature. For more, visit avanihotels.com.
SPEAKER_01:Hi everyone, how are you, Belle?
SPEAKER_02:Oh, nothing to see here, my friend. I'm drowning under deadlines. But actually, I had a story come out that I really liked, which I wrote for Paradise, which is the in-flight magazine for Air New Guinea. And it's about this girl who is drumming on traditional P&G drums, which normally is a male thing. So we're seeing this new generation of female drummers coming through in P&G. I just loved it. I thought it was such a great story. It gave me a little chills when I heard it. Good for you. Nice.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So that's probably my high point for the week. What about you?
SPEAKER_01:Love a story where women are promoted. Yeah, and particularly start doing things that, yeah, we're typically male-dominated industries. Not, yeah, not a lot here either, really. Just catching up. But I was going to ask you, so when you fly into a new destination, do you try and look out the window or do you always stick to the aisle?
SPEAKER_02:Listen to me. You will have to prise my cold, dead hands from the window seat. You cannot get me out of the window seat. I'm always looking out the window. I don't care that I've flown there a thousand times. I always take photos of the clouds. I love watching the sun coming up over the clouds. And I love looking at the destinations that I'm visiting. I cannot standing on the aisle and being hit by the dining trolley. And of course, nobody loves the middle seat. So there you go. Window all the way. What about you? Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:I'm absolutely the same. And if you look through my camera, there are so many photos of outside plane window yeah totally a window seat person and especially when it comes to a new destination but on the way home I don't mind an aisle particularly if it's a domestic flight because I've seen Melbourne a lot and and while I adore the city the landing's nothing to rave about but but yeah but we actually have some airport landings for you to write home about because all clear travel has revealed the most beautiful airport landings and there are ones that you definitely do want a window seat for so They analysed which runways caught participants' attention the quickest. They did some data on it, and as well as looking at how long each destination held people's attention, they cross-referenced these metrics to reveal which airport landings are the most beautiful.
SPEAKER_02:That sounds very technical. In the wash-up, the world's most beautiful airport runway went to... our own Lord Howe Island. Now, interestingly, it's also one of the shortest airport runways in Australia because, you know, it's an island. But the report found that travellers spent more time admiring this view than any other. They actually, they put a timestamp on it, which is like 2.64 seconds. That doesn't seem like a long time, does it? But it's not like the plane is circling around before it lands, hovering over Sydney or Melbourne. Well, you'd hope not anyway. The report said that arriving by plane is the only way to access the island. So landing at this UNESCO World Heritage Site is extra special.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And second on the list was actually Queenstown. So look, I'm a bit biased, which listeners will be able to tell from my accent, which I forget I have because I've listened to Australia. I think I sound Australian until the odd person picks me up. But I have to say, it is such an incredible airport to land in. It's really steep, a really steep descent between mountains. So it's really tricky. And pilots actually have to have very specified specialist training to do it. But man, boy, oh boy, are you rewarded because it's just dramatic mountainous scenery that New Zealand's so famed for. And also Lake Wakatipu.
SPEAKER_02:I'm glad that you got to talk about that one because I always get shocked by the Kiwi pronunciation. So if nothing else, Kirsty, you've still got an accent, but you put it to good use. In third place, Madeira Airport came in third. It is also notorious for its challenging approach. But again, the result is some pretty spectacular views of the island's Levada Trails and Green Mountains. And in fourth place was Pitkin County Airport in Colorado, which gives passengers jaw-dropping views of the snow-capped Rockies. I think mountains are quite a feature here. And there's only one departure route possible due to the surrounding mountains blocking the way.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And rounding out the top five was Rio de Janeiro, Santos de Amon Airport in Brazil, and this airport captured attention faster than any other runway in the study at 0.69 seconds. Thanks to its jaw-dropping views of some of the most iconic tourist attractions in the world, including Rio's Christ the Redeemer, as well as the Cocacabana Beach. And if all that's not enough, the airport is also surrounded by sparkling blue waters. And can I also just add one in? It's not on the list, but I just needed to add in that the Cocos Keeling Islands really does deserve a mention because I was there last year and, um, It's not on the list, but this airport doubles as a golf course. That's how infrequent the flights are. And it doesn't deserve a mention just for that. It's actually so spectacular. I was just in awe when we were flying both in and out of this atoll. And because it's an atoll, you get that ring of land and the turquoise teal seal, and it just seems to blend them with the sky. And when you come into land, there's these little cottages that you stay at that are right along the runway. So it's just really special. And you can see my bird's eye view from there on my Insta page, which is Kirstie Writes. Do you have any favourites, Belle?
