Articles by Robert Tickler
Grand Palace Bangkok
The Grand Palace is Bangkok ‘s foremost attraction. It is a compound of buildings and statues, including the Emerald Buddha, of staggering beauty and colour. It attracts 10,000 visitors a day but numbers have swelled as the Old King who passed away in October was very popular and genuinely [...]
Koh Samui
Visiting a place by ship has distinct advantages over other transport. No baggage to carry and the cruise ship has simplified immigration procedures so you only need their key card, no passport. Yesterday I returned to Thailand for the third time in 3 weeks to visit the picturesque island of Koh [...]
Cruising the high seas
When I successfully bid for a cruise at the charitable Ladies’ Night of my Masonic lodge I was in two minds whether to go or pass it on. I have never been on a cruise and surely it is the preserve of rich widows. However an old school friend of mine, with whom I lunch every 6 months and knows [...]
Adieu Thailand
On Sunday I left the resort and tomorrow am off to Singapore. Though I have had an enjoyable time I will not be sorry to leave the resort. The accommodation is fine but the resort is isolated with only a hourly ferry to the main (is)land of Phuket. There is nothing in the island but the resort [...]
Day three
Whilst I do not possesses the cricket expertise of Duggie Heath and Tom Hollingworth, it is obvious even to me that today England will today have a mountain to climb. India can bat till lunchtime, have a lead of 250 runs and 4 sessions to bowl out England. If Root can extract turn on this wicket, [...]
Another day,another red Fort
We made an early start for the sightseeing tour of Jaipur. Inevitably our first port of a call was another red fort, the Amber Fort overlooking Jaipur. To reach it we we took elephant transportation, an experience I would wish to forget. Two of us rode side-saddle as the elephant lurched towards [...]
The Red Fort and Taj Mahal
We left early at 7-45 am for Agra to see the Red or Agra Fort and Taj Mahal. Both were Mughal monuments built by Emperors as Agra was their seat of government. The fog covered the whole four hour journey smothering any view of the countryside. At Agra we experienced the first polarity of poverty [...]
Passage to India (2)
Looking back and over my life I have when forced into them made a series of successful judgements but equally have had a plotted course blown off track by what Harold MacMillan called “Events,dear boy, events” or as John Lennon observed “Life is what happens between events”. [...]
Thailand tracked
It’s now a week since I set off and I feel in a better position to share impressions of Thailand. One must always be mindful that as a tourist you have only a limited perception of a place as you are constrained by the location, people you meet and time you spend. It’s certainly an [...]