The Best Kept Secret?

The problem with having a secret paradise is that it doesn't stay a secret for very long. Alex Garland wrote of a Beach, hidden away from all the trappings of society, a place where, theoretically at least, you could escape from everywhere else and be exactly where you wanted to be. Alone. With a secret.

Of the places I have traveled  there are a very small handful of places that are vaguely close to being those sort of locations… but don’t worry, I’m not going to let on where they are… that would just defeat the purpose right?


When you've been travelling and discovered one of those hidden gems only to there and find it raped and pillaged into something unrecognizable  you find you want to cling on a little more tightly to the secrets you have. To put all this into context with a few examples, I first traveled South East Asia towards the back end of 2005. During which time, as a young, naive  adventure seeking nomad, I found a great number of places that felt out of this world. The rugged beauty of Vang Vieng, the picture postcard paradise of Ton Sai Koh Phi Phi, which even a year on from the devastating Boxing Day Tsunami, still carried with it a spirit and a beauty unmatched by any other place I visited. Koh Phi Phi is a perfect example… There were a handful of stores open, enough selling refrigerated beer that I was happy with my lot. My accommodation, sharing a twin room with a friend, cost a mere 375 baht at the time, also, much to my benefit, it was no more than a short walk away from the seemingly immortal Reggae Bar, the centre of any party on Koh Phi Phi. I stayed on Phi Phi for 4 nights, went out for most of them, relaxed for most of the days and enjoyed the inevitable snorkeling day trip out to Koh Phi Phi Leh and Maya Bay. Everything felt right. Sure it was heart breaking to see the vast number of palm tree’s without any tops and the vast open spaces on the island where 11 months earlier, the Tsunami had done most of its damage, but despite the sadness, something was a buzz on Koh Phi Phi. A sense of rebuilding and getting back on your feet, couple with the astonishing natural beauty of the area, gave Phi Phi a spirit I hadn’t previously (and haven’t since) encountered. Another 5 years would pass before I would get chance to visit Koh Phi Phi again and to expand on an old saying… What a difference a half decade makes.

Before I get into this, Phi Phi isn’t entirely bad and there is still a good time to be had… Like Vang Vieng, the unrivalled beauty will always remain… The bars and the nightlife in such a picturesque location are some of the best in the area. The seafood is largely superb and fresh. But these are only a few minor parts of the original experience. Unfortunately, a lot of the spirit, the energy and the purity that I discovered on my first visit, had sadly gone, replaced instead by exactly the kind of “resort” that the timid fear to step food in, the Koh Phangan “Full Moon Party” generation’s west coast hideaway… Only it isn’t a hideaway anymore… everybody knows the secret.

The accommodation has changed on central Ton Sai from being affordable (if still a little pricey in the grand scheme of things) to being downright expensive. The ten a penny tours are so many in number that where before you could steal a moment of quiet contemplation, reflection or appreciation on Maya Bay, now, you struggle to find an inch in the throng of day trippers. The beach is now a landing ramp for the dozens of speedboats coming in from Phi Phi, Phuket, Krabi  and Lanta alike. In 2005, at least for the few minutes I was there, Maya Bay was quiet!The accommodation prices in Ton Sai have also rocketed, partly no doubt due to the costs of rebuilding the area after the tsunami but also it felt like, to convert Phi Phi from a burgeoning backpacker utopia (ok, maybe not a utopia, but something pretty special!) to an upmarket island filled with fancy resorts and overpriced hotels, pricing the dirty backpacker clans out of the running. Of course, it hasn’t kept the backpackers away, they still come in their droves which leads to the next problem… Koh Phi Phi feels like 5 years ago, someone took an early working blueprint of Phuket and moved it east until it found land. The winds that day must have benn blowing a little to the south as well because what we have now on Koh Phi Phi is a lot of the worst things about Phuket.


To end the tale of Phi Phi, I did return last year in late February of 2012. Little had changed, me and my wife went about our touristy business as before trying to find any last remnant of the time we had had together before and also to look for the hidden gems to give us a reason to go back a fourth time. We admittedly, with our levels of research and means off access to research having evolved since the previous time, did manage to find some very well priced (though still expensive for the region) accommodation. We also discovered a bar just off Ton Sai (that will remain nameless) that while appealing directly to the sensibilities of the Full Moon Party generation from Koh Phangan, did manage to carry itself with a certain spirit and class often missing in the bars of Phi Phi. The sort of place you’d go to chill out and have an experience rather than the sort of you’d place you’d struggle to remember what happened there when you woke up hung over the following morning.


