“I survived Nyiragongo, but he ate my camera.” When I was about ten, I had a very clear idea of what a Real Volcano should look like. A steep cone, with a razor sharp rim and sheer cliffs down to an inner caldera with a bubbling pool of lava. Aah, it is to dream. Nyiragongo […]
Browsing Posts in Travel
DR Congo: Nyiragongo
August 6, 2015
Kashgar: Ancient City Walls
May 14, 2015
I’m in the old Silk Road city of Kashgar, in North-West China, famous for its wonderfully preserved Ancient City Walls. Or rather, about to become famous, as the Ancient City Walls are still under construction. They’re coming along well, and in just a year to two I expect the tour guides will be enthusiastically showing […]
Kazakhstan: The Aral Sea
May 4, 2015
Yesterday, upon the steppes, I saw a sea which wasn’t there… The Aral Sea ship graveyard near Zhalanash used to host a dozen beached fishing trawlers. They had fled from the port of Aralsk as the sea dried up, but then, with nowhere else to flee, had been abandoned at Zhalanash. Most of the ships […]
Quito: Equatorial Spin
February 13, 2015
I’m at the little Museo Intinan on the equator, near Quito, Ecuador. Our guide is enthusiastically demonstrating exciting scientific facts about the Equator! She positions a basin on the Equator line, pours water in, pulls the plug, and we watch the water drop straight down without spinning. She moves the basin a few feet North, […]
Antarctica: Graham Land
February 3, 2015
I finally succumbed to temptation and took a cruise to the Antarctic Peninsula. I saw a great range of wildlife: many, many humpback whales, a pod of killer whales, a leopard seal, great hordes of swaggering Gentoo penguins, some shyer Adelie penguins, many chinstrap penguins, wandering albatrosses, petrels, and more. The scenery, with ice bergs, […]
Caracas Supermarkets
December 23, 2014
Venezuela has a mix of nationalized and private businesses, but all with strong state controls. So I was curious to visit some Caracas supermarkets. I started at a large private supermarket. This had a decent range of imported and local foods, but there were many surprising gaps: no milk, no basic flour, no basic cheese, […]
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