Highlights of Five Weeks in Thailand

1.)  This year's "place that sticks" is without a doubt my former home-away-from-home Chiangmai, where I spent about three of my five weeks in Thailand.   It was great simply to hang out there as an informed ex-resident, now tourist, and surprising some of my old friends along the way.

2.)  Hanging out with Pik and Stefan and their kids.

3.)  Seeing Peppo, my niece, after seven long years.

4.)  Although I didn't seek out as much live music as I would have even 10 years ago, discovering the bands at Tiger Kingdom in Chiangmai was definitely a highlight of this trip.  The younger generation of singers and musicians here is very impressive, and though their older mentors--some of them contemporaries and friends of mine--have obviously helped with their development, I can tell that older musicians in Thailand can also learn a lot from their younger sisters and bretheran.

5.)  Revisiting Soppong Town, Bangma Pha District,  Mae Hong Son Province.

6.)  Visiting the old 16th century Ayutthaya City ruins.

7.)  Playing fiddle tunes with Sharon and Mick and others at Finnegan's Pub in Bangkok.

8.)  Best $12 hotel room:  The Rest Bull Bed and Bar in Chiangmai had everything I needed:  clean sheets and bathroom, hot shower, fridge, air conditioning, cable TV, free coffee and tea, and relative peace and quiet.

9.)  Best $22 hotel room:  a toss-up between the S1 Hostel in Bangkok's Soi Ngam Dupli--with most of the same amenities listed above, and Hanoi's Serenity Hotel--also with the same amenities plus an excellent, free American-style breakfast and a desktop with internet access in my room.

10.)  Best coffee:  Vietnam wins this by a large margin with its strong black coffee sweetened with condensed milk.  Thailand tries very hard with its many small espresso machines and $1 lattes, but at heart it's still a Nescafe nation.  On the rare occasions when I found kafe boran, the Thai version of Vietnamese coffee, I ordered it in anticipation of my return to Hanoi.

Bests and Worsts of Central America 2010

Best Hotels
Guancasco, Gracias (Honduras) $20
King Palace, San Miguel (El Salvador) $28

Best Value Hotels
Villa Florencia, San Salvador Centro (El Salvador) $20
Via Via, Leon (Nicaragua) $17

Best Hotel Restaurants
Barca de Oro, Las Peñitas (Nicaragua)
Perkin Lenca, Perquin (El Salvador)

Best Meals--There were many, but a few stood out:
Perkin Lenca's kitchen had great breakfasts and good value, home-cooked quality dinners
Barca de Oro had the best fish dinner of the trip
Opalaca's (La Esperanza, Honduras) specializes in grilled meat and  I had my best chicken dinner there
Guy with Weber Grill on the street in Juayua, El Salvador served the best carne asada dinner
Turicentro Los Esclavos (Guatemala) had a such a good BLT sandwich I ordered it twice

Best Deli Sandwich 
Epicure, Antigua (Guatemala)


Best Panini Sandwich
Hole in the wall deli in Leon (Nicaragua)


Towns or Cities With Highest Fast Food Chain Saturation
San Miguel (El Salvador)
Antigua and Guatemala City (Guatemala)

Towns or Cities With Few or No Fast Food Chains
Leon and Granada (Nicaragua)

Best Espresso Coffees
La Rosita, Leon (Nicaragua)--owned by an expatriate Louisiana woman
Cafe Condessa, Antigua (Guatemala)

Best Local Brewed Coffees
Guancasco, Gracias (Honduras)
Hotel El Rey, Marcala (Honduras)
Hotel El Mirador, Juayua (El Salvador)

Best Travel Agency
I didn't patronize many of these but I want to plug PlusTravel of Antigua (with offices in Copan Ruinas) for its excellent shuttle bus (minivan) services between Antigua and Copan ($8), Antigua and Chichicastenango ($10 round trip), and many other destination points.  Their drivers are courteous, friendly, and professional while their services are safe and basically on time.

Best Bus Rides
The microbus services in Nicaragua were safe, fast, and nearly hassle free

Worst Bus Rides
The local bus service between Choluteca, Honduras and the El Salvador border at Amatillo is frustratingly crowded and slow

Favorite Medium Size Cities
Leon, Nicaragua
Antigua, Guatemala

Favorite Town
Gracias, Honduras

Favorite Small Towns or Villages
Ataco, El Salvador
Copan Ruinas, Honduras
Perquin, El Salvador

Least Favorite Big Cities
San Salvador, El Salvador
San Miguel, El Salvador

Least Favorite Towns
Ahuachapan, El Salvador

La Esperanza, Honduras

Least Favorite Village
Los Cobanas, El Salvador

Most Affluent Towns or Cities
Antigua, Guatemala
Leon, Nicaragua
Granada, Nicaragua

Most Impoverished Towns or Region
La Ruta de Lenca, from Perquin (El Salvador) all the way to Gracias (Honduras)

Most Outgoing or Friendly People
El Salvador and Nicaragua

Most Reserved People
Guatemala and Honduras

Where I Felt Safest
Leon and Granada, Nicaragua
Antigua, Guatemala

Where I Felt Most Wary About Personal Security
San Salvador and San Miguel, El Salvador

note to readers:  if you are interested in more worsts (or more bests) drop me a comment to that effect

Daytripping on the Ruta de Las Flores (Day 9)

Considering the fact that this part of western El Salvador is a major coffee producing region, it sure is difficult to find a good cup of coffee! Sure, I´m a latte snob but this is getting ridiculous. Today, however, I scored a home run with the discovery of The House of Coffee, an upscale joint in the village of Ataco which has the first espresso machine I´ve encountered since Guatemala City.

Follow the winding Ruta de Las Flores east out of hot, stifling Ahuachapan for just a few miles and you are transported into a totally different climate of misty, fog covered mountain greenery dotted with several large finca--coffee plantations--and just two or three very easy-going market villages. Ataco is one of them.

Further along the route you arrive in Apaneca & Juayua, where I´ve snagged a room for the night. Up here it´s cool enough not to require AC & it looks as if it might even rain again. We hope not, however, as El Salvador also suffered its share of mudsliding this past weekend--the evidence of which is apparent all along the roadside where workers are still busy cleaning the debris three days later. MSNBC says El Salvador reported 10 killed in the storm.

My cash situation has mysteriously resolved itself: yesterday I was able to draw enough dollars to last me for the week.

Tomorrow: to Sonsonate & then Playa Mizata/El Zonte for some Pacific beachside doings. . .