Journey to Colombia, South America
The year was 2011. It's hardly three months after I left my job with a multi-national company in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I felt the urged to travel to distant land. The continent that I felt compelled to seek more information on, was South America or Latin America.
For your information, I started travelling when I was sixteen years old. It's not by choice but by default. I was sent to Liverpool, England to pursue my studies. It happens that this branch of studies will take me to the rest of the World. You can guess.....? Liverpool is famous for two things : 1) Beatles & The Music Scene 2) Ports & Shipping. Off course there is the 3rd one....which is the Liverpool Football Club and following closely behind is Everton Football Club.
On one of my voyages to the Latin American continent, I visited the Port of Barranquilla in Colombia. I remembered that I used to pronounce the name of the port wrongly. It is actually pronounced as "Barrangkida" versus the spelling "Barranquilla". Then, there was another port close by but in a different Country. This port is in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Another nearby ports that I went to is Ciudad Guayana, and Ciudad Bolivar also in Venezuela but had to sail upstream on the Orinoco River.
Later, on another voyage, on a different ship, I had the opportunity to visit the Amazon River. The port that I went to was called Porto Trombetas situated on one of the tributaries of the Amazon River. Here you see "pink Dolphins" and also the "piranhas". Hope one day, I can tell you guys the story about the pink dolphins and my passage in the Amazon.
A few more years later, by chance on one of my trip on board a pure car carrier (that means the ship carries only cars) or sometimes they are called the "RoRo" ship (Roll-on Roll-off), got the chance to visit Porto Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It's a magnificent city. Beautiful beaches of Copacabana & Ipanema will surely stunned and shocked your eyesight's - especially on weekends where all the beauties paraded in skimpy swimsuits.
And lastly, another opportunity arises when one of the ship that I was serving called the Port of Buenos Aires in Argentina. That completed the voyages from the North and to the East of South America.
Having sailed there, on my tour of duty, I felt the urged to once again travel to these places albeit this time around at leisure. I don't have the urge to go to North America, especially after 9-11 incident. Even prior to that the immigration and border controls were strict (even in the eighties they called us "Alien") what more now ! Nothing much to see in the U.S. as I have visited and sailed into New York, Boston, Baltimore, Norfolk,Wilmington, Charleston, Savannah, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Mobile, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Galveston, Houston, Corpus Christi, San Diego, Long Beach and San Francisco.
Those trips and voyages that I made coasting around North America was really tiring. I remembered then, today, we were in one port, and tomorrow at two different ports. Entering and leaving rivers and passing through Swing bridges, retractable bridges and Cantilever Bridges. Sometimes, we had to navigate underneath bridges with very little clearance. Scary sometimes. Like Houston, our ship had to enter the Houston ship canal. Going across from East Coast to West Coast of USA we had to go through the Panama Canal (from Cristobal on Northern shores to Balboa on the Southern shores) going thru' various locks and gates and out into the lakes plus canals to get to the other side. Vessel passing underneath the "Bridge of Americas", the symbolic bridge connecting the two American Continents.Very interesting stories indeed which I hope to cover in my future adventures.
To be continued.........
The first thing I need to do is to check whether there is a Visa requirement to enter Colombia. The caption made famous by Stephen Covey "Begin with the End in mind". I also checked my hotels and resort bookings are in order. Sometimes its better to travel solo than with a group of friends. Your decision is yours alone and there is No Blame Game later. Hence, choosing the best time of the year to visit Colombia between December to March, choosing the best location to visit i.e. commensurate with my limited budget, choosing the flight routeing, whether through Miami, New York, Paris or Amsterdam.
The Colombian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur (KL) is within the Central Business District (CBD). In fact just opposite the Famous KL Convention Centre. I was greeted warmly by the reception. FYI, not many Malaysian citizen is interested holidaying in Colombia. (May be because of the internal turmoil in Colombia involving the FARC-"Revolutionary Arm Forces of Colombia" and the Governement Forces. Tourists have been known to be kidnapped in the past. However, those isolated incidents does not deter me from re-visiting the Port that I had visited once-upon a time.) "Hola" was the first greeting I heard. The good news, Malaysian does not require a visa to enter Colombia. I was swarmth with loads of brochures to choose from. I decided to focus my holiday on the Caribbeans Coast cities of Cartagena, Barranquilla, Santa Marta and the famous Tayrona Park. Colombia is boarded by the Caribbean Seas in the North and the Pacific Ocean in the West. As I was walking out of the door, I bumped into the Ambassador. His Excellency was very "down to earth" and so happy to welcome me into his Country. He said he came from Madellin, unfortunately not one of the places I intended to visit. Hopefully in one of my future visit ! We parted ways, with me saying "goodbye" and his excellency saying "adios".