SPEAKER_02:Super cute. I've actually got quite a few. Staying on the mountain theme, I think flying into Paro in Bhutan. It is notoriously tricky because you come through mountains The plane dips down and flies through a corridor of mountains and it's just quite terrifying. But so you've got the mountains above you. It's really quite amazing. And I think mountains too, flying in and out of Santiago in Chile is the same because you're coming in over the Andes and it's just breathtaking. I think Sydney tourism has made it compulsory for flights to fly over the harbour. So you always get a great view when you fly over Sydney harbour. And sometimes in Cairo, if they take a particular route, they will dip around. I've had this where you fly over the pyramids. That is just amazing. And you think, oh, my God, I'm here. But I've got to say, super dramatic would be Gibraltar Airport. And it reminded me when you were saying that the Cocos Airport doubles the golf course. To get into Gibraltar, you have to walk over the airstrip. So you're actually here at the Spanish side. I'm not sure if you've been there, but you have to walk across the airstrip. to get into the city. And of course, when you fly in and out, you're flying over the Rock of Gibraltar, which is that, and that southern part Southern English and Spanish coastline is really dramatic. So there you go. That's my favorite.
SPEAKER_01:If you walk over the airstrip at Kokok Killing, it's about a$3,000 fine. So you definitely don't want to be walking over the airstrip. They warn you when you come in. And I have to say, Sydney, I agree with you. Sydney is spectacular. Like flying in or out of Sydney and seeing the Sydney Opera House and the Harbour Bridge is just, I'm never tired of seeing that. So we will put a link to all of the world's most beautiful landings in the show notes so you can have a look at them all.
SPEAKER_02:My guest this week is Australian travel journalist Michael Total, who recently sailed down the Mekong River in Laos from Luang Prabang to Vienting on board the beautiful new ship Bohem. Take a listen. Michael, welcome to The World Awaits. It's so exciting to have you on the podcast.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, thanks very much. It's my pleasure.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. So I'm really excited about this week because we are going to take a slow trip down the Mekong. down the Mekong River, which is super exciting. But first, tell us, you're a travel writer, you're a blogger. Tell us a little about yourself and how you ended up on this ship in the first place.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, I've been a travel blogger slash writer for, gosh, 15 years now. Makes me sound old, doesn't it? After I got rid of everything I owned and got a one-way ticket and left Australia after getting sick of being a journalist at the ABC and in commercial TV. And yeah, I've been traveling around a lot. And yeah, this I like to actually do a lot of my own trips and I like to go on longer trips. And so it was just earlier this year that I took myself off to Laos. I hadn't been there since I was a backpacker in my 20s. I was like, you know what, I'm going to go and spend a few weeks there and make my way around the country nice and slowly. And the best way to see the Mekong is slowly. So it was a nice way to... do a bit of bus travel and tuk-tuk travel and train travel, and then also do some boat travel.
