Category: Uncategorized
Posted on 8 Aug, 2019
Flying from A to B is certainly convenient, but what do we lose when we skip over the places in between? To travel overland towards a distant horizon is to experience a part of the world for yourself, up close and personal…
Air travel has revolutionised the way we experience the world. Today we have become accustomed to the drama of exchanging one country and city for another; swapping London’s city streets for Marrakesh’s medina or switching Hong Kong’s hills for the foothills of the Himalayas – all in the course of a few hours.
Travel overland and you exchange this swift convenience for something quite different; the romance of bygone times and the adventure of discovering the places that lie between the airports. The overland traveller witnesses the gradual shifts and sudden changes as one land merges and slips into another, drawn onwards as the road unspools towards a distant horizon.
At On the Road, we are passionate about exploring the world overland. All our driving holidays are designed to offer the best experience of the lands that lie between arrival and departure points. Yet few encompass such dramatic changes as Lands of Silk and Snow, a 16-day journey that spans tropical South-East Asia and the icy heights of Tibet.
Until relatively recently, this journey would have taken a month or more – plus several months of preparation and logistical legwork. Fortunately, modern-day travellers can enjoy both the thrill of travelling overland and the comforts of reliable cars and an ever-improving road network – and On the Road’s guests have the added bonus of avoiding the paperwork.
On the Road in poor northern Lao…
It is only by travelling this route overland that one learns how the tropics’ lush, gentle continuity disappears quite suddenly on the drive to Kunming; how the long parallel valleys of northwest Yunnan are home to a patchwork of ethnic groups and amazing biodiversity; and how Tibetan culture has overcome staggering geographical challenges to spread from Yunnan to the edge of Central Asia.
And yet, for all that changes along this route, there are also elements that bind it together. From Laos to Lhasa the main religion is Buddhism – albeit of different schools. Everywhere between Dali and Luang Prabang once belonged to a single kingdom. The waters of the Mekong gather the journey together at several points like a purse-string, from Luang Prabang, where the river flows slow and stately, to eastern Tibet where the young river tumbles wildly out of the mountains.
Pity the poor traveller who flies over all this! In our busy times of direct flights and high-speed trains, it truly is a luxury to experience a long-distance overland journey, and to see a portion of the earth’s surface up close and personal, and to meet people along the route, at every turn learning that for all that separates us, there is as much that binds us together.
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Join us on Lands of Silk and Snow
Full journey details available here
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Posted on 28 Jun, 2019
Every language and culture has a handful of meaning-rich words and phrases that resist translation. As we put together our first journey in Japan, one such term that cropped up repeatedly was mono no aware. Journey designer, Angie Koong looks at what it means and how mono no aware will help you to savour the moment…
Posted on 13 Dec, 2018
Posted on 27 Aug, 2018
A temple, shrine or monastery sits at the heart of almost every community on the Tibetan Plateau. Jo James steps inside to learn more…
Continue reading Posted on 24 Nov, 2017
On the Road’s founder, Peter Schindler, revisits Norway and considers the interplay between the country’s spectacular scenery and its people…
Posted on 14 Feb, 2017
In this Issue:
(you may click the titles to get to the section you would like to read.)
- What made 2016 and the Year of the Monkey special
- A decade ago at On the Road
- Where we’ve been: New Itineraries in 2016
- Where we’re going: New Destinations for 2017
- Where would you like to go?
- New Car Choices and Partners in Asia
- The most memorable moments happen on Detours: Our Blog
- The people making On the Road work
- Our 2017 Scheduled Journeys
What made 2016 and the Year of the Monkey special
Here at On the Road, 2016 and the Year of the Monkey was filled with more initiatives, events and activities than ever before. From hosting more private journeys to visiting new destinations and researching new routes; from launching a new website to welcoming new members to our team, it was, indeed, a busy year.
However, is was something less tangible that made the year memorable for me. My happiest moment was being told by one of our guests that, “traveling with On the Road feels like traveling with a friend!” For the first time in 2016, all of our guests were either referred to us by a friend or repeat customers. For more of what our travelers say about us, see this page of our website.
