I loved my Singapore Airlines ‘Elite Gold’ card. Suddenly, International airports transitioned from being places where food and drink were wildly overpriced, to …. free. When I stuffed-up and missed flights, or political rules changed and I couldn’t board an aircraft – instead of costing hundreds of dollars, the issues were quietly and politely taken… Continue reading When Frequent-Flying Becomes Insane-Flying
Category: Travel
St Petersburg – 200 years of Russian Chick Selfies
Women, so I’ve read (and seem to observe), are significantly more likely to take ‘selfies’ than men. It doesn’t seem to matter where I go now, but there are crowds, struggling under the weight of a selfie-stick, with some digital apparatus on the end of it. In a previous incarnation, I was a photographer. This… Continue reading St Petersburg – 200 years of Russian Chick Selfies
In Mongolia any fool can drive, but…
In five years or so in and out of Mongolia, I’ve criss-crossed thousands of kilometres by 4WD Landcruiser. But I’ve only taken the wheel once, and that was for a short hop back to a village when my driver wasn’t well. Let me explain. Technically, anyone can take the wheels of a 4WD and go… Continue reading In Mongolia any fool can drive, but…
The Log Cabin at the Heart of St Petersburg, Russia
The most famous ‘little log cabin in the woods’ is probably the one in which Abraham Lincoln grew up in Kentucky. It was built in 1808, but unfortunately, no longer exists. However, in St Petersburg, Russia, there is to this day, a log cabin built in 1703. It was the home for a few years of Tsar Peter… Continue reading The Log Cabin at the Heart of St Petersburg, Russia
Once a Vast Forest – Motatapu Track, New Zealand
Early on a cool Sunday morning I sipped my latte outside Relishes Cafe, Wanaka, and thought the immediate view could be better. In a somewhat typical urban New Zealand fashion, the lake is cut off from the cafe not just by a road, but a car park as well. However, the awesome view behind it,… Continue reading Once a Vast Forest – Motatapu Track, New Zealand
The Day I Walked Around the Roman Empire
When Emperor Constantine woke up on May 28, 1453, it would have been to the depressing thought that it was likely his last day on Earth. Justinian was emperor of the Roman Empire (we tend to call them Byzantine, but they thought of themselves as Romans), although at this stage it wasn’t much. The Ottoman army… Continue reading The Day I Walked Around the Roman Empire
Mongolia – crap, fire and herbal-tea
I once had a student come to me for help looking at sheep crap. It took the mystery out of what this stuff actually is. Under the microscope it’s quite a treasure-trove of little bits of plant leaf. From the various patterns you can tell what plants the sheep had been eating. The crap was… Continue reading Mongolia – crap, fire and herbal-tea
Ratbag – just another cat in Nanjing
The Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology has cats. There’s at least a dozen of them, if not 15 and more. Hard to tell exactly because of the clone of dirty white ones among them. Though at least one of them is (probably) unique in having David Bowie eyes. NIGPAS is a special part of… Continue reading Ratbag – just another cat in Nanjing
The Honey Trees of Kalimantan
I was sitting in a ger in Mongolia when I put up my hand to go to Indonesia. My ulterior motive was to get a chance to get into the Indonesian rainforests. Back in 1988 I had read Eric Hansen’s book “Stranger in the forest: on foot across Borneo”. I was impressed. The guy spent… Continue reading The Honey Trees of Kalimantan
Turkey/Armenia: Ani – capital on the wrong side of a border
I’ve seen two cities that look like they were comprehensively destroyed. I don’t mean just ruins, but places where someone seems to have made a comprehensive, and successful attempt to wipe the place out. Warsaw may come to mind – it was practically obliterated in the Second World War, but then it was rebuilt. In Ani,… Continue reading Turkey/Armenia: Ani – capital on the wrong side of a border