SPEAKER_02:And that's why we're coming into this boat, but it's not just any boat. And this is interesting because it's called a boat, not a ship. You were on Bohem, which is an absolutely beautiful, it's like that old vibe ship that just cruises down the Mekong. Tell us a bit about where it starts, where you picked up Bohem and where it ends. So just give us a little Look at where
SPEAKER_00:you say it. Yeah. I don't know why it's a boat and not a ship. It's a funny thing, isn't it? I think people always say a boat can go on a ship, but a ship can't go on a boat. But I still don't know at what point one becomes a boat and one becomes a ship. But anyway, Bohem is a boat. And the size probably is relevant because it's a relatively large vessel, as in it's 50 meters long and it's three decks ice, if people can picture that. But it only has 13 cabins. So although it's relatively large, it's very spacious. And so Bohem, which is run by Mekong Kingdoms, it basically goes between Lang Prabang and Vientiane. So Vientiane being the capital of Laos a bit further south and further north Lang Prabang, which is the sort of old royal capital, a world heritage city with gorgeous collection of hotels and heritage buildings everywhere. And there are a couple of different ways you can do it. And if you're going between Lang Prabang and Vientiane, it basically goes in both directions. So it's a sort of six-day, five-night trip. It goes up the river one week and then down the river the next week. And it does that between September and April, which is basically the dry season, the good season in Laos. And then the rest of the year, when the river can be a little bit low and there are some other issues... It uses Lung Prabang as its base and it goes out on four-day, three-night tours and then comes back to Lung Prabang. So you start and end in the same place. But look, it doesn't really matter which route you do because half the experience is just being on board this absolutely gorgeous boat. It was basically brand new when I got on it. It was only just being rebuilt, renovated and put back in the water. And it's, yeah, as I said, really spacious, but also with this Beautiful kind of natural design. You feel like the landscapes outside just flow naturally into the boat itself with the way it's full of wood, just a hand woven Laotian textiles used to decorate the beds and some of the couches. A lot of outdoor space to sit and have a drink. And the caverns even themselves just have huge windows. The one I was in had a gorgeous cushioned daybed by the window where you can sort of sit and watch things go by and look even the shower has a window so it has a blind don't worry you can put it down but there's something quite nice actually about standing there and having a shower and just watching the world go by along the river outside
SPEAKER_02:amazing i saw actually that one of the One of the 13 cabins has a bath in it as well, which is you can sit and watch the scenery in it. Because that's the whole point of these cruises, isn't it? It's almost an immersion, a slow immersion in the Laotian landscape.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah. The bath is a special one. So I should just quickly clarify there are 13 cabins on board. Twelve of them are quite similar. There's six on one deck and six on the deck below. Pretty similar. The slight difference is that the lower deck ones actually are slightly larger and have a small balcony, whereas the ones on the deck above are slightly smaller, but they're actually considered to be better ones because the view is better. You're not right at water level. Yeah, and then there's this one cabin, the Royal Swirlbeat it's called, which is twice the size of any of the others. along the back. And yeah, it has, as well as having a lot more space and its own big balcony that takes up the whole back of the boat. It also, yeah, has this bath and it has a butler service. I wasn't in that one, unfortunately, but I imagine you could sit in the bath and call your butler for a gin and tonic as you look out on what's going on. But to your point about the landscapes, like actually this isn't a... It is a luxurious cruise, but it's not a so pretentious, luxurious cruise. You don't feel like you're sitting there drinking a gin and a tonic and looking down on the world. You're actually quite connected to it a lot of the time. And part of that is with what you're seeing. It's a bit of a cliche maybe, but the Mekong really is the lifeblood of Laos. Everything for centuries has all revolved around the Mekong. The shape of the country is basically defined by the Mekong, which goes, it creates its western border for a lot of it in the southern part. And there used to be great roads. Everything traveled along the Mekong. And so, yeah, as you go along, what you're seeing outside the windows, whether it's from the dining room or your bedroom or your shower, is the boats going by, the long-tail boats going by. There are temples with their roos popping out from behind palm trees. Unfortunately, people still have a habit of burning their rubbish, which is not great for the environment, but also creates this quite beautiful sort of haze in the air. There's one upside to it. But it's really atmospheric, especially when you're seeing it at sunrise or sunset, which is one of the great things I love about riverboats, that you get to see a river at all times of the day. And when you've got that gorgeous orange glow on the river and there's a slight haze and People are out fishing and little kids are jumping naked into the water and splashing about or playing with a box. That sort of stuff is gorgeous, I think.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, which is interesting because, as you say, sometimes cruises are disconnected to the environment that they're in. And it's only when you get off the ship and go on excursions that you feel that you're actually seeing you becoming part of that country. I guess that the... The location, sailing down the Mekong, which then eventually tips over into Vietnam and then spills out into the East Sea down there, the cuisine would be dictated by what you're selling, by the landscape as well?