RSSDec|29|2006
Cambodia Dreaming: Getting There
Posted by Zahir as Adventure, Arts & Culture, Asia, Family
This, and the next few posts are written by a guest blogger, who is an expat living in the Philippines and is a mother of 2. Here she writes about her recent 8-day trip to Cambodia.
Think French provincial architecture, café with river views, baguettes, and cold beer. Now think temples, motorcycles, tut-tuts, noodles and pomelo. Is this Hanoi, Bangkok, even Singapore? None of these cities, but the South East Asian neighbor Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
The family of three, including a four year old and a six year old completely skilled at wrestle mania, and minus the workaholic fourth member, set off for a Christmas holiday adventure in Cambodia. The travel was made easy by booking online with Air Asia, and the car drive with the Christmas traffic, was fast and hassle free. International travel through Clarke is always pleasant, the Custom Officers always seem happy to see …
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Dec|25|2006
Travellers: Santa Claus
Posted by Zahir as Around The World, Historical, People
Some people attribute the origin of Santa Claus to the legendary St. Nicholas, who was born in Patara, a village in what is now Turkey, in a wealthy Christian family. He became the Bishop of Myra. He was well known throughout the land for his generosity to those in need and for his love for the children. He had given gifts to children anonymously throwing them through the windows of their houses and helped unmarried woman with dowry, so that she may get married! It is said that he had performed several miracles and also helped sailors at sea and saved them from drowning and brought back to life three murdered theological students!!
Roman Emperor Diocletian, who persecuted Christians, arrested him, had imprisoned him and later exiled him. He died on December 6th in AD343, in Myra and was buried in his cathedral church. His tomb …
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Dec|21|2006
Travellers: David Livingstone
Posted by Zahir as Adventure, Africa, Historical, People
Born in 1813, David Livingstone was a Scottish explorer and missionary and doctor who walked across Africa from coast to coast before there were any roads, bridges, hospitals or shops. He survived fevers and infections, attacks by wild animals and Muslim slave traders.
Livingstone was the first person to bring medicine and Christian gospels to many remote regions of Central Africa. His travels covered one-third of the continent, from the Cape to near the Equator, and from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean.
Livingstone was raised in poverty; the family of nine lived in a single room in a Lanarkshire cotton mill tenement. In 1838 he went to London to offer his services as a medical missionary to the London Missionary Society (LMS), which he chose because of its nonsectarian character. Livingstone was a devote evangelical Christian; his own conversion came when he realized that faith and science were …
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Dec|19|2006
Travellers: Peter Mayle
Posted by Zahir as Arts & Culture, Europe, Food and Drink, People
When I want to do some seriously relaxing armchair travelling I turn to Peter Mayle, who has written some of the best books on what life is really like in the Provence region of France, as well as its wonderful food and drink!
Born in 1939 in Brighton, England, Mayle spent 15 years of his career in the cut-throat world of advertising before becoming a writer in the mid-seventies. He started off writing educational books for children on useful topics such as sex education.
In 1989 his most famous book, “A Year In Provence” detailing his life in Provence was published and became an international bestseller. More books followed, as well as contributions to numerous magazines and newspapers around the world.
According to sources, Mr.Mayle and his wife left the home in Provence he so aptly described in “A Year..” to return to the New …
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Dec|15|2006
Himalayan Origins
Posted by Zahir as Adventure, Asia, Historical
I’ve long held a fascination with the majestic Himalayas, and indeed with Mount Everest. Around 5 years ago, when I visited Nepal, I cannot forget the first time I saw these awe-inspiring mountains. With the sheer scale and beauty of the scenery, it was an almost spiritual experience.
Nepal includes 8 of the highest 14 summits in the world, which exceed altitude of 8,000m including Annapurna, Dhaulagiri and others.
The Himalayas are among the youngest mountain ranges on the planet. According to the modern theory of plate tectonics, their formation is a result of a continental collision or orogeny along the convergent boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and the Eurasian Plate. The collision began in the Upper Cretaceous period about 70 million years ago, when the north-moving Indo-Australian Plate, moving at about 15 cm/year, collided with the Eurasian Plate.