In 2016, we got to the point where we are able to host journeys entirely in German and Mandarin, alongside English. As a result, we’ve been able to welcome groups of ever greater diversity, from helping a couple to celebrate a special anniversary to taking twenty members of a car club cruising through Europe. If you have an idea for a journey of your own with a private departure date, please get in touch to see how we can help.
But for me, 2016 is most noteworthy for something that that didn’t happen: I didn’t host a single journey in Asia. In September 2005, I went on my first driving holiday in beautiful south-west China with photographer Ron Yue and a group of friends. I quickly got hooked, and in 2006 I hosted On the Road’s first journey. Since then, I’ve hosted many journeys in Asia, but numbers have gradually declined until this year, when I hosted none. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I’m unable to do everything as our company grows. On the other hand, when one of a previous guest showed me a photobook they created after their journey to Thailand with us, I got more homesick with every page I turned.
So have I retired now? Not at all! Instead, I’ve turned my attention to Europe and have discovered more “hidden gems” than I saw in 22 years of living there when I was young. Whether it’s eating at restaurants such as Antonia Klugmann’s L’Argine a Vencò (in Friuli, Italy), or staying in hotels such as The Golden Well in Prague, or “testing out” activities such as truffle hunting in Croatia or the Lipizzaner Stud farm in Slovenia, each and every time I’m overwhelmed by the feeling of “I can’t wait to share this with our guests!”
For the year ahead, my hope is that as we continue to grow and evolve, On the Road does not lose the touch that makes a trip with us feel like a trip with a friend.
Our warmest thanks for your continued interest in, and support of On the Road Experiences.
Peter for the On the Road Team
A decade ago at On the Road
2007 was one of the most exciting and nerve-wrecking years of my life. This was the year I drove Miss Daisy (a yellow Caterham 300) 21,000km through China, from the mouth of the Yangtze in Shanghai to its source in Qinghai. It was an adventure two-and-a-half years in the making, and one that I will never forget. The idea for On the Road in China (as we were called during the early days) was born during that trip – 104 days from sea level to 5,300m altitude, from scorching 40 degrees Celsius down to minus 10, all in an open-top car with no air-conditioning. “What an amazing country,” I thought, “in a modern car, anyone could enjoy it.” From a single itinerary in south-west China On the Road has become what it is today.
Where we’ve been: New Itineraries in 2016
Yunnan through a Lens: Red Earth and Fields of Gold –
We launched this photography journey with Ron last spring and quickly received great feedback. To see the vivid red earth of Dongchuan, the golden rapeseed fields of Luoping and the glittering rice terraces of Yuanyang all at their best is a photographer’s dream and we offer it again departing on March 3, 2017.
Family Adventures: Travel Photography in Yunnan –
An old itinerary with a new twist. Over Easter this year, five families joined a new itinerary that combines all the fun of our child-friendly journeys with an educational element – travel photography workshops as you go, giving the whole family a chance to engage in a shared and meaningful activity! We will offer this journey again over Easter 2017.
A Burmese Journey: From the Golden Triangle to the Bay of Bengal –
I have dreamed of offering a road journey through Burma since 2010. Finally, this year, Mareen has worked hard to put it all together and we launched our first journey in this beautiful country in November. Again, the feedback from our guests was fantastic, and we look forward to running this and more itineraries in the future. We will offer this journey again on November 4, 2017.
Here’s a review from one of our customer, Christine Peter, from our last trip – “It is absolutely amazing! You manage every day to surprise us even more. How on earth did you make a picnic appear in the middle of absolutely nowhere?”
Elephants and Parasols: From Vientiane to the Golden Triangle –
Some of our most popular journeys are the ones that cross borders, perhaps because there is a certain romance in crossing Asian borders overland. However, many guests have told us that they wish we’d offer a shorter trip at an affordable price. This journey is our response to these requests. Enjoy a cross-country, overland journey weekend-to-weekend, staying in wonderful boutique hotels and giving you a taste of exotic northern Laos and Thailand. The next departure date is on April 1, 2017.