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, so the food is incredible. It's interesting, you would think that actually just having a fairly small boat with 13 cabins for a maximum of 26 people with a kitchen on board where everything has to be done, you'd think that maybe the meals might be relatively simple, but actually, they were incredibly extravagant. The chef, Cohn, was his name. Cohn is a genius, I think, because he managed to, even for lunch, create these sort of massive four-course feasts for us. Dinner was quite often five courses, everything not only different, but really quite ornate, some of them, and definitely inspired by the local ingredients that you could get. One of the, I've still got the menu here from one of the lunches, so I can tell you what it was. We had a starter of river weed and pork. We then had a sort of soup and salad buffet that had lots of options, including a duck larb, larb being one of the traditional Laotian but Southeast Asian dishes. We had a main course of, you could choose either stir-fried prawns or a traditional sort of braised chicken thing that came in a clay pot. And then the dessert was fresh local fruit and local coconut dumplings. How's that for lunch? That's not even dinner.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, coconut dumplings. You've actually got me signed in on this one. Because Laotian cuisine, it's not something that we... Larb is something that, as you say, you see it through Southeast Asia, but it's not a cuisine that we have a lot of connection with in Australia. You've really got to go seek it. And I think possibly that is what's so intriguing about this journey is that it's one of Southeast Asia's much less explored countries. Everybody's in Thailand. Vietnam is smoking hot right now with all of the access going in there. Nasta seems to slip under the radar really, doesn't it?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, and look, it always has. I mentioned the last time I was in Laos was when I was backpacking quite a long time ago. And I remember even then it seemed like a real adventure to be going in there. Okay, Thailand wasn't quite as busy. Vietnam wasn't on the sort of radar as much and Cambodia as well. But there was a lot of tourism infrastructure to go to those three. Whereas, yeah, Laos back then especially seemed really exotic and remote. And it still is. And there's no, I was about to say there's no good reason, but there are reasons when you start to look into it. And it's mainly about infrastructure and connectivity and stuff like that. I do think probably tourists are less likely to go because it's a landlocked country. When you think of Southeast Asia, you think beaches and islands and that sort of thing. If you want to relax, of course, you're going to go to Thailand because you've got your Koh Samui and your Copenhagen and your Phuket or so on. Vietnam even has some beaches and islands now. Going to Laos is definitely a bit more of a rustic experience. It's more about the culture and the heritage. So that's partly it. And then, as I said, connectivity is another big one. It doesn't have a great international airport that's well-connected to other parts of the world to fly into Vientiane or Luang Prabang. You can do that, obviously. You have to go via Bangkok or Hanoi. There aren't a huge number of flights every day. It's just a little bit harder to do it. And then once you're there, oh my gosh, the roads. The roads. Thankfully, the south is a lot better now because it doesn't really have the mountains. So it's been easy for them to build some decent highways. But the north, like to get between, well, from Lung Prabang, I wanted to go to another town, another city before I went back to the NTR. It was only... I think it was 150 kilometers or something. It took nine hours to drive the 150 kilometers in a bus. Absolutely terrible roads. You're just bumping along at such a slow pace, up and down all the time in the seat. Some of the locals were throwing up, I hate to say. It was that sort of bad. So this is the kind of thing that I think has kept people away. I had a great reason to go on a riverboat. There is a high-speed rail network now, though, that's come in from China and it goes through Lang Prabang and goes down to Vientiane. So there actually are some decent options now, which I think is maybe why we're starting to see a bit more interest and investment in the country as a tourist. If you flew into Lang Prabang, which some people do because it's maybe the northernmost place that a lot of people go to, you can then get the high-speed train down to Vientiane if you want to see Vientiane. And from there, the roads are pretty good if you want to go further south. All the flights are actually pretty Pretty cheap. I flew from Puxi down in the south up to Lung Prabang. It was an hour-long flight or whatever it was,$70 or something like that. That stuff's pretty easy to do as well. Yeah, I can't remember your original question, but the point was, I think that, yes, Laos, I think, has not been on the radar for a while for those kind of reasons, partly because people associate Southeast Asia with beaches and stuff, and also because it's just been hard. But the difficulty is definitely improving, and... Actually, there are islands. If you go right down to the south of the Mekong, there's an area called the 4,000 Islands. So you can go to islands. They're just not ocean islands, but they're river islands. There's a lot there, I think, to explore. And I have to say from my three weeks there a couple of months ago, I liked that there weren't a lot of tourists. I loved that there isn't development everywhere. You're not, okay, there's a bit of a tourist trail you're following, but you don't feel like you're doing that because you have to do it. And You're surrounded by foreigners the whole time. If you want to be a bit local, like I was sometimes, I had to go from one town to a little village. I jumped in the back of the Song Thru, which I always have trouble saying, but those covered pickup trucks that only leave when it's full. So you have to sit there for an hour as it gradually fills up. But the one I got this time It was, you pick it up from the market. And so it was all these women who'd come in from the village to go to the market in the morning, getting back on the song's way to go back to the village. And so as I sat there, one by one, they get on with all their bags and full of sort of vegetables and meat and it's all getting chucked around my feet and they're all gossiping with each other and sharing little treats and stuff. And that was fun. Yes, I'm sure we do get that in Vietnam. I'm in Cambodia and Thailand, but It's not as obvious, I think, because it is easier to get around. You don't necessarily just by default end up in that kind of situation.