That aside, the trip to Phi Phi did nothing else other than confirm our worst fears. Phi Phi had been lost to its own self-importance and the relentless march of unnecessary progress…So where does this leave us. Is there anywhere left in the world that retains its own authenticity. It’s own character. That doesn't go the way of The Simpsons post season 7 by becoming a parody of itself rather than just being what it is…


I have a few. They are still out there. I venture to say that there may even be additional places that I haven’t visited for a while that also that haven’t yet lost their innocence. There’s a beach in Cambodia, an Island in Thailand a short bus trip away from Bangkok, a small village in the Northern Mountains of Thailand and a quaint little town on the coast of Vietnam. That’s all I’m giving you on those. The point I've wanted to get to (albeit in a long winded way) is where else is left… What are the places left to the intrepid adventure seeking traveler   The sort of places that aren’t necessarily unknown or so far off the beaten track that you need to worry about packing a compass and some flares… No, what I mean is the places that are still original. That may still see their fair share of travelers but don’t give in to the easy dollar at the expense of their integrity and soul…

Although I may not have been to many or any of the places on the list, I racked my brain and came up with the following… What do you think?

1. Skeleton Coast, Namibia

Just search on the internet for pictures of the Skeleton Coast and you’ll get it straight away. As untamed, rarely trodden wildernesses go, this is the mother of them all. Wikipedia's description of the Skeleton Coast is that it is the "...northern part of the Atlantic Ocean coast of Namibia and south of Angola from the Kunene River south to the Swakop River, although the name is sometimes used to describe the entire Namib Desert coast."

Shipwreck on the Skeleton Coast, Namibia. Photo by Tumblr "Selmatrash" Original Site Link

Take a look at a map and see just how long that stretch of coast line is, then marry that geography up against the numerous pictures of scorched desert and a blue, turbulent ocean, a coastline littered with the rotting carcasses of the ill fated ships that have met their maker in its perilous wake. Then see pictures of wild animals...  baboons, giraffes, lions, black rhinoceros and springboks. This looks like the kind of place that will never really change. It will just continue to be a foreboding wilderness or desert and sea. Fire and water.

2. Burma

When I first travelled to South East Asia in 2005, Burma was called Myanmar, the country was not really open to tourism and for the lucky few that chanced a trip, you were forced to exchange your money at a weak rate, be chaperoned into a "typical Myanmar village" to see life, then chaperoned back. The real Burma, was an enigma...

A lot has happened since then... The heavily publicised release, election and rise to prominence of Aung San Suu Kyi has opened a lot of peoples eyes to the rich history and culture of the country as well as its stunning natural and physical beauty with the Bagan Pagoda's being one of the best kept secrets yet most stunning sights in all of South East Asia.

Bagan Pagoda at Sunrise. Photo from Fotopedia Original Site Link

I get the impression that Burma now is what Thailand was like 20-30 years ago. At the time when it itself was just opening up to tourism. Before the locals spotted embraced the capitalist ways and found ways to rape their own culture to bleed every penny they could out of the hungry tourist trade. Burma, I would suspect, still has its purity and still has its soul and for that. It should be high up on every adventure seekers list.

3. Nepal

Gokyo-Lakes and Ama Dablam Khumbu - Region Nepal Original Site Link

Nepal, like Burma, feels like another of those countries that has survived the South East Asian tourism onslaught and come out good on the other side. It's location in the Himalaya's mountains  and, those two words... Mount Everest, which should say all they need to about its credentials as a major tourist attraction, yet because of its isolation away from the oft travelled roads of Thailand, Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia, Nepal seems to have survived and retained its soul.

The sort of country where you could imagine taking a local bus ride, the likes of which Michael Douglas had to endure in Romancing the Stone...

Romancing the Stone bus... AKA. Fun, local transport - Link to original site

Nepal, without question, has a rich local culture, deeply routed in the Buddhist, coupled with some incredible natural beauty in a country that, by not being on the main tourist trail of South East Asia, has no doubt managed to avoid all the annoying quirks that while OK in small doses or in the right context in places like Bangkok, Phuket and Koh Phangan, can end up ruining a place and robbing it of its soul. Nepal is more than likely the same country now it was 50 years ago.4. Western Australia

Admittedly, I have been to WA albeit in a limited fashion. Perth and Kalgoorlie being the limits of my adventures. From those short experiences, you get the impression that WA is the sort of place that will probably change and evolve, but only at an incredibly leisurely pace. The hustle and bustle of Perth is little more than a gentle nudge. Kalgoorlie, one of the places off the beaten yet still a tourist spot still retains its frontier charms, the likes of Broome and Exmouth both hark back to the days when you could stumble upon a coastal town and find nothing more than a small bed and breakfast and a couple of cafes, bars and restaurants.

