mango13's VirtualTourist Home Page

Ok, ok... I give in. After all this time, I WILL build a homepage. I guess this will give me a chance to say a few words about my way of travelling, so people who prefer other ways don't have to waste their time on my page (bastards! *laughs*)
When reading some of my pages (you actually read 'em?) you're likely to soon find out I'm joking around pretty often. Sure, one has to be serious once in a while, but I try to restrict that to the absolute minimum. Life's boring enough as it is already, no? But don't worry: the main target of my jokes is me.
For the rest, attached pic (my most recent one, taken in my favourite city Singapore) obviously reveals my great looks & the intelligence in my eyes, but my kindness, charm & modesty aren't visible in it. Uhm, what was that again I said about being serious?

Obviously, we're all pretty fond of travelling, that's why we've joined this community. Next to giving you a real holidays-kind-of-feeling, it does give you some life experience, and a chance to explore other cultures, meet new people and get rid of this enormous pile of money.
Talking of money: I try to keep my budget under control, so you won't find me in 5 star-hotels or on luxury cruises very often. However, I do provide myself with a nice enough budget in order not to have to squeeze every cent. After all, money is only the dirt of the world, and enjoying your holidays is more important than spending as little as possible. I admit: I also had to learn this. Especially on my first trip, when I didn't work yet, the second part may have been forgotten too often. Sorry to those who became a victim of this.

As stated earlier, you're not likely to find me in plush hotels. To me, a hotel is no more than a place to spend the night & a base to start exploring the city from. I don't need the luxury from the West, a good bed in a decently clean room that's not too hot to sleep in will do. A/C is very nice, but in most places a good fan is sufficient. Hot water is one of man's greatest inventions, but in hot places I can get along with only cold water - hot water is however an "almost necessity". As for tv: it only gets turned on because it stands there, I wouldn't miss it if it weren't there.
On the other hand, I do want my own private room. Dormitories may be incredibly cheap & a good way to meet fellow travellers, you never know who you're sharing a room with. Also, I want to be able to use the toilet & shower when I want to, in stead of having to wait until someone else gets out of the bathroom. Dorms also tend to reduce ones freedom (an important characteristic of travelling). Finally, dorms also bring some kind of stigma with them. One my pride can't handle.

As almost everyone, I took my first travelling steps with my family. France was the first foreign destination, and it got honoured with my visit a lot ot times. I did get a "dégout" of it after the trip where we visited 20+ castles & a few monasteries & churches within a week's time. By now, this disgust has largely vanished, and France usually is the base to try & explain people where on earth Belgium is located.
Later, a number of European destinations were added, always with family except for Switzerland (group of youngsters) & Greece (school).
My first trip alone (not counting the trip to S'pore for a moment) could only be to Asia. After some hesitation, China being the main competitor, I eventually chose Vietnam for a couple of reasons. Considering I've been back twice already, I'd say it wasn't too bad a choice.
Why Asia? It's an intriguing continent. It's mysterious. It has a large range of gorgeous scenic spots. It hosts the world's oldest culture & is the origin of all major religions. There's some fantastic food to be found there. The people's mentality is usually amazing, as well as the friendliness. The only thing that was NOT a reason was, of course, these gorgeous local beauties.

Holidays are supposed to be relaxing. So, I won't be rushing from one thing to the next in order to see as much as possible. On the other hand, I do want to see SOME things, sort of broaden my horizon a tiny little bit. So, I won't stay at the same place for ever either.
I don't plan much before departing, so I can really explore the region visited. I do know more or less which places I want to visit, but that's pretty much it. I also don't book anything in advance. All I have are my airtix, I'll take care of the rest upon arrival. The only decision I will have taken before departing is in which hotel to sleep in the city of arrival. For the rest, I'm depending a lot on Lonely Planet. Usually, they give good info. Tho', sometimes they can praise a crappy place so much I wonder whether LP sometimes accepts money from some hotels/... Am I the only one who sometimes gets this feeling?
Travelling can get tiring sometimes, so I insert a day of doing nothing occasionally. If possible, that day will be spent on a beach. A beach from time to time is great, but a whole vacation with only beaches is too much of the good stuff (tho' I did make some kind of 'beaches of VN' tour in 2002).
Inbetween or after visiting places, I like to just sit down with a nice & fresh beer, and do some babewatching at the same time (see, men CAN do 2 things at once!). Although it happens that I go clubbing, I'll usually be staying at a quiet place to have a couple of beers, sometimes I just keep drinking at my restaurant. Often, that depends on the beauty of the waitresses...

Nothing easier than picking a restaurant in Asia: just go to the one with the most beautiful girls luring people into the restaurant. It's a trick used by many restaurants in Asia, and uhm... it works on me! the way I see it, food does taste better when you can have a look at a couple of beautiful species of the other sex while eating. Of course, if the service (this includes the attention of the same beauties & the friendliness of the people), quality of the food and prices suck, they won't be seeing me there again. These 4 things are also decisive for tipping.
Is it a dangerous strategy to make your choice like this? I don't know... You can also look at it like this: if a certain restaurant has enough money to pay the most beautiful girls, it indicates that it gets many customers. And that won't happen if the food is bad. I.e. the a-full-resto-is-a-good-resto strategy. Plus, the resto's where I go are usually filled with locals rather than tourists (often implicating that no English menu is available). And they won't go there if the place sucks, will they? Sure, the lack of English menus is a bummer, but usually, the less English is spoken, the less likely you are to get ripped off. And there is some charm in trying to find a good meal when you don't understand the menu (especially if some 3 beautiful waitresses are trying to figure out what you want)

I guess that already depicts pretty well my way of travelling. If you like it this way, make sure to explore my travel pages. If not, who knows you'll find a nice tip here or there after all. And you've already made it all this way through my homepage; can't have been THAT bad then, can it?
Either way, thanks for the visit & enjoy the other pages. In case of questions, mail me & I'll try to provide a crappy answer...