SPEAKER_02:That sounds amazing. You've answered all those questions as to why it hasn't gone crazy. But I just love that you're not necessarily going to be running into masses and masses of foreigners while you're traveling and that you can have those very Martian experiences. When you're jumping on and off the ship, and oh my gosh, nine hours to go that distance on a bus, that is a very good reason to use, as you say, the original road, which is the Mekong, the lifeblood, but also the highway of the country. When you're on the ship, do you have those sorts of experiences? Because one of the things I think of when I think of Laos is I think of the offerings to monks every morning that takes place all around the country. So can you get those sorts of experiences when you're on board?
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, yeah, definitely. So look, if you take an example of a trip that, let's say, goes from Lang Prabang down to Vientiane on the Bohem, Lang Prabang is probably one of the most famous places for the almsgiving that you're talking about with the monks. It's early in the morning, just before sunrise. You have literally hundreds of monks in their saffron robes walking through the streets. A lot of locals still come and give them alms, but also even as a tourist, you can get involved with that. And people doing the Bohem cruise normally would stay at the Avani Plus, one of the hotels in town the night before, because they're associated with the cruise. So if you stay at the Avani Plus, then you'll have the opportunity in the morning to do that and to join in. They'll help you find a good spot to see some of that local tradition. Once you're on the boat and you're heading along the river, Until you get to Vientiane, there aren't many big cities. So what you're actually doing is pulling into small villages. So you're seeing a really different type of Laotian life compared to the big cities where maybe people who fly between would only go. For instance, we pull into a little paper-making village where for generations people there have made paper and you get out and you do a bit of a workshop and learn about that, try the tea that's made, different types of tea, I should say, because there's lots of different types of tea made with different ingredients. That's really lovely. We pulled in at a pottery village where 400 years ago, they started making ceramics for the royalty in Lung Prabang. And still now, there's this tradition of making pottery. And again, you get to try getting a piece of clay and trying to make something. They've got a little shelf there of plates and bowls and cups and stuff. So you can pull one off the shelf and say, this is what I'm going to make. So I I pulled off a teacup and tried to make my teacup, which actually turned into a wonky bowl, probably. I'm terrible at pottery. Everything turns out looking like an ashtray. I don't know. I wish people smoked still these days because I make a lot of ashtrays when everyone's doing pottery.
SPEAKER_02:I was about to say, when in doubt, turn it into an ashtray and you'll find it. I have made many ashtrays in my time. Definitely.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. Yeah. So. The lovely thing with both of those is that the boat actually, as I said, isn't that large. And the Mekong has been a highway for so long that all you do is the boat just pulls up to the side of the river amongst reeds or whatever. You jump onto the little path there and you walk a couple of minutes and you're in the village. So it's not even some river cruises or certainly like ocean cruises where, you know, It's such a hassle to pull into a port and wait until everything's ready and get off and board a minibus and be taken off for your tour. Literally, you're in the village within 60 seconds of arriving on shore because you just jump off, walk through the reeds, and there you are. And even some of the sites along the way, there are a lot of absolutely beautiful, stunning, natural attractions along the way. And some of them are fantastic. because they're so good, worth going to, even though they're slightly away from the river, and you do jump into a little minibus and go off there. There's a really famous one, Pak'u Caves, it's called, which is literally on the river. You pull up on a little jetty where the caves are, and these are these sort of quite big, dramatic limestone cliffs with a couple of caves inside the cliffs where there are thousands of golden Buddhas that have been placed there over the centuries and worshipped, and it's It's quite a special experience to go into these naturally beautiful caves, but also very culturally significant and almost quite spiritual to see all the statues there. So again, that's something that you're in the caves within 60 seconds after the boat stops moving. And that's something really lovely, I think, about Laos that, you know, you can do that, but so much of what you want to see, whether it's the people or the nature or the heritage, are attached to the river. So from a boat, you get great easy access to it all.
