Conquering the Lands of the Conquerors https://www.flickr.com/photos/stuvan/albums/72177720329870633/with/54873588178 In the year 1066, William could not even have conceived of it. In the early 1800s, Napoleon would have thought it impossible. But then, neither of them lived in the 21st century. We have just finished circumnavigating the globe in sixty-eight days, highlighted by visits to both of their homelands, with Normandy, Brittany, and Corsica being our principal des

flickr photo link We have just finished an expectation-exceeding week in the Maldives, as our side trip from a two-month post-retirement relaxed stay in Penang. The Islamic Republic of the Maldives, southwest of Sri Lanka, consists of 1,196 islands—most uninhabited—comprising 26 island groups (atolls) spanning a north-south orientation of just under 1,000 km, but with a total landmass of only 298 km² (Asia's lowest). The islands, all less than 8 km long, are made from coral

"We just sold our 1996 Volvo for $1700! We had bought it in 2010 for $2200- so that means we paid only $500 for our car for fourteen and a half years!", my wife boasted in a WhatsApp text to her siblings. Minutes later I was doing the same to my parents. I guess that makes us both cheapskates. In his "Guess How Much" racial financial stereotyping routine, Jimmy Yang states "Asian people love to brag about how little money we spent on something...because the art is in the savi

He was tall and stylish. Eloquent and cultured. Clearly skilled at what he does. What a waste of human potential. But then this was Senegal. Dakar in 2005 to be specific. His name was Mohammed, and he was educated in France, or at least that is what he told us. It was morning time, and we had been out wandering for several minutes, looking for a place to eat breakfast, maybe something traditional.

In the aftermath of our recent election, referendums for possible provincial separatism are back in the news, this time led by Alberta. Having grown up as an anglophone in Montreal, I'm quite familiar with the tremendous stress and uncertainty that these cause. While I agree that the option for referendums are an essential component of modern democracy, I think the default rule of fifty percent plus one vote being enough to succeed to be nothing short of ridiculous. As far as

UnBoratistan and the Dangers of Scenic Scottish Sheep Pastures Flickr photo link Kazakhstan- can a "reasonable" white-skinned traveller really go there? And a non-Muslim (to say the least)? Do they actually have real hotels and roads? Is it safe? Can you speak freely? Will a vegetarian / pescatarian starve to death in the world's largest land-locked country? All questions demanding consideration when I first came up with the idea last spring after finding out that Air Asia ha