Banana Pancake Trail

The Banana Pancake Trail is the name given to the well-trodden backpackers' routes of South East Asia. The name is usually used tongue-in-cheek, and is a reference to the many cafes and restaurants catering to low-budget travellers that serve banana pancakes as a form of sweet breakfast.

The "Banana Pancake Trail" is sometimes associated with travellers who use Lonely Planet travel guides, due to the fact that this publisher's books were the first to provide information about the region and were therefore used by many backpackers. [http://www.chiangmainews.com/ecmn/viewfa.php?id=2228] The influx of Western travellers lead to the rise of many restaurants serving food adapted to their needs, including banana pancakes and other comfort foods like yoghurt with muesli and honey.

There is no firm definition of the "Banana Pancake Trail", as it is a metaphor to describe places with many backpacking tourists, and the services they need, rather than an actual route or road (much like the Silk Road). However, the term is used to describe, amongst others, Pushkar and Varanasi in India, Vang Vieng in Laos, Bangkok (with its famous Khao San Road), Pai and the island of Ko Pha Ngan in Thailand, Penang, the Perhentian Islands and Melaka in Malaysia, and Lake Toba, Yogyakarta, Mount Bromo and the islands of Bali and Lombok in Indonesia. The "Banana Pancake Trail" also seems to have a northern extension in to China with Dali and Yangshuo as the major centres.

It is similar in idea to the 'Gringo Trail' in South America and the old Hippie trail through Asia in the '60s and '70s.

References

* [http://hutnyk.blogspot.com/2007/07/banana-pancake-trail.html Trinketization Blog "The Banana Pancake Trail"]
* [http://eatingasia.typepad.com/eatingasia/2006/07/the_original_ba.html Eating Asia "the Original Banana Pancake"]
* [http://www.meganandmichael.com/travelogue/laos/the-banana-pancake-trail.php Travelogue]
* [http://colintodhunter.blogspot.com/2008/09/following-banana-pancake-trail-deccan.html "The Trail of the Banana Pancake"]
* [http://www.traveljournals.net/travelers/philstone/journals/897/ "Following the Banana Pancake Trail"]
* [http://books.google.fr/books?id=DN6zf0xpOxIC&pg=PA48&lpg=PA48&dq=banana+pancake+trail&source=web&ots=d0jaiGz33o&sig=jfWi1776bgl4m-H45jnhmVmEvJg&hl=en "Live at the Forbidden City" by Denis Rea]

ee also

*Hippie trail
*Grand Tour
*Khao San road
*Lonely Planet