SPEAKER_02:I just love river cruising for that reason, that absolute connection to it, the intimacy of it, and such a small boat as well. I keep going to say ship, but it's not a ship, it's a boat.
SPEAKER_00:You can call it a ship, I'm sure, but no one will care.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, someone will hunt me down. But yeah, absolutely beautiful. It's a gorgeous design. So I reckon, I think that sounds like just an absolutely perfect way of exploring a country that otherwise sounds like it's quite challenging at times to get around and takes a lot of that difficulty around it. Now I'm going to, I just want to keep talking about sailing down the Mekong all day, but we have time. So I'm going to ask you our last question that we ask all our guests, which is, and I reckon this is going to be a cracker. I'm going to ask you what your most bizarre travel experience is.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, it's a hard question. I know you warned me you were going to ask me this. And I, I know it's like I traveled. Nomadically, for about 10 years, so many weird, bizarre things happened to me that, honestly, I can't go past. The strangest thing was my most bizarre travel experience is a whole country. And that whole country is North Korea. Went to North Korea on a 10-day tour. And although I won't tell you all about it, we could do that on another episode if you want, but I can't tell you all about it. The reason it was such a bizarre travel experience is because you have... two guides with you the whole time who are lying to you constantly. Basically, normally you go on a trip or a tour and the tour guides are great. They're telling you all about the country and you're learning this or that. Not in North Korea. They're just two propaganda agents and they're lying to your face. They're lying. They know they're lying. But this is their job to tell you how wonderful everything is. And just as One example, we were going along on a bus at one point in a rural area and I'd heard somewhere that people do a bit of gold panning there, that there is some gold in the river, they can pan gold and find some stuff that they can sell. I look down and I see that happening and I'm at the front of the bus near one of the guides and I say, oh, what's happening down there? And he looks down and obviously he'd never been asked this before, so I have to think on his face and he's, oh, the people here in this part of North Korea have so much gold jewelry that they go down to wash it in the river because they're proud of it and want to look after it. And he's like, yes, that was good. And I sort of a few minutes later moved to the back of the bus and said to the other guy, what's happening down there? And she looked down and had to come up with an answer as well. And so quickly she's like, the trout is so plentiful in the river that people can just go down with a pan and catch them straight out of the water. Yes, that's what it is. That's what it is. And And it's like this for a week or so, just getting these crazy stories. But look, whatever you think about the ethics of going to North Korea or not, this is part of the experience. This is what I actually really enjoyed was just to see how it works. And everything, everything about it is bizarre.
SPEAKER_02:Phenomenal, phenomenal. I've always wanted to, I've been up onto the DMZ on the South Korean side, but I reckon we'll have to get you back to tell us a little more about traveling in North Korea because that just, that is a bit of a mind blower. Michael, thank you so much for your time. And thanks for taking us down the Mekong. It's been a real pleasure to take a little slow journey just for a snapshot in our lives. And thanks so much for coming on to The World Awaits.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah, look, my pleasure. Look, I don't want Laos to get too busy. I don't want everyone to go because that's part of its charm. But hopefully we've inspired a couple of people to go and check it out because it really is a beautiful country, not too far away from Australia. So it's worth going to see it, I reckon.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. Thanks again.
SPEAKER_00:Thank you.
SPEAKER_01:I loved hearing travel journalist Michael Turtle's most bizarre moment and can't wait to hear more about that trip to North Korea. And in the meantime, if you want to follow in his footsteps on this remarkable luxury river cruise on board BOEM, go to mekongkingdoms.com and make sure you stay at the Avani Plus Langprabang, which, as Michael said, is one of the most famed places to give alms to the monks on the streets at sunrise. Go to avanipluslangprabang.com barneyhotels.com and we'll put those links in the show notes.
SPEAKER_02:Our tip this week is how to tap into the set jetting trend, which is where travelers visit destinations they've seen on the silver screen. And sometimes the destinations really are the star of the show, aren't they, Kirsty?