Austrian-Hungarian Lands I: Salzburg, Northern Italy, the Adriatic Sea, the Alps, and Vienna –
On our first scheduled European journey, you will tour what was once the heart of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Explore stylish and historic European cities, including Salzburg, Vienna and Ljubljana; and drive beautiful roads over mountains, through vineyards and along gorgeous stretches of Mediterranean coastline. Stay in wonderful hotels both big and small, discover delicious local cuisines and meet the people and artisans who make this region so varied and vibrant. Next departure date is on June 24, 2017.
And back to Tibet…
After a hiatus of a few years, we are re-launching our journeys from Lhasa to Mt. Everest Base Camp (Contact us for dates!) and offering an entirely new journey from Luang Prabang in Laos to Lhasa (May 5, 2017). The former offers a great and adventurous experience of travel in Tibet, while the latter – a drive from the tropics to the Himalayas – promises to be one of our most exciting journeys yet.
Where we’re going: New Destinations for 2017
Laos and Cambodia
We’re in the early stages of planning a new journey that will wind south from Vientiane through Laos to the enchanting archaeological sites and atmospheric colonial towns of Cambodia.
Nordic Trails and Fjords: Denmark, Sweden and Norway
Norway prides itself on being powered by nature and is one of the greenest countries on earth, and it has a legitimate claim to this: did you know that Norway produces 2.5 times as much power from renewables per capita than the runner-up, Canada? And did you know that Norway is by far the biggest importer of Tesla as a percentage of new car sales?
Scandinavia will charm you with fabulous landscapes, lovely boutique hotels, amazing back roads (paradise for open-top cars in the summer), and fine food. (And why not combine it with an excursion to see the Northern Lights?)
Wines of the Alps
Perfect for wine lovers who want to broaden their horizons, the terroirs of the Alps – from the Austrian regions of Wachau, Burgenland and Styria to the Swiss wine-growing regions of Lavaux, Valais, Grison and Ticino, plus many in between – have inspired wine makers to create extraordinary wines with unusual varietals. Our journeys through these regions will be designed for food- and wine-lovers, moving at a slower pace and incorporating visits to fascinating vineyards and artisan producers of the regions finest foodstuffs.
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Where would you like to go?
We are dreaming about new destinations for 2018 and beyond, and would love to hear your thoughts. From expanding our European portfolio of journeys, to venturing onto an entirely continent, the world is our oyster! Where would you like to see us go next?
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New Car Choices and Partners in Asia
One of the pleasures of driving in Europe is that a wide variety of cars is available to rent. In the regions of Asia that we cover the choice has been much more limited. Happily, this is slowly changing, and – thanks to our partnership with DCH Motor Leasing China – we are now able to offer a range of Audis for our journeys in China and beyond. Another trend is that rental companies are beginning to offer vastly improved insurance coverage that makes crossing borders into other countries a less daunting undertaking than it used to be. Avis in Laos is one example, and we’re working with them more frequently for precisely this reason.
The most memorable moments happen on Detours: Our Blog
In 2015 we launched the On the Road blog, calling it Detours since, in our experience, the most memorable events occur when we take a detour. Here are a few highlights from our posts thus far:
The people making On the Road work
Of all that we have accomplished over the years, what fills me with greatest pride is the team that we have brought together.
While we come from wildly varying backgrounds, what we have in common is genuine caring for each other and our travelers. Just yesterday, I sent a “Safe Travels!” message to Zoe (one of our guides) and Mr. Bai (one of our drivers) since I knew that they were about to welcome guests at Kunming airport. Zoe replied with the photos to the right.
I was moved by her thoughtfulness; I was also filled with pride that this happened without my involvement or guidance. I’m confident that this was not only the act of Zoe and Mr. Bai – I didn’t ask – but somehow the result of On the Road’s prevailing spirit: to think of things big and small to make every journey day a special one.
Our entire team is presented on our About us page; and I’d like to share again a behind-the-scenes video about the mad, bad, fab On the Road team…!
Our 2017 Scheduled Journeys
For 2017, we have scheduled a wide variety of itineraries…
- in different regions and countries: Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, China, Austria, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia and Italy.
