Some of my most treasured travel memories are those when travelling with mum. I love travelling with mum. She makes the perfect travel partner. Not because we have similar interests but because she pays for everything and allows me to choose the travel itinerary. While mum treasures memories of Ceylon tea in Ella tea hills or wine and crepes at Paris Christmas markets my memories of travelling with mum are slightly different. I like to give her special memories. Memories that few other mums can boast of. Here are my top three travel experiences with mum.
1. Dune Bashing in Dubai Desert
“Golden sand dunes, Arabian sunset”. I sold it to her. With a belly full of camel curry I was surprised she lasted. Dune Bashing is far from romantic. It is more of an extreme sport where things can and do go horribly wrong. The drivers race erratically on bumpy sand dunes like a game of dares or chicken they see how close they can come to horrific collisions. Fun. My sister didn’t agree. 1.55 in the video (below) is the moment where my sister near barfed. She then beat me up as in the image below.
2. Red Shirt Riots in Bangkok (April 2009)
“What you wanna do mum?”, “Ooh the floating markets sound bliss…”, “Boring lets go watch the Red Shirts riot”. I didn’t do this. This would be mean. We were nearby on Khaosan Road celebrating the Songkran festival (wet image above). Mum was having cold water poured down her back and flour pasted across her face when I spotted an armoured truck with a machine gun. We followed and watched as riot squads made the final offensive on the Government buildings. I actually feel guilty for this decision. In the commotion, mum tripped face first onto gravel. Bent her glasses. I promised to never put mum in harms way again.
3. Tsunami ‘Hell’ in Sri Lanka (Apr 2012)
I won’t take credit for this adventure. It was nature’s doing. The Indian Ocean was rocked by an 8.6 magnitude earthquake forcing an evacuation of Sri Lanka’s South Coast. Weirdly our hotel manager was the first to flee like a captain from a sinking ship giving us the only option of climbing a very tall pole. Completely abandoned I managed to blag seats on a fleeing tour bus (thanks again Gecko Tours). We were later taken in by a betel-chewing villager and spent the day in Sri Lanka jungle sipping Ceylon tea and poking through exotic gardens. She enjoyed this. Having not tortured her enough I negated the comfy air-con minivan option for the following morning and we travelled 6 hours inland by public bus to Ella. This was scarier than dune bashing. This adventure even made the Newspapers. Proud.