Next my flight arrangements. to be continued.....
Three months before my eventual trip took place, I was already sourcing for flight pricing through Expedia.com, Kayak.com, Orbitz.com, Travelocity.com. After comparing months to months changes in flights pricing, decided to travel in February 2011 which coincided with best weather for travelling to Colombia (dry season). The temperature and humidity is very similar to Malaysia (in the high 20s and low 30s degree Celsius). Hence, does not need to acclimatize to the Colombian weather. With my height, physique, skin tone, features can easily pass as a Colombiano on the street of Cartegena. In that sense, I would not be attracting the callous shout "gringo" on the street. However, the moment I opened my mouth to speak, they would know that I am a foreigner. So, I need to learn the common spanish conversation in the market-place. Nombre - Name, Edad - age, Queiro - I want, no queiro - don't want, hola - hello, Aqua - water, la sopa - soap, El te - tea, El pastel - cake, la ensalada - salad, vamos - lets go, banos - restroom, hablamos - we'll talk later, Quanto - how much, costo - cost, Que hube - what's up, claro - of course, mira - look, bo cano - cool, Super bo cano - super cool, descuento - discount?, I - uno, hora - hour, en el dia - in the day, en el noche - in the night, ladron - thief, ojos - eyes, cabello - hair, telefono - telephone, bueno - good, bueno dias - good day, bueno noche - goodnight, bien - good, gracias - thank you, tranquilo - take it easy, no dar papaya - don't get caught sleeping ! (not allowing people take advantage of you)ha ha. Those are some of the vocabulary that I remembered by hard....even to this day. There are a number of spanish restaurants here in Kuala Lumpur where I can converse in espanyol namely La Bordega, Pinchos Tapas Bar, El Cerdo Restaurant and Sentidos Tapas to name a few.
Two weeks prior to date of travel, I duly confirmed all my flight bookings. Initially I thought of taking a break in London, but I managed to get a suitable link-up without having to put up a night in London. However, changing from one airport (Stansted to the North of London) and rushing to another airport (Heathrow to the West of London) is not as easy as you might think, especially with your luggages in hand. On my return leg from Cartagena, I will be stopping in London for two nights for sightseeing, prior taking my last leg of journey back to KL. As a seasoned traveller, I got the best deal for the whole passage. February is a low season for both air travel as well as lodging. My airfare KUL-STN-KUL only cost me RM1989 (USD622) and LHR-CDG-BOG-CTG return trip costs me Pound Sterling 475 (USD742). I didn't arrange for lodging at Barranquilla, as I will spent several hours there on the way to Santa Marta and a few more hours sightseeing on my way back from Santa Marta to Cartagena. I was also lucky that I joined the time-sharing scheme with an international group called Interval International. Every two years, I get the chance to stay for one (1) week at any of their Worldwide Hotels and Resorts. In Santa Marta, I stayed at the Zuana Beach Resort, Magdalena. The one week stay there is covered f.o.c. by the time sharing. My costs will thus be food and transportation. In Cartagena, on arrival leg, I stayed at the AGUA Hotel within the UNESCO Heritage "Historic Wall". On the departure leg, I stayed at The Hilton Hotel at El Laguito, Cartagena. Another lessons I learnt....Cartagena is not pronounced as it is. Is is pronounce as "Cartahena". The G became an H. Same with Jesus...it is Hezu here !
The flight routeing looks like this in a nutshell :
KL(KUL) to London Stansted(STN) on AirAsia (Switch Airports from STN to LHR)
London Heathrow(LHR) to Paris Charles de Gaulle(CDG) on Air France
CDG to Bogota El Dorado(BOG) on Air France
BOG to Cartagena Rafael Nunez(CTG) on Avianca
This is the longest legged flight I have experienced in my entire life. Pure flight time total is 29.5 hrs. Including stops at London, Paris & Bogota it came close to 45 hrs. Wow !
Return Leg:
CTG to BOG
BOG to CDG
CDG to LHR (2 Days Break for sightseeing in London))
STN to KUL
To be continued...............