- for different appetites of adventure or comfort of different lengths (from 6 to 16 days)
We hope to see you soon!
Posted on 5 Dec, 2016
Everyone who has been on an On the Road trip with our super-guide Nancy Wu will understand why she is our first On the Road Star. With a wicked sense of humour, bags of energy, an encyclopaedic knowledge of Yunnan’s people and places, and peacock dancing skills that are in a class of their own, she has given many of us happy memories from our journeys with her. I sat down to talk with her about her and her work:
First of all, why did you become a tour guide?
Not the reason you might think! I’ve always liked using language as a tool and working with people – the worst job for me would be working alone in an office. When I was a child I would always sign up for public speaking opportunities and debate teams, and originally I wanted to be a lawyer. But my father told me that I would never look the part, because I’m too short! That might sound silly, but Chinese people care about things like that, so I started thinking about other options. By then I was studying English at university, and tourism was taking off in Yunnan, so I decided to train as a tour guide. My mother used to organise trips for a workers’ organisation, so perhaps I took some inspiration from travelling with her when I was little…
And now that you’ve been doing it for 15 years, what do you love most about your job?
I really enjoy introducing things that I find beautiful to my guests, and sharing with them. I learn from them and they learn from me! As we travel we all become friends and I’m able to interpret Chinese culture for them, and maybe correcting misunderstandings that people from overseas have about China.
What’s the worst part of your job?
The worst part of my job is related to the best part! When I’m travelling, I often come across Chinese people doing things in an… uncultured way, just because they don’t know any better. It drives me crazy, because I want to show off the best of Chinese culture, and don’t want my guests to think that we’re all uncultured! Sometimes I can help to improve whatever it is they’re doing badly, and sometimes I end up feeling embarrassed and caught in the middle. I understand why they’re doing it, but I can also see things from my guests’ perspective. So all I can do is to try and communicate with both!
How did you learn the Dai peacock dance?
My mother liked dancing, and I often went to watch dance performances with her. So I’ve enjoyed dancing ever since I was little, but I’ve never studied formally. I just taught myself the peacock dance, but I’d be a lot better at it if I’d started when I was younger.
What are you favourite places in Yunnan?
Jianshui! Jianshui is one of the places I like best – I prefer small towns with their own character to big cities. In Jianshui the people are very cultivated, the pace of life is nice and slow, and – very importantly – the food is good. Then I like Xishuangbanna (again the food is delicious) and Dali. Near Kunming, I like Shilin [the Stone Forest] and Qiongzhu Si [Bamboo Temple] the best – one is full of visitors, the other is very quiet and peaceful, and you can sit and drink tea…
And which of On the Road’s itineraries do you like most?
The one with Jianshui in it! Haha… I really enjoy the drive from Jianshui via Yuanyang and Jiangcheng to Xishuangbanna, then on to Thailand [“From Yunnan to the Lanna Kingdom”]. But I also like the new Burmese itinerary, perhaps because my mother was half-Burmese…
Finally, you always seem to know the best restaurants to visit and the tastiest dishes to order – and your cooking is great too! What do you like to eat most?
Barbecue! Spicy barbecued fish is one of my absolute favourite things to eat, but barbecue restaurants here sell lots of different dishes – rice noodles, different vegetable dishes, meat and fish. As long as it’s spicy, I love it. When Peter took me to Europe, I was dying for something good and spicy to eat! [Smacks lips.]
Thank you, Nancy!
Posted on 17 Nov, 2016
On my first trip to China I kept hearing rumours about Laos, which at that time – mid-1999 – was still very much off the beaten track.
“The roads are all dirt tracks, and you’ll spend weeks getting rust-red dust out of your hair,” one fellow backpacker told me, knowingly. I had only recently discovered that such a country existed, so these survivors’ stories of epic bus journeys and remote villages combined with my near-absolute ignorance in a way that left me longing to hop over the border and explore.
Distracted by university and work, it wasn’t until 2007 that I finally managed to arrange a trip to Laos. Escaping the greyness of a Beijing winter, my husband and I flew to Kunming, caught a bus to Jinghong and took a minibus to the border at Mohan.
