Alison Stewart's Blog, page 12

Vietnam’s Tra Su bird sanctuary – a little piece of paradise

Vietnam’s magical 1500-hectare Tra Su Bird Sanctuary, with its core 850 hectares of mainly cajeput (melaleuca) forest, is a gem in a country that crams 94 million people into a skinny dragon-shaped area less than half the size of NSW.

Here’s my story, published in April 2016 in The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age Travellers or read it here:

http://www.traveller.com.au/vietnams-tra-su-bird-sanctuary-a-piece-of-paradise-go364u#ixzz4BQUn3IHE

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New Orleans – let the good times roll!

Join me on a cycle around New Orleans’ Creole neighbourhoods with the quirky Confederacy of Cruisers!

Here’s my story published in April 2016 in The Sydney Morning Herald Traveller and The Melbourne Age Traveller or you can read it online here:

http://www.traveller.com.au/confederacy-of-cruisers-new-orleans-by-bike-go38ff

The Lover’s House, Sa Dec, Vietnam

In Vietnam’s Mekong Delta town of Sa Dec, you will find wonderful food market and the flower markets beloved of the Vietnamese during the Tet Vietnamese New Year Festival. Less well known is the Lover’s House.

This house in all its ornate, shadowy excess, embodies the doomed days of French colonialism and provides a little window into the country’s complex history.

The Lover House is the former home of 27-year-old Huynh Thuy Le, son of a wealthy Chinese family, who had a love affair with a 15-year-old French schoolgirl in the late 1920s, early 1930s.

The young girl was Marguerite Duras who later used the experience to inspire the writing of her 1984 Prix Goncourt-winning, best-selling novel, The Lover (L’Amante) that has been translated into 43 languages and has sold 2.4 million copies.

The two began a love affair that inspired Duras’s 1984 Prix Goncourt-winning best-selling novel, The Lover (L’Amante).

My story was published in Fairfax Media’s The Sydney Morning Herald Traveller and Melbourne Age Traveller and you can see it below, or read the online version here:

 

 

The Mekong – one river, many worlds

Sailing the Mekong River is a wonderful way to experience Cambodia and Vietnam.

Here’s my story published in The Sydney Morning Herald/Melbourne Age Traveller on April 9, 2016 on joining the luxurious Scenic Spirit for one of their first journeys from Siem Reap to Saigon – a rich and satisfying journey of discovery.

You can also read the online version here: http://www.traveller.com.au/cruising-...

 

Pullman Rail Journeys ’50s style

Here’s a more civilised way to travel south across the United States!

If you find the screenshot hard to read, you can also read it online here:

http://www.traveller.com.au/off-the-beaten-track-gnqgjz

 

Jack London State Historic Park

It’s the Jack London State Historic Park’s centenary this year – visit if you can.

Not a mere walk in the park, this beautiful place, which we hiked through on our 10-day Wine Country Trekking self-guided luxury trek from San Francisco to the wine country of Sonoma, was breathtaking.

And as a childhood fan of Jack London’s books (particularly White Fang and Call of the Wild), this was also a journey into the short life of a brilliant man.

My story was published in The Sun-Herald/Sunday Age Traveller on February 20-21. Here is the print edition:

Or you can read it online here:

http://www.traveller.com.au/travel-jack-london-historic-park-is-entrancing-stop-on-sonoma-wine-country-trek-gmu072

 

My beloved Cape Town

On Valentine’s Day, The Sydney Morning Herald/Melbourne Age Traveller put together seven writers’ paeans to their cities of desire. Mine was my beloved Cape Town, but other writers have chosen Buenos Aires, Paris, Rome, Los Angeles, Esfahan and, er, Winnipeg.

Here’s a screenshot of my Cape Town offering:

To read the entire story, go to the online version:

http://www.traveller.com.au/destination-love-letters-gmohec

 

Biltmore – Sumptuous Dream Chateau

High in the mountains of North Carolina is a lovely French-style chateau.

Unlike a traditional chateau, however, this is an entirely American one, with all the mod cons. You can read my story on Biltmore House, Published in The Sydney Morning Herald/Melbourne Age Traveller on February 14 in the print edition here:

Or read it online here (probably more easily):

http://www.traveller.com.au/the-dream-house–biltmore-gmoa2t

 

Hiking the San Andreas Fault from San Francisco – a luxury hike with just a bit of terror

We’ve just completed an absolutely enchanting hike from San Francisco through Marin County and into the wine country of Sonoma. What a blast!

It’s a 10-day, self-guided luxury Wine Country Trek that takes in San Francisco and surrounds, the lovely village of Saucelito, up into the coastal ranges to Muir Beach, then Mount Tamalpais, Muir Woods, Mill Valley, the Point Reyes Peninsula and Olema, Tamales Bay, then into that gorgeous Valley of the Moon, Sonoma.

It’s a changing landscape of great interest, which took us from dune scrub to coastal hills, oak woodlands, old-growth redwood forests, chaparral ridges, canyons, cliffs, estuaries and vineyards. Throw in fine food, excellent lodgings and wine and you have one fine trek.

It was published in The Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age Travellers on January 23-24. Here it is:

The (somewhat easier-to-read) online version is here: http://www.traveller.com.au/hiking-san-franciscos-san-andreas-fault-gm6fp3#ixzz3yEjF3ASM

 

 

 

 

Three-minute guide to Chicago

Chicago, with its bold architecture and rich cultural and sporting life, just feels right. Read my beginner’s guide here, published on January 15, 2016 in The Sydney Morning Herald/Melbourne Age Traveller:

http://www.traveller.com.au/chicago-the-threeminute-guide-gm1nq0

And here it is again: