Just in

What’s Hot

Spotting fakes

When Bob Tickler emailed me to say he was in negotiation to buy a lithograph by Marc Chagall, I advised him to be careful as the market is awash with fakes. With modern techniques you can produce a replica which even the most discerning of art expert would have difficulty in recognising as a [...]

December 31, 2016 // 0 Comments

Cruising into paradise

There are certain occasions when cruising and boat travel comes into their own and yesterday was one. In planning my trip a friend advised that I should not miss Ha Long Bay, a world heritage site and he was right. My day started with my customary brush with authority. As I made my way to the [...]

December 31, 2016 // 0 Comments

If it’s Thursday it must be Vietnam

One of my late mother’s favourite films was If It’s Tuesday It Must Be Belgium an unfairly neglected comedy of those compacted European tours. I thought of this yesterday as we set off on another coach excursion comprising Buddhist or Chinese temples and a shopping or artisan works [...]

December 29, 2016 // 0 Comments

East is east and west is west or is it?

Although it is undoubtedly a convenience to disembark with minimal formalities the excursions on Vietnam have been unsatisfying. To be fair a shuttle bus is laid on and you can do your own thing – a phrase not generally applied to cruise life. I also suspect that never forgetting this is [...]

December 28, 2016 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard

It had to happen. But before I tell you what it was I will review the restaurants of the cruise. The cruise ship has 3 restaurants: a formal one on the 4th deck (above): La Terrazza on the that serves lighter fare on the 7th deck; and The Grill in the open air by the small pool. The cuisine and [...]

December 27, 2016 // 0 Comments

Good morning Vietnam

When I take my morning constitutional on deck 9 I always see a hulking man in his sixties, an American with a thick Brooklyn accent, with a slim girl who must be half his age. They were on the tour of Ho Samui and at a poolside disco when he, rather the worse for wear, danced in an uncoordinated [...]

December 26, 2016 // 0 Comments

On bored

John Betjeman in his poem the Village Inn penned these lines: “and village bores more sure to roam To  village inns than stay at home“ You could substitute cruise ships for village inns for you are at sea at the mercy of the floating bore. Our next port of call is Ho Chi Minh city, [...]

December 26, 2016 // 0 Comments

Time to hang up your sports shoes?

The decision to retire is always an interesting one. Nico Rosberg retired after one successful season bur Roger Federer (22 grand slams) and Rafael Nadal (9 French Opens) drive their creaking bodies even harder to complete one more year on the circuit. Golfers like Lee Westwood and Sergio Garcia [...]

December 23, 2016 // 0 Comments

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 [...]

December 23, 2016 // 0 Comments

A la Colthard/ cruising

Bob was not strictly correct in his post in saying I was here to work on a book on the romance of cruising as my principal motive was to provide him with some moral support as I did not feel intuitively he had the cruiser mentality. His constituency is not the elderly and he does not care for any [...]

December 21, 2016 // 0 Comments

1 292 293 294 295 296 398