For your information, I started travelling when I was sixteen years old. It's not by choice but by default. I was sent to Liverpool, England to pursue my studies. It happens that this branch of studies will take me to the rest of the World. You can guess.....? Liverpool is famous for two things : 1) Beatles & The Music Scene 2) Ports & Shipping. Off course there is the 3rd one....which is the Liverpool Football Club and following closely behind is Everton Football Club.
 |
| Liverpool SeaFront |
On one of my voyages to the Latin American continent, I visited the Port of Barranquilla in Colombia. I remembered that I used to pronounce the name of the port wrongly. It is actually pronounced as "Barrangkida" versus the spelling "Barranquilla". Then, there was another port close by but in a different Country. This port is in Maracaibo, Venezuela. Another nearby ports that I went to is Ciudad Guayana, and Ciudad Bolivar also in Venezuela but had to sail upstream on the Orinoco River.
 |
| Barranquilla Festival |
 |
| Barranquilla City Centre - Paseo de Bolivar |
Later, on another voyage, on a different ship, I had the opportunity to visit the Amazon River. The port that I went to was called Porto Trombetas situated on one of the tributaries of the Amazon River. Here you see "pink Dolphins" and also the "piranhas". Hope one day, I can tell you guys the story about the pink dolphins and my passage in the Amazon.
A few more years later, by chance on one of my trip on board a pure car carrier (that means the ship carries only cars) or sometimes they are called the "RoRo" ship (Roll-on Roll-off), got the chance to visit Porto Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It's a magnificent city. Beautiful beaches of Copacabana & Ipanema will surely stunned and shocked your eyesight's - especially on weekends where all the beauties paraded in skimpy swimsuits.
And lastly, another opportunity arises when one of the ship that I was serving called the Port of Buenos Aires in Argentina. That completed the voyages from the North and to the East of South America.
Having sailed there, on my tour of duty, I felt the urged to once again travel to these places albeit this time around at leisure. I don't have the urge to go to North America, especially after 9-11 incident. Even prior to that the immigration and border controls were strict (even in the eighties they called us "Alien") what more now ! Nothing much to see in the U.S. as I have visited and sailed into New York, Boston, Baltimore, Norfolk,Wilmington, Charleston, Savannah, Fort Lauderdale, Miami, Mobile, New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Galveston, Houston, Corpus Christi, San Diego, Long Beach and San Francisco.
 |
| New York Harbour |
Those trips and voyages that I made coasting around North America was really tiring. I remembered then, today, we were in one port, and tomorrow at two different ports. Entering and leaving rivers and passing through Swing bridges, retractable bridges and Cantilever Bridges. Sometimes, we had to navigate underneath bridges with very little clearance. Scary sometimes. Like Houston, our ship had to enter the Houston ship canal. Going across from East Coast to West Coast of USA we had to go through the Panama Canal (from Cristobal on Northern shores to Balboa on the Southern shores) going thru' various locks and gates and out into the lakes plus canals to get to the other side. Vessel passing underneath the "Bridge of Americas", the symbolic bridge connecting the two American Continents.Very interesting stories indeed which I hope to cover in my future adventures.
To be continued.........
The first thing I need to do is to check whether there is a Visa requirement to enter Colombia. The caption made famous by Stephen Covey "Begin with the End in mind". I also checked my hotels and resort bookings are in order. Sometimes its better to travel solo than with a group of friends. Your decision is yours alone and there is No Blame Game later. Hence, choosing the best time of the year to visit Colombia between December to March, choosing the best location to visit i.e. commensurate with my limited budget, choosing the flight routeing, whether through Miami, New York, Paris or Amsterdam.
The Colombian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur (KL) is within the Central Business District (CBD). In fact just opposite the Famous KL Convention Centre. I was greeted warmly by the reception. FYI, not many Malaysian citizen is interested holidaying in Colombia. (May be because of the internal turmoil in Colombia involving the FARC-"Revolutionary Arm Forces of Colombia" and the Governement Forces. Tourists have been known to be kidnapped in the past. However, those isolated incidents does not deter me from re-visiting the Port that I had visited once-upon a time.) "Hola" was the first greeting I heard. The good news, Malaysian does not require a visa to enter Colombia. I was swarmth with loads of brochures to choose from. I decided to focus my holiday on the Caribbeans Coast cities of Cartagena, Barranquilla, Santa Marta and the famous Tayrona Park. Colombia is boarded by the Caribbean Seas in the North and the Pacific Ocean in the West. As I was walking out of the door, I bumped into the Ambassador. His Excellency was very "down to earth" and so happy to welcome me into his Country. He said he came from Madellin, unfortunately not one of the places I intended to visit. Hopefully in one of my future visit ! We parted ways, with me saying "goodbye" and his excellency saying "adios".
