ANorthumbrianAbroad: I love to go a-wandering

Backpackers in Phnom Penh + Basil George "Wannabe"?*

Please click on the link; switch on your speakers, and sing along!

The Happy Wanderer

I love to go a-wandering,

Along the mountain track,

And as I go, I love to sing,

My knapsack on my back.

Chorus:

Val-deri,Val-dera,

Val-deri,

Val-dera-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha

Val-deri,Val-dera.

My knapsack on my back.

I love to wander by the stream

That dances in the sun,

So joyously it calls to me,

"Come! Join my happy song!

I wave my hat to all I meet,

And they wave back to me,

And blackbirds call so loud and sweet

From ev'ry green wood tree.

High overhead, the skylarks wing,

They never rest at home

But just like me, they love to sing,

As o'er the world we roam.

Oh, may I go a-wandering

Until the day I die!

Oh, may I always laugh and sing,

Beneath God's clear blue sky!

Phnom Penh Riverside, New Year’s Eve, 11.45am

I was relaxing as is my custom with a Beer Lao reflecting on just getting a proposal in to the United States Embassy, when my calmness was abruptly interrupted with a “ting- ting”.

It was Darrin or Sharon Henry with another one of their fascinating tweets, one more flashback to their wanderings earlier this year, and this one by chance was from Cambodia. It was a cute capture of a boy spooning some dessert in to his girl-friend’s eager mouth. Now 11.30 am Phnom Penh is 4.30am Saint Helena. Is there a time delay or are they up at some unearthly hour, nocturnal tweeting?

Tender Moment?

Their welcome tweet made me reflect. What a shame we hadn’t applied for a grant from the same fund for Saint Helena, to help preserve its indigenous culture, before it is assaulted after the new airport opens.

Now some of us have already made that point. We believe that if the “Tourism” experiment is to succeed (Plan A), then it needs to be more ambitious to work (Plan B), and there also needs to be a Plan C, if it doesn’t.

Saint Helena's new precipitous airport

Since writing my piece on that, I have subsequently learned that Cape Town is not to be the base for flights between South Africa and Saint Helena. That seems to be an astonishing decision, given the close ties over hundreds of years. But then commonsense is seldom a factor in overseas aid and development decision-making.

As I sat there pondering, folks kept passing by. Many of them were backpackers. Now unless it has escaped me, I do not recall reading about backpackers in Saint Helena’s tourism plan?

Backpackers can get a bad rap. Unless they are a recycled teenagers like Darrin and Sharon, they are invariably young lads and lasses fresh out-of-school or university making their own way out in to the big wide world, for adventure, before settling down in to conventional work and family-life. So they do tend to “let their hair down”. However that is not the full story.

Backpackers are often the first tourists to discover places. They are happy with whatever they find. They do not demand 5-star service and facilities, the creature comforts of home-from-home. They eat as the locals. Most backpackers budget daily to make their money last. They may not spend a lot but almost every one of their dollars stays in the local economy, unlike those spent in the big hotel chains.

So there should be a place for them literally on Saint Helena.

For the air-service to be viable, only one thing counts: “bums-on-seats”. Flights must be full. So it would make sense to attract tourists of all categories, not just the elite. And Donny would welcome a bigger crowd.

Backpackers settle for modest accommodation, even dormitories. Many can be housed in a fraction of the space, and cost, needed for elite visitors. (See note below.)

So please welcome all wanderers!

If you log in to hear the song, it will ring in your ears all day! Purge with the Wanderer!

A fine view of my native Northumberland on the road from Alnwick to Rothbury over to the Cheviot Hills. Mind you my wanderings tend to go only as far as the Queen’s Head.

Rothbury is just about my favourite village in our Secret Kingdom, and deservedly so.
Tune in here to see and hear why.

Backpacker Hostels

A good website www.hostelworld.com. These are the minimum facilities although many places offer more, such as "de luxe" rooms. a restaurant bar, etc:

Safe and secure
Mix of male and female dormitories plus some double rooms, clean, comfortable bedding.
Communal bathrooms
Communal kitchen/dining space with utensils for basic cooking of snacks
“Hanging out” area to lounge, read, surf internet, recover from last night’s late frolics.

* A "Wannabe"? from the Spice Girls song of that name: "I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want, So tell me what you want, what you really really want, I'll tell you what I want, what I really really want to want...."

SONG FOR NORTHUMBERLAND

Drifting in moonlight,

the dunes sing their songs.

Wings of old battles

fly all night long.

Cry of the seagulls,

curse of the ghosts;

aches of dead warriors

scar this old coast.

Hover the kestrel,

sing out the lark,

we will be free in our time.

This air is our breath,

this sea is our thirst

and our dreams are sailing home.

Wandering through castles,

their walls are our lungs.

Searching for freedom

in country homes.

Forbears and old cares

blown in the wind;

pull of loved harbours

draws our boats in.

Surge of the salmon

and urge of the sea

leaps in our local blood.

Peal of the bluebells

and ring of bold tunes

reel in all those grey years.

Slopes of the Cheviots,

caress of the waves.

Shipwrecks and driftwood

float in our heads.

Pele-stones and carved bones

hide in these hills,

roots of new stories

in ancient tales.

Dew on our lips

and beer on the breath,

drinking the countryside in.

Bread of the landscape

and wine of this earth,

flows on these river beds.