SPEAKER_01:They are like, think of the Lord of the Rings trilogy in the early 2000s, which gave tourism to New Zealand a bigger shot in the arm. And Aotearoa is still known as Lord of the Rings country. And the biggest movie at the moment, of course, towards bi-travel would have to be the US drama White Lotus with fans of the series flocking to the filming sites for the third series. Because the third one is actually shot in Thailand and it was shot across five resorts. And probably the most synonymous with White Lotus in Thailand would be the three Anantara properties where it featured.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, so the drama series was already a hot one. On the set jetting trend with the first two series, the first one was filmed in Four Seasons Hotels in Maui, Hawaii, and that was in season one, and then gorgeous Tiamina, Sicily in the second season. So to the third, if you are looking for filming locations, keep an eye out for the jewellery store and the lobby of the Anantara Boput Koh Samui, the stinging lounge in another Anantara hotel in Koh Samui, the Luana, and the spa at the Anantara Maekau in Phuket. But White Lotus isn't the only series that has inspired us to travel, is it?
SPEAKER_01:No, gosh, there's so many. And if you scoop back a couple of episodes, actually, you'll hear Belle talking about how this year is the 100th anniversary of the great American novel, The Great Gatsby, which was set on Long Island in the 1920s and has had movies starring Robert Redford and later Leonardo DiCaprio, which is Includes multiple Long Island mansions and you can still visit them all today and Belle does an interview about that a couple of episodes back. And also Emily in Paris was a massive hit too. My gosh, the amount of tours and itineraries that were created around that Netflix rom-com were just absolutely remarkable.
SPEAKER_02:It was ridiculous. If you're into horror, which I've got to say I'm not, you can't go past Romania. Stay with me here. It's already got that history of grim stories because this is the home of Dracula and you can go and visit the castles and stuff. Movies most recently set here include the latest remake of the gothic horror movie Nosferatu. Super spooky. And I've got to say, it's a kind of spooky country in all. But this trend is not just for grown-ups either. I was in Paris a couple of years ago, and my then-tween daughter asked me if we could visit certain cafes and patisseries. And I was like, wah, where are we talking about? She was picking them up in a kids' series, Ladybug and Cat Noir. But then staying with new releases, I watched Paddington in Peru on my last long haul flight and it made me want to head straight back to Peru to see the Amazon and its rushing rivers. Although I've got to say, I don't need the shipwrecks scene. Although maybe if Antonio Banderas is there, I possibly could endure it.
SPEAKER_01:Malta is also having its time in the sun right now with the recent release of Gladiator 2. And the country says it's had a huge upswing in visitor numbers with travelers going there to explore the fortresses. on the Little Island Nation off the coast of Italy. And in the streets of its capital, Valletta, it also featured in the new Jurassic Park movie, Rebirth, which is due out in a couple of weeks. And going back to my homeland, the South Island city of Dunedin is the location for a new film adaptation of the John Steinbeck movie, novel, sorry, East of Eden. So that's going to be a great one to watch when it comes out next year. And if you think you're watching scenes in Idaho and the new Minecraft movie starring Jack Black, that's actually New Zealand's largest city, Auckland, where I grew up.
SPEAKER_02:There you go. Who knew you grew up in Idaho? And other ones to watch include... So we're going to the UK now. Bridgerton Series 4 out next year. I am a crazy Bridgerton fan. And that reignites our love of the streets of Mayfair in London. And the new Bridget Jones diary made about the boy, which was out earlier this year, that showcases the Lakes District. And I have to mention The Salt Path, the new movie I saw just a week or two ago. It has just been released in Australia. And it is about walking the southwest coast of that in Somerset, Devon and Cornwall in southern England. Just Glorious and One for King Walkers. And we'll put those films and locations in the show notes for you.
SPEAKER_01:If you'd like to help support our production costs, you can buy us a coffee at coffee.com slash theworldawaits. That's ko-fi.com slash theworldawaits so we can continue to bring you inspirational travel interviews with the world's best. Next week, my guest is Belle. I'm putting my co-host in the interview seat as we chat about her recent travels in the little North African country of Tunisia. So tune in for that one.
SPEAKER_02:And if you enjoyed this episode, please give us a rating and a review. On Apple Podcasts, click on our profile, scroll down to the bottom to ratings and reviews. And if you're on Spotify, go to our main page and click the three dots underneath our photo. You can also find us on Instagram, Twitter, And on Facebook, just search for The World Awaits, or simply drop us a line at hello at theworldawaits.au. We love nothing more than hearing from our listeners. That's a wrap for The World Awaits this week. Click to subscribe anywhere you listen to your favourite pods. Thanks for listening. See you next week.