 |
| Colombia in light green. |
Three months before my eventual trip took place, I was already sourcing for flight pricing through Expedia.com, Kayak.com, Orbitz.com, Travelocity.com. After comparing months to months changes in flights pricing, decided to travel in February 2011 which coincided with best weather for travelling to Colombia (dry season). The temperature and humidity is very similar to Malaysia (in the high 20s and low 30s degree Celsius). Hence, does not need to acclimatize to the Colombian weather. With my height, physique, skin tone, features can easily pass as a Colombiano on the street of Cartegena. In that sense, I would not be attracting the callous shout "gringo" on the street. However, the moment I opened my mouth to speak, they would know that I am a foreigner. So, I need to learn the common spanish conversation in the market-place. Nombre - Name, Edad - age, Queiro - I want, no queiro - don't want, hola - hello, Aqua - water, la sopa - soap, El te - tea, El pastel - cake, la ensalada - salad, vamos - lets go, banos - restroom, hablamos - we'll talk later, Quanto - how much, costo - cost, Que hube - what's up, claro - of course, mira - look, bo cano - cool, Super bo cano - super cool, descuento - discount?, I - uno, hora - hour, en el dia - in the day, en el noche - in the night, ladron - thief, ojos - eyes, cabello - hair, telefono - telephone, bueno - good, bueno dias - good day, bueno noche - goodnight, bien - good, gracias - thank you, tranquilo - take it easy, no dar papaya - don't get caught sleeping ! (not allowing people take advantage of you)ha ha. Those are some of the vocabulary that I remembered by hard....even to this day. There are a number of spanish restaurants here in Kuala Lumpur where I can converse in espanyol namely La Bordega, Pinchos Tapas Bar, El Cerdo Restaurant and Sentidos Tapas to name a few.
Two weeks prior to date of travel, I duly confirmed all my flight bookings. Initially I thought of taking a break in London, but I managed to get a suitable link-up without having to put up a night in London. However, changing from one airport (Stansted to the North of London) and rushing to another airport (Heathrow to the West of London) is not as easy as you might think, especially with your luggages in hand. On my return leg from Cartagena, I will be stopping in London for two nights for sightseeing, prior taking my last leg of journey back to KL. As a seasoned traveller, I got the best deal for the whole passage. February is a low season for both air travel as well as lodging. My airfare KUL-STN-KUL only cost me RM1989 (USD622) and LHR-CDG-BOG-CTG return trip costs me Pound Sterling 475 (USD742). I didn't arrange for lodging at Barranquilla, as I will spent several hours there on the way to Santa Marta and a few more hours sightseeing on my way back from Santa Marta to Cartagena. I was also lucky that I joined the time-sharing scheme with an international group called Interval International. Every two years, I get the chance to stay for one (1) week at any of their Worldwide Hotels and Resorts. In Santa Marta, I stayed at the Zuana Beach Resort, Magdalena. The one week stay there is covered f.o.c. by the time sharing. My costs will thus be food and transportation. In Cartagena, on arrival leg, I stayed at the AGUA Hotel within the UNESCO Heritage "Historic Wall". On the departure leg, I stayed at The Hilton Hotel at El Laguito, Cartagena. Another lessons I learnt....Cartagena is not pronounced as it is. Is is pronounce as "Cartahena". The G became an H. Same with Jesus...it is Hezu here !
 |
| Resort seen from the sandy Beaches |
 |
| Resort seen prior daybreak |
 |
| Suite Layout with kitchen |
The flight routeing looks like this in a nutshell :
KL(KUL) to London Stansted(STN) on AirAsia (Switch Airports from STN to LHR)
London Heathrow(LHR) to Paris Charles de Gaulle(CDG) on Air France
CDG to Bogota El Dorado(BOG) on Air France
BOG to Cartagena Rafael Nunez(CTG) on Avianca
This is the longest legged flight I have experienced in my entire life. Pure flight time total is 29.5 hrs. Including stops at London, Paris & Bogota it came close to 45 hrs. Wow !
Return Leg:
CTG to BOG
BOG to CDG
CDG to LHR (2 Days Break for sightseeing in London))
STN to KUL
To be continued...............
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