Santiago is over 100 kms from the port of San Antonio, which is now the main cruise port for Chile. It used to be Valparaiso, but the unions became too troublesome so the Chilean government moved the main port to San Antonio, where they don’t seem to have the same labour problems. To get from […]
Catherine’s Palace at Peterhof (Petergof is the Russian spelling) It was a warm day and I didn’t envy the staff in their period costumes. The picture shows the north side of the palace, or what was called the carriage courtyard. The palace originated in 1717 by command of Catherine 1 of Russia. If you like […]
To read too many books is harmful’ according to Mau Tse-Tung. Yokohama, in Tokyo Bay, was our first port of call of our Japanese coastal trip. If I thought Singapore and Hong Kong were foreign, Yokohama was really ‘foreign’ The people were different from Chinese, very friendly, but different. Fortunately at that time the exchange […]
Today it is the cherry capital of Australia. In 1847 Edward Taylor planted the first cherry tree in the Lambing Flat area. James White was the first European to lay claim to land in the area in 1826. He had been convicted of horse stealing in Buckinghamshire in the UK in 1812 and transported to […]
La Boca – the area within Buenos Aires that is influenced strongly by the Italians. Many of the early migrants came from Genoa. In 1882, after a long strike, the area seceded from Argentina and the rebels raised the Genoese flag, which was immediately torn down personally by then President of Argentina Julio Roca. Remember I […]
After leaving Tarawa it was a short 805 mile flight to Funafuti, Tuvalu, but it still took about three hours in the HS 148. The aircraft carried more freight than it did passengers, because not many people visited Funafuti, other than returning residents, and the occasional businessman, i.e your truly. As we made our approach to […]
Not far from the restaurant is the long alleyway of Nakamasi, that leads to Sensoji Temple. The alleyway is host to stall after stall, selling everything from snacks, toys, handbags and souvenirs, a shopper’s delight. The stall holders first obtained permission to sell their wares in the early 18th century.
Just a little of the background to the ‘confrontation’, which was that Indonesia objected to the creation of Malaysia, and the inclusion of Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo, (which was a Crown colony), and Sarawak, which was known then as British Borneo, and is now known as East Malaysia. The pink bits on the map are […]
I’d never heard of the Red Funnel Line until this year. I’d heard of the Blue Funnel Line,which was based on Merseyside. While in Southampton we wanted to visit the Isle of Wight so as to see Osborne House. Getting there we decided on the car ferry to East Cowes, and the ‘cruise’ would take […]
Over fifty-five years of flying as a passenger, with comments on various airlines that I have used. In alphabetical order, not in historical order. I flew part way across the Pacific Ocean in the above aircraft, and years later I found her at a small aerodrome near where I live – no longer in service. […]
Welcome to an early morning arrival in Melbourne on Good Friday. Had a feel of the Enterprise from Star Treck. Rain and drizzle on a very dull day. with The Sprit of Tasmania ferry boat along side the next wharf. The beach started at the passenger ship wharf, but even this gave the place a […]
We sailed from Ras Al Khaimah for Dubai, which was a very short ‘voyage’ of about 112 km (70 miles) or about four hours at a very economical speed. Dubai Creek in the 1960’s. As you see the creek was too small for a deep sea ship to use, so we anchored off the coast once […]
This blog is aimed mainly at Australian readers, so I apologise to my other readers. I am tired of the multi-coloured banner across the top of my blog, even though I’ve tried to have it removed, and investigated how to remove it myself, but I don’t have the computer knowledge. It is obviously a banner […]
Even though Calcutta is a 170 km (100 miles) from the sea the river Hooghly is large and deep enough for deep sea ships to sail to Calcutta to load and discharge. The Company that I worked for began life in Calcutta in 1856 so it was not a surprise to see other BISNC (British […]
