Plum Blossom time! (17-19 January, 2020)
Tailor-made travel with Graham Elsom
Experienced travellers are always on the lookout for something different.
Keep an eye on these columns!
Graham has been travelling all his life and is always seeking something special and unusual.
Mount Danxia was one of China’s first tourist locations opened to the outside world. It opened officially in January 1980 and is now a UNESCO Global Geopark. As the largest scenic location in Guangdong Province, the destination comprises landforms which include peaks, walls, columns and bridges. Formations include the male genital rock and the female cave. Millions of years ago dinosaurs lived in the area and fossilised eggs and bones have been found.
The Meiguan Ancient Post Road or “Old Plum Pass Road” has been significant since the Qin dynasty (221 to 206 BC). It was always an important overland trade route between the north and the south of China, as well as being a militarily significant boundary. In 1928 Mao Zedong attempted to cross it. About 8 km of the ancient Tang dynasty road and most of the Song dynasty fortifications still remain.
For itinerary details click here
Contact Graham graham.elsom@jebsenholidays.com for further information about these or any other travel plans you might be considering.
Written by GRAHAM
Having lived and worked in Asia for 40 years, I have travelled extensively to off- the- beaten-track locations in Asia. I like to think of myself as your man on the ground in Asia.
My passion is for the less travelled, more remote and interesting locations, which many simply bypass. It is the local culture, architecture and heritage in which I am most interested.
I always wanted to be a Travel Consultant. My favorite geography teacher sparked my interest at a very early age.
My very first job was with the world’s oldest travel company, Thos. Cook & Son. I joined them in 1962 in Melbourne, Australia.
Later, I founded my own travel agency, Concorde Travel in Hong Kong, from 1978 until 2016. We have now merged with one of Hong Kong’s oldest and most prestigious companies, the Jebsen Group, founded in 1895. This allows me to devote more time to my favorite pastime, Travel Consulting.
I have a special interest in smaller and more adventurous cruise ships. These enable you to escape the crowds and visit often unexplored and truly pristine destinations. I have been intrigued that the Virtuoso map will not let me include some of the more exotic places I have visited. These are spectacular destinations, but one or two of them might require a bullet proof vest these days:
Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Djibouti (Republic of Djibouti), Koror (Palau), Saint Helena (British Overseas Territory), Phu Quoc (Vietnam), Aden (Yemen), Turpan and Macau (Peoples Republic of China) and Port Lockroy (United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust).
In these days of mass tourism, careful planning is required to ensure that one’s exploration is an enjoyable and memorable experience.
I hope you will let me help you to find these roads less travelled. All you have to do is let me know about your own special interests.
Please feel free to email me at graham.elsom@jebsenholidays.com
Having lived and worked in Asia for 40 years, I have travelled extensively to off- the- beaten-track locations in Asia. I like to think of myself as your man on the ground in Asia.
My passion is for the less travelled, more remote and interesting locations, which many simply bypass. It is the local culture, architecture and heritage in which I am most interested.
I always wanted to be a Travel Consultant. My favorite geography teacher sparked my interest at a very early age.
My very first job was with the world’s oldest travel company, Thos. Cook & Son. I joined them in 1962 in Melbourne, Australia.
Later, I founded my own travel agency, Concorde Travel in Hong Kong, from 1978 until 2016. We have now merged with one of Hong Kong’s oldest and most prestigious companies, the Jebsen Group, founded in 1895. This allows me to devote more time to my favorite pastime, Travel Consulting.
I have a special interest in smaller and more adventurous cruise ships. These enable you to escape the crowds and visit often unexplored and truly pristine destinations. I have been intrigued that the Virtuoso map will not let me include some of the more exotic places I have visited. These are spectacular destinations, but one or two of them might require a bullet proof vest these days:
Abidjan (Ivory Coast), Djibouti (Republic of Djibouti), Koror (Palau), Saint Helena (British Overseas Territory), Phu Quoc (Vietnam), Aden (Yemen), Turpan and Macau (Peoples Republic of China) and Port Lockroy (United Kingdom Antarctic Heritage Trust).
In these days of mass tourism, careful planning is required to ensure that one’s exploration is an enjoyable and memorable experience.
I hope you will let me help you to find these roads less travelled. All you have to do is let me know about your own special interests.
Please feel free to email me at graham.elsom@jebsenholidays.com
Tailor-made travel with Graham Elsom
Experienced travellers are always on the lookout for something different.
Keep an eye on these columns!
Graham has been travelling all his life and is always seeking something special and unusual.
Tailor-made travel with Graham Elsom
Experienced travellers are always on the lookout for something different.
Keep an eye on these columns!
Graham has been travelling all his life and is always seeking something special and unusual.
“Crash! Bang! Shatter!” the sound of quite a lot of crockery crashing to the floor emanates from the kitchen. Or should I say galley? For I find myself on a ship, a car ferry in fact, on my way to the fabled Mediterranean island of Menorca. I look out the window and the horizon keeps going in and out of view in a rather alarming way while big waves wash against the windowpane. But the sun shines blithely from a cobalt blue sky. It’s the Mediterranean!
Fancy a trip to Europe? Do you want to see everything the continent has to offer but worry that you don’t have enough time? Come to Mallorca! It is Europe in miniature.
Presented by Graham Elsom
We have taken the liberty of including you in our mailing list because you were someone with an interest in our itineraries from our Concorde Travel days. Both Belinda and myself now work with one of Hong Kong’s leading and oldest travel companies, Jebsen Holidays, and we would like to maintain contact with you.
Essentially The Discerning Traveller is all about travel, something most of us enjoy doing more than anything else. Our aim is to inform you in a concise manner, about unusual/unique destinations, some further away, others closer to home.
