Travel Maven Blog ...... David Molyneaux posts from TheTravelMavens.com

National Geographic Traveler, New York Times Earn Top Honors in Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition

From David G. Molyneaux in Wenzhou, China

National Geographic Traveler won three gold places among eight awards and The New York Times garnered seven awards in the 2016 Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Competition, overseen by the Society of American Travel Writers Foundation. The Los Angeles Times earned Gold for best Newspaper Travel Coverage.

Freelance writer Aaron Teasdale of Missoula, MT, is Travel Journalist of the Year for his stories about hurtling on a bicycle down mountainsides, skiing where others don’t and camping in Glacier National Park in the dead of winter. “If you want to write for cyclists, skiers, paddlers, climbers, whoever, you’ve got to live it,” says Teasdale, who was lauded by judges from the University of Missouri School of Journalism for narratives of character, tension and resolution. Teasdale also won a Gold award for Audio Travel Broadcast in Yellowstone National Park. Also honored for Grand Award travel portfolios were freelance writers Kim Brown Seely of Medina, WA, (Silver) and Peter Guttman of New York City (Bronze).

A video of winners is on Utube. List of winners and judges comments at SATWF.com

Checking out the cruise world in China and the Philippines

Manila

The Philippines is my first stop on a journey to Asia that will consume the next four weeks, most of it in China, including Hong Kong. 

Baked buns of BBQ pork and steamed dumplings in Manila, the Philippines (photo by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

Battling jetlag, 12 hours ahead of the Eastern U.S time zone, my first goal was a long walk in Manila’s business district, which also is home to gigantic indoor shopping malls that are packed to the gills on weekends.

Thanks to the concierge at the fashionable and well located Peninsula hotel, my Sunday walk yielded a terrific lunch spot, Tin Ho Wan, favored by locals and known for its baked buns with BBQ pork and steamed dumplings. Not fancy but very good, said the concierge — exactly what I was looking for, as a re-introduction to Asia. With iced tea, less than $8.

Sailing the Seven Seas on Regent's Explorer, world’s most luxurious cruise ship (probably)

By David G. Molyneaux, editor, TheTravelMavens.com  

Regent Seven Seas Explorer

Like beauty, luxury is in the eyes of the beholder.

So, it is accurate to call a week’s voyage on a budget-friendly cruise ship a luxury. Few vacation experiences are as affordable for a family whose luxury is measured by having a steward clean their cabin daily, eating as much restaurant food as they want, sunbathing on the water and at foreign port stops, and choosing from a wide range of entertainments that will keep everyone in a family happy.

But that’s not the definition of luxury that Frank Del Rio had in mind when he set out to design and build what he calls the most luxurious cruise ship in the world.

The ship, the Regent Seven Seas Explorer, sailing in Europe now, arrives in Miami on Dec. 2 for a series of voyages into the Caribbean.

Attention to materials, design and detail

Del Rio, president and chief executive officer of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, which owns upscale Regent Seven Seas, has developed a concept of luxury that is aimed at the wealthy, the well-traveled, the art and gourmet food lovers who want not just comfort and ease, but luxury in the classic sense, a unique and expensive indulgence.

Meandering the Irrawaddy on an eye-opening cruise in Myanmar (Burma) from Bhamo to Bagan

Bagan, Myanmar, just before sunset

Cruising south on the Irrawaddy River through Myanmar is a lesson about the impacts of tourism.

Sunrise on the Irrawaddy in northern Myanmar (Photos by David G. Molyneaux, TheTravelMavens.com)

The farther south you go from remote Bhamo toward busy-but-beautiful Bagan, the closer you get to the more beaten track where souvenir sellers await and beggars line the paths to some of the most amazing temple ruins in the world.

Best travel plan:

Get a good look at the Bagan temples at sunset, then head north.

Myanmar, which was off-limits to most travelers for more than 50 years, now is a travel priority if you want to arrive before tourism makes its inevitable marks, especially in the less explored northern region.

The country formerly known as Burma has a newly elected government (headed by famed protest leader, former political prisoner and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi), and the country seems ready to reveal itself.

The best way to visit remote villages of the north is on a river cruise out of Bhamo, which is only 30 miles from China.

Cruising the wide and shallow Irrawaddy

Bhamo is the northern turnaround point for weekly journeys on the 36-passenger Avalon Myanmar between Bhamo and Bagan.