It was such a serendipitous meeting. While strolling the gilded Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's most sacred Buddhist shrine, we stopped to talk to a monk. A very chatty fellow of 51, and a monk for over 25 years, he was very eager to show us the photos from his recent trip to Japan – yup, on his Smartphone. When he actually invited us to lunch at his monastery two days hence, things got even more interesting.
OK, you saw it on TV, and you saw Prince Harry and Meghan - sorry, now the Duke and Duchess of Sussex" - and their wedding as only the Brits can do it. But think about this for a minute, can you imagine what it will be like for Meghan to now be able to actually go into and be inside Buckingham Palace - not as a tourist, but a "Royal?"
Ten of us sat around a kitchen table in a tidy home in eastern Croatia. Over cake and coffee, our hostess answered questions about life in villages still reeling from the effects of a war that ended on paper more than two decades ago.
And then the rains came down, blessing this magical and sacred city of 21,321,000 million inhabitants and giving them a gentle reprieve from their bustling and productive lives. It has been said that Mexico City has a perfect annual spring temperature, making it an abundant produce belt for Mexico and the rest of the world.
It’s a question that’s been pondered and researched for a long time – indeed, back to 565 AD. It’s the Loch Ness Monster, and arguably the most famous photo ever taken, was the shot on April 19th, 1934 by London gynecologist, Robert Kenneth Wilson. It became famous as it purported to show some sort of creature in the middle of the Loch.
There is very little that can entice me to get up at 4 a.m. but how often do you get a chance to bathe a Buddha? And not just any Buddha but one that the actual real Buddha is said to have embraced himself. The statue at Maha Muni Pagoda in Mandalay, Myanmar is believed to be one of only five likenesses of Buddha created during his lifetime. And the daily cleansing ritual for the hundreds of pilgrims who attend is both literal and spiritual.
The island of Rügen, Germany's largest, just off the Pomeranian coast in the Baltic, was an occasional summer retreat for, among the many, a troika of Teutonic heavy-weights — Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, and Otto von Bismarck. So, I figured it was good enough for me to take a three-day respite there, after an activity-filled few days in hectic and exciting Berlin.
If I told you one of the most romantic ways to get to one of Britain’s most spectacular resorts is by cruise ship, you might think I’d gone – as the British might say – a little batty. Then again consider it serves up a typically Upper Crust, very High Society drink called Pimms Number One. Believe me, it’s the most refreshing drink this side of London.
Are several lumps of sugar worth putting in an historic museum? That may sound like a funny question, but the fact is that yes they are – especially if they’re part of the Churchill Museum and Cabinet War Rooms (CWR) in London.
The line “Made in China” was synonymous with cheap, poorly made, disposable junk for many years. Today, as the world’s largest economy, the country produces and exports a vast range of goods, from Apple computers to Trump neckties. Follow this journey from a superstore in Beijing to the Terra Cotta Warriors of Xian to the priceless gems of Hong Kong and discover the riches of China along the way.
