RSSJan|20|2011
Enjoy the Winter in Copenhagen
Posted by as Adventure, Around The World, Arts & Culture, Europe, Historical, Luxurious
Winter is full of magic and adventure for most, and if you’re looking for an interesting place to spend this year’s snowy season, you may want to give Copenhagen a try. It may definitely not be on the top of your list of ideas, but only those who’ve visited Copenhagen during one of its winters know how magical the whole experience can be, and how much joy it can bring into your holidays – so really, if you haven’t been to Copenhagen in the winter yet, now’s the time to check it out!
Copenhagen really changes during the winter – there are a lot of places to visit and things to see, so if you’re looking to make this holiday an interesting one, look no further. You should definitely start your search with the Tivoli Christmas market – apart from being the perfect location to do your …
Sep|17|2010
Travellers: David Livingstones
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 …
Comments Off
Sep|13|2010
Fort Galle: South Asia’s Gem
Posted by Zahir as Adventure, Arts & Culture, Asia, Historical, Hotels, Romantic
Galle Fort is often called the gem of South Asia, and after a 2-week holiday there, I cannot agree more. Upon entering the fort’s walls, one is transported to another world – one that existed centuries ago. Old merchants villas line the streets where a quiet street-life prevails and just recently, a handful of “boutique hotels” and specialty shops have sprouted around, all keeping in line with the romantic architecture of old Asia.
We rented the most charming “Emma Villa” through the Galle Fort Hotel, and it came with two very sweet houseboys, Sanjay and Nissanka as well as a nanny Harmony (who we later discovered was actually called Ramani) who although didn’t speak a word of English, was a dream with our two energetic toddlers. The house was beautifully furnished (with a tiny swimming pool no less) but the best part was the …
Comments Off
Aug|27|2010
Travellers: Sir Edmund Hillary
Posted by Zahir as Adventure, Asia, Australia NZ, Historical, People
“My God! We’ve climbed the thing! We’ve done it!” ~ Edmund Hillary
Between 1920 and 1952, seven major expeditions had failed to reach the summit of Mount Everest. In 1924, the famous mountaineer George Leigh-Mallory had perished in the attempt. In 1952, a team of Swiss climbers had been forced to turn back after reaching the south peak, only 1000 feet from the summit.
Edmund Hillary joined in Everest reconnaissance expeditions in 1951 and again in 1952. These exploits brought Hillary to the attention of Sir John Hunt, leader of an expedition sponsored by the Joint Himalayan Committee of the Alpine Club of Great Britain and the Royal Geographic Society to make the assault on Everest in 1953.
The expedition reached the South Peak on May, but all but two of the climbers who had come this far were forced to turn back by exhaustion at the high altitude. At …
Comments Off
Jul|23|2010
Travellers: Ferdinand Magellan
Posted by Zahir as Around The World, Historical, People
Ferdinand Magellan, (1480?-1521) the Portuguese-born Spanish explorer and navigator, leader of the first expedition to circumnavigate, or sail completely around the world. He was born in northern Portugal and is perhaps the most famous explorer of all tim, proving that the world was indeed, round.
Portuguese sea captain Ferdinand Magellan and his crew were the first Europeans to sail around the world, proving that the world was round. From 1519 to 1521 Magellan, with five ships and a Spanish crew of about 250 men, searched for a western route to the Moluccas, or Spice Islands. He was killed on April 27, 1521 when he interfered in a dispute between indigenous people in the Philippines.
Only two of his ships continued to the Spice Islands. The two ships then made separate return voyages, and only one, commanded by Juan Sebastian del …
Comments Off
Jun|18|2010
America’s Coffee Towns. Part 2
Posted by Zahir as Americas, Cities, Food and Drink, Historical
In the meantime, Starbucks under Schultz mutated into an operation of 2,000-plus stores. To San Franciscans, the coffee-as-image attitude is evidence that Seattleites aren’t as discriminating about good coffee as they are.
In San Francisco proper, Starbucks has 67 stores to Peet’s 10 and local chain Martha & Brothers’ five, and all 67 seem to be thriving.
So what does the way Seattle obsesses about good coffee and the way the Bay Area takes it for granted say about those two places?
To quote Baldwin: “It’s a question of experience and maturity, if you put it into human terms, the younger athlete, let’s say, is much more aggressive about asserting himself because he has something to prove. In the ’70s, there were just a handful of decent restaurants in Seattle, and no one came to Seattle to eat or shop or see what was going …
Comments Off
Jun|14|2010
America’s Coffee Towns. Part 1
Posted by Zahir as Americas, Cities, Food and Drink, Historical
Seattle, San Francisco. These two jewels of U.S Pacific Coast have much in common: a reputation as the coffee lover’s Nirvana. So who is the real pro?
Though the cities’ caffeine societies are distinct, their pasts are intertwined. San Francisco has a tradition of good coffee that goes back at least as far as the 1899 opening of Freed, Teller & Freed, the oldest specialty bean roaster west of New York.
Peet was Dutchman Alfred Peet’s modest little roastery, opened in 1966 on Walnut and Vine in Berkeley, that became the real epicenter of the gourmet coffee boom that has engulfed the Bay Area, Seattle, and, mercifully, many former Maxwell House strongholds beyond.
It may be purely coincidental that many of San Francisco’s independent coffeehouses have a similarly well-worn, unhi-tech atmosphere. But it is no accident that the first Starbucks, …
Comments Off
Mar|14|2010
Binh Soup Shop, Saigon
Posted by Noemi as Asia, Food and Drink, Historical, Travelogger
Going to Saigon? You will definitely find tons of soup shops around the city. They’re everywhere – and I mean everywhere. From the footpaths to medium sized eateries to classy dining places, they all have pho, the “national food” of Vietnam. My first – and best, I think – taste of real beef pho was at this corner eatery. We got to Saigon after midnight, starving. The shop was right around the corner of the first hotel we went to. Needless to say, it was bliss.
I did have another beef pho experience, and this time, it was more about history than the food. The soup was good, though not exceptional. However, the soup shop – Pho Binh – used to be the secret headquarters of the Viet Cong during the Vietnam War. …
Sep|14|2009
Places Every American Should Visit
Posted by Noemi as Destinations, Features, Historical, United States
We all have a list of destinations that we would like to go to “before we die.” This kind of list is quite popular, isn’t it? I do agree with Laura McNeil of Bing Travel, when she said that most people tend to identify locations outside of their native land. I suppose it is because far away lands are more attractive than the “ordinary-ness” of local destinations. There is no doubt, however, that there are destinations within your own country which are just as interesting and meaningful as foreign destinations.
Let’s take a look at the United States, McNeil identified 8 locations that every American should visit. Can you guess what they are?
1. Sears Tower (Willis Tower) – yeah, it has a new name, and it seems no one is used to it yet, but the fact …
Nov|23|2008
Thanksgiving Travel: The Pilgrim Monument
Posted by Noemi as Arts & Culture, Destinations, Family, Historical, United States
Are you planning on traveling this Thanksgiving? If you read my last post, you would know that it just might be a good idea to hit the road this week and one place that would be perfect for Thanksgiving travel is The Pilgrim Monument in New England, where it all started.
Contrary to the expected idea that this monument should be located in Plymouth, where all the other Pilgrim attractions can be found, The Pilgrim Monument is located in Cape Cod, Provincetown. The monument has the distinction of being the tallest structure totally made of granite in all of the United States. Standing at 252 feet tall, the monument commemorates the fact that the Pilgrims first spent 5 weeks in the area before moving on to Plymouth to eventually settle there. So if you want to personally …