The trail from Perth to Darwin along the coast feels like it would be one of those journeys that evokes memories of the pioneers first discovering the new world. An exploration and an adventure into the wilderness where, even without blinking for several hours, you would see nothing but the flat horizon, the scorched earth and if you were lucky, the odd sign of life from a bird or a Kangaroo.

The long and lonely road in WA, Australia Original Site Link

This is just scraping the surface as well. Venture inland beyond Kalgoorlie or head further into the north eastern corner of the state and you really are into the unknown. The road less travelled? The road not travelled more like. A real adventure with real secrets to discover.

5. Peru / Cuzco / Bolivia

Let’s get the Machu Picchu monkey of our chest right away. Yes, its not only high on my list of places to visit before I die... it practically is the list. What’s not to like. An ancient temple hidden away in the Andes Mountains of Peru. Cuzco, as the gateway to Machu Picchu seems like it is open to tourism, but due to its isolated location in the Andes, also seems like it is the sort of place that will not have changed (much) nor will change much over long periods of time.Peru as a whole seems to embody this same spirit of being open to tourism but protecting its integrity by refusing to let itself become over commercialised or, for want of a better word, easy. The Nazca Lines are another prime example of something “remaining the same” for hundreds and thousands of years.

Sitting on the south eastern border of Peru lies Lake Titicaca and beyond that, the country of Bolivia… I would imagine Bolivia to be similar to Burma and Nepal in the sense that for most people travelling from Europa or the Oceanic region, it would not be top of most peoples lists of places to visit. Peru, Chile, Brazil, Ecuador and Argentina would all most likely feature higher on a list of to do countries, before one even considers Bolivia… Which is no doubt where it may have its secrets to share and find.

Bolivian Capital - La Paz Original Site Link

6. The Mayan Trail

I use the term “Mayan Trail” in the broader sense to incorporate the countries of Mexico, Guatemala and Belize, as well as the already inclusive Mayan Temples themselves... the likes of  Tulum, Palenque, Uxmal and the infamous Chitchen Itza.

10 Most Beautiful Ancient Mayan Temples

Each country on its own merits has its charms. There are parts of Mexico that can definitely be removed from this list… The likes of Cancun have no doubt no more secrets to yield and are, for the most part, well on the global tourist trail, not just the Mexican one. The same can be said for the likes of Tijuana, certainly Mexican but in the loosest possible terms. Beyond that, Mexico is such a vast place that there has to be areas that are accessible but only known to a handful and the scale and variety of the country lends itself to the right kind of adventure. Temples and beaches, mountains and jungles, rivers and rainforest… Mexico must have its secrets.

Los Cabos, Mexico Original Site Link

Then there’s Guatemala, the forgotten child of the three. Another place on the road less travelled, Guatemala for me, is the Bolivia of Central America. A place where people, outside of the close lying regions at least, will know very little about.

Tikal - Guatemala Link to Original Site

Finally, there’s Belize, sitting to the South of Mexico and to the East of Guatemala, Belize does have one of the most underrated (from reports) natural attractions in all the world. This may be a slightly biased opinion as a recreational SCUBA diver, but how anyone can look at The Great Blue Hole and not be amazed by just the images of it, would be a mystery. If you read into The Great Blue Hole, learn about how it was formed (naturally) and how even Jacques-Yves Cousteau declared it one of the top 10 dive sites in the world. Hopefully, nothing has changed since then. Of course this brings with it added interest and added numbers of people. But due to its slight, off the beaten track, feel I would suspect it would be very similar in some respects to the Perhanthian Islands in Malaysia. The sort of place that you earn the right to visit by virtue of its lack of ease to get there. Once you’re there, you have access to one of the greater, unknown natural wonders of the world.

The Great Blue Hole, Belize - Link to Original Site

Away from the diving, Belize is firmly entrenched in the Mayan Trail with its own set of unique and remarkable temples. A short stray off the beaten track would surely yield a great number of authentic places and adventures.