By about 50 million years ago this fast …
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Dec|13|2006
Baros Water Villas
Posted by Zahir as Asia, Getaways, Islands, Luxurious, Nature
At first look at the photo above, this pretty non-descript photo of a resort’s “water villas” could be anywhere from Fiji to the Philippines. So many resorts these days have cashed in on the concept of providing a hut on top of the sea complete with glass flooring, Bose systems and fancy tubs – but without any real style, individuality or fabulous service to really carry it off. In short, you’re bound to leave with a humongous bill and no plans whatsoever to return.
Baros, a resort in the Maldives, seems to have gotten it right at least. A great location, good food (3 restaurant choices), discrete but competent service, fantastic water sports, a decent spa and wonderful rooms to call home during one’s holiday. Heres what to expect with the accomodation:
Grouped in a crescent a minute’s walk from the shore, each of the 30 …
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Dec|11|2006
Travellers: Ian Wright
Posted by Zahir as Adventure, Around The World, People, Television
“The sort of trips I go on are all about living cheap and getting dirty which is how I like it.”
Ian Wright
Cheap, yes. Dirty, yes. And also the most interesting and funniest of most travel shows in television today I think. Host of Globetrekker and other shows including Ian Wright Live and Ian Wright’s VIP Weekends, Ian Wright is a 40-year old Englishman, who, before the travelling bug hit him, was an accomplished artist and theatre performer, who even sold home-made jams and crafts at London’s Spitalfields market.
Engaging, honest and endearingly a little mad, Ian’s passion for travel and love for the cultures of the world truly come off in his show, making them immensely watchable stuff.
“Every single country you go to just blows your mind! You know with this job you always get five months condensed in three weeks! The final program …
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Dec|09|2006
Travellers: Thomas Cook
Posted by Zahir as Adventure, Around The World, Historical, People
When you think of a well-known “travel agency”, one of the first names that come to mind is Thomas Cook.
Born in 1808 in Melbourne, England (Derbyshire, not Australia) Thomas Cook as a missionary turned travel agent. He began his trade as the latter in 1841 he chartered a special train to carry passengers from Leicester to Loughborough for a temperance meeting. The success of the guided excursion led to the formation of a travel agency bearing his name. Cook organized personally conducted tours throughout Europe and procured traveling and hotel accommodations for tourists making independent trips. He also provided travel services, including the furnishing of supplies and personnel, for the British government on several occasions, notably the final expedition of the British general Charles George Gordon to the Sudan in 1884.
History
His idea to offer excursions came to him while waiting for the stagecoach on the London …
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Dec|07|2006
Travellers: Tintin and Snowy
Posted by Zahir as Adventure, Around The World, Books, People
Ok, so Tintin is fictional, and a comic book for that matter, but in terms of the sheer adventure in exotic locales around the world, the fearless, young Belgian reporter definitely makes my list of top travellers.
I first discovered Tintin in my childhood, when I was around 10 years old, and devoured each one of his adventures in hours, excitedly going through the entire collection in no time at all. Favourites of mine included Cigars of the Pharoah, Red Rackham’s Treasure and Flight 714 – (remember Captain Haddock feeling sorry for Lazlo Carriedas and putting cash in his hat?). Now, I’ve just started reading “The Blue Lotus” to my 4 year old, who seems to be as enthralled as I was.
Tintin’s Travels Around The Globe and Beyond
The settings within Tintin have also added depth to the story Hergé mingles real and fictional lands …
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Dec|05|2006
Travellers: Marco Polo
Posted by Zahir as Adventure, Around The World, Historical, People
Without a doubt, Marco Polo tops the list of perhaps the most famous traveller of them all. But even if the name is familiar to most people around the world, its surprising how many don’t actually know what he accomplished, while some may even think of the Asian hotel chain, rather than the great traveller.
Regardless, the most important thing about Marco Polo was that he was believed to have been the first European to make the long journey to Asia – through the “Silk Road” into China in the 13th century, as you can see on the map pictured above.
Born in 1254, Marco Polo was a Venetian trader and explorer who, together with his father Niccolň and his uncle Maffeo, was one of the first Westerners to travel the Silk Road to China (which he called Cathay) and visited the Great Khan of the …
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