We negotiated our exit from China, and took a van across the few hundred metres of “no man’s land” that separates the two border posts. The Lao checkpoint fitted my idea of how it ought to look perfectly; a series of ramshackle huts where sullen officials stamped our passports with an improbable number of rubber stamps.
Once finished with the formalities, we clambered into a songthaew (an overgrown tuk-tuk where passengers sit facing each other on two benches inside), and drove off into the afternoon sunshine towards Luang Namtha, giddy with the excitement of being somewhere fresh and new.
We spent the next five weeks travelling the length of Laos by bus and songthaew. After the border checkpoint had confirmed my expectations, the rest of the country came as a surprise; more beautiful than I had pictured, less developed than I anticipated, and more fun to explore than I had imagined.
Photo: Alexander Steffler
In Luang Namtha we discovered Lao food. In a thatched hut in the rice fields, our hiking guide produced a delicious lunch of herb-filled larb salad and sticky rice all wrapped in banana leaves, a meal that we still talk about to this day. We slurped steaming bowls of rice noodles in a street stall, tried chilli-spiked river fish grilled over an open fire in the night market and breakfasted on baguettes stuffed with cheese and sausage, locally-grown coffee and plates of juicy tropical fruit. Like hobbits, we took to having multiple meals – first and second breakfasts (on one occasion finding space for a third), first and second lunches, dinner and perhaps an evening snack or two.
Photo: McKay Savage
After travelling through the country’s beautiful, rural north, where villagers’ income seemed to derive from drying grasses to make brooms, we arrived in Luang Prabang one evening to find its colonial villas converted to chic hotels and well-heeled tourists mingling with scruffy backpackers like ourselves in the night market. By day, it was clear to see what had drawn people to this elegant town, its neat grid of streets lined alternately with ornate monasteries and faded Indochinese villas. All this lies nestled amongst forest-clad hills on a tongue of land formed by the confluence of two rivers, the town as blessed by geography as it has been by history.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
Father south, the workaday town of Vang Vieng – which grew up around a Vietnam War-era US air strip – had just established itself as a backpackers’ favourite, thanks to its beautiful surroundings and a handful of bars showing Friends on loop. We floated down the Nam Song River in the shadow of jagged limestone karst hills and slept to a chorus of croaking frogs that lived in our hotel’s lily pond.
By the time we reached Vientiane, the monochrome of Beijing’s winter streets was a distant memory. It came as a shock to drive past the country’s only “factory” – a small water bottling plant on the outskirts of the capital – our first brush with anything even remotely industrial since we had left China.
The Laotian capital seemed impossibly small and quiet for a capital city. We cycled along the wide boulevards, dined at the city’s night market and drank Beer Lao as we looked out across the dark waters of the Mekong towards Thailand.
Photo: Arian Zwegers
By the time we crossed the border into Thailand a fortnight later – now with survivors’ stories of our own, mostly relating to bus travel – South-East Asia’s only land-locked country had found a place at the top of our list of places to re-visit.
Little did I know that a few years later I would be regularly driving across northern Laos with groups of guests for On the Road. Over the course of many journeys, we’ve seen the Lao infrastructure gradually improve – the shabby border checkpoint has been upgraded and the rickety car ferry that we used to cross the Mekong in Huay Xai has been replaced with a new bridge. Laos is gradually becoming more developed, but, by and large, this is happening in a gentle way – there are no traffic-choked highways or big box shopping malls. The country retains its quiet charm, the Lao people still welcome curious travellers and the food still tastes as good as ever…
On the Road offers several journeys that go through Laos:
- The most in-depth exploration is our all-new “Elephants and Parasols: From Vientiane to the Golden Triangle” itinerary … launching in April 2017!
- Other itineraries that go through northern Laos include:
- “Summit to Sea: From Yunnan to Vietnam“: from the edge of Tibet to the South-China Sea.
- “From Shangri-La to the Lanna Kingdom“: from the edge of Tibet to Chiang Mai in northern Thailand
- “From Yunnan to the Lanna Kingdom“: from Kunming via the UNESCO World Heritage Yuanyang Rice Terraces to northern Thailand