I have just spent 8 days on an Expedition cruise in Eastern Greenland with 57 other passengers.

I have written a short article about my impressions when visiting the small settlement of Ittoqqortoormiit (population 381) entitled ‘Gravediggers in Greenland’ which you will find here. Continue reading →

I am writing these comments in Iceland which I think is the 100^th sovereign state or independent territory that I have visited since I first  left the UK in 1964 on a school visit to what was then West Germany.

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I am very conscious that although I have close connections to Beautiful British Columbia in Canada I have never written an article that has given me the opportunities to extol the virtues of both Vancouver as a city and BC as almost certainly the most scenically attractive part of North America. Continue reading →

There are many long distance hiking trails in the Alps and almost certainly the most famous is the Tour Mt Blanc, an 11 Day circuit of Mt Blanc passing through France, Italy and Switzerland. Tens of thousands complete the walk annually and other long distance walks that come readily to mind are the Alpine Pass Route from the Austrian border westwards across Switzerland to Lake Geneva, the Walkers Haute Route from Chamonix and Mt Blanc to Zermatt and the Matterhorn and the Tour of Monte Rosa, another multi day circuit of a major peak. Continue reading →

I have just returned from an exhausting four and a half day stay in Singapore and I am wondering if my tiredness was a reflection of getting older or the fact that there was so much to see and I needed much more than four and a half days to fit in everything that I had hoped to visit. Probably a combination of both. Continue reading →

My friend and colleague Tony once said to me:

‘One of the things I have always admired about you is that you find the time to keep in touch with so many people from earlier stages of your life’.

And it is true that even before the internet I was a good correspondent, writing to people I met on my travels and always answering cards and letters I received. Continue reading →

For the uninitiated, which I readily admit would have included myself until recently, Bohol is an island Province in the Visayas region of the Philippines. It has a population approaching 1.5m and is situated east of Cebu where I have been based, south of Leyte and is the 10^th biggest island in the Philippines, a nation of islands.

With a population of around 100 million the Philippines is the 12^th biggest nation on the planet by population and both one of the most dynamic and impoverished nations in South East Asia. With another 10 million Filipinos living and working overseas many families are dependent on overseas income. Continue reading →

We were back at our home in Point Grey after returning from the airport to see our daughter Lisa off on her flight back to Australia. It had been a rare occasion  to have all the family together in Vancouver BC Canada for the wedding of our nephew Adam to Beth. Continue reading →

One of the downsides of spending extended periods in Thailand on a Tourist Visa (rather than use a Retirement Visa) is that it is necessary to leave and re-enter Thailand every 30 days. And indeed, many Travel Agencies operate daily ‘Border Runs’ for a quick 3 hour hop over the nearest border so ‘residents’ can extend their visa with the minimum of inconvenience. Continue reading →