Xunantunich Temple, Belize - Link to Site with Original Image

In the broader sense, the Mayan Trail is a perfect example because it covers such a vast area of untapped and unexplored places and even of the ones that have been explored , a fair number of these would no doubt have retained a decent level of authenticity and not sold there soul to the almighty Dollar.

7. Greenland

One of the last great wildernesses on earth? Definitely. Greenland certainly meets all the criteria for adventure seekers and those wanting a unique and personal experience. Beyond this, the variety of different options available in Greenland seems to be surprisingly high. Imagine a trip where one minute you can be riding on a sledge pulled by husky dogs through the glaciers and snow fields, then the next day you could be on a cruise ship watching Whales frolicking in the water, then the next day hike into the wilderness to catch a glimpse of the Northern Lights… and these are just the easy options.

Greenland's Ice Caps - Link to Original Site

Greenland feels, from afar, as though it has such a rich history and culture crossed with an at times inhospitable climate and a region that is difficult and expensive to travel to (access is primarily from / through Copenhagen). This combination must have left the country unspoilt and untouched in enough areas and to enough of a degree that Greenland would be the same now as it was 50, 100, 500, 1000 years ago?

Northern Lights, Greenland - Link to Original Site

There are other equally valid wildernesses out there… I've already touched upon Western Australia, you could add South Western Tasmania into that as well, the Fjordlands of New Zealand, the vast deserts of Africa and the vast rain forests and jungles of South America, you could even go to the extremes of saying the Arctic and Antarctica regions are the same, but there’s something about Greenland that feels special. Look at it on a map, look at how big it is. Look at the colour of it… its white! For most of the year, before the summer thaw, the greater portion of Greenland is made up of mountains covered in snow, vast deserts of ice, wind and inhospitable coldness. Yet with this, comes an unmatched natural beauty for a country that remains accessible. A cursory search on the internet will find tours to Greenland far easier than safari’s to the North or South Pole (as the closest textual comparisons). The wildlife is some of the most precious and rarefied on the planet and ultimately, a trip to Greenland is one of those accessible, once in a lifetime trips that you can do without needing to charter an Ice breaker, several guides and a travel insurance policy costing thousands of pounds!

Sled riding in Greenland - Link to original site

I’d love to spend a few months in Greenland working or volunteering or teaching. It seems like the kind of place that by the very definition of what it is, is going to create everlasting, incredible memories without even breaking a sweat.8. The Middle EastThis will be a short one because, I’ll be honest, I know very little about the middle east… To be clear, I am defining the middle east as the likes of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kuwait, Iraq, etc.From afar, and with all the turmoil that has befallen these countries in recent history, Afghanistan especially, seem like Virgin countries, ready to explore, completely untarnished by the western hand of tourism. Admittedly, Kuwait is slightly exempt from the rule of war, not that it hasn’t had its share of turmoil in the last 20-30 years, just not as recently, or arguably to the same degree as the others.

Pakistan landscape - Link to original site

There is an obvious, inherent danger involved with visiting these countries, that goes without saying, but with that danger would come unquestionable rewards. A high level of common sense, open mindedness, intelligence and most importantly, respect, would need to be applied and shown when visiting these countries. It’s fair to say that not everyone in the world, let alone countries in this part of the world, are big fans of the capitalist west and the American dream.

Temple in Afghanistan - Link to Original Site

Beyond that first step of uncertainty though would lie an unquestionably rich and fascinating culture along with some no doubt incredible natural secrets to discover.

If you can stomach the ride not only getting there but also during a trip to the middle east, I would imagine the rewards are endless in this untapped, off the beaten track, part of the world.

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OK, so this blog piece needs a conclusion or at the very least summarising and I guess one noteworthy point to acknowledge of this list is that in a broad sense I have named countries, even regions and not specific places. This was largely because I feel that by travelling to these locations, you would open up the possibility of finding “one of those” places. Before it turns into Maya Bay the speedboat hub.

Speedboat central, Maya Bay, Koh Phi Phi

I leave you with this faithful travelers… Say you've traveled to Hong Kong, or New Orleans, or San Francisco, Dubai, Koh Phi Phi or even sunny old London. Is it better now than it was say 50 years ago and if not, how much would you give for a flux capacitor and the chance to travel back in time to see it in its hey-day? I can imagine Hong Kong being pretty special even 20 years ago… Kowloon has never been the same since!

Not Kowloon as we know it... Hong Kong circa. 1920's - Link to original site