ARCHIVES: MEMOIRS

SIGATOKA RIVER - SAFARI TO FIJIAN VILLAGE: The Fiji Islands
The 120 kilometre Sigatoka River flows between the central and western mountain ranges to the coast of Viti Levu, the largest of Fiji’s 333 islands. It is the major means of transportation to this part of the island’s interior. Emerald hills of lush tropical growth and shimmering marble cliffs that had seemingly been sliced by a mighty sculptor’s tool pass us by.

TOSSING & TURNING WITH THE LEMP MANSION SPOOKS: St. Louis, Missouri
The thirty-three room mansion that is the focus of so much ghostly activity today was bought in 1876 by the Lemps. William’s daughter Hilda married Gustav Pabst of Milwaukee, creating a powerful beer alliance in 1897. But the good times for the Lemps were about to end, and tragedy would begin to assault the family.

TENERIFE - A FUN-FILLED FIESTA: Canary Islands, Spain
While whizzing along Tenerife's scenic west coast, a sea of flags and gently swaying streamers entices us to stop. It was a fiesta in honour of La Virgen de Candelaria, the Canary Islands patron saint. A coastal town, Alcala changed its name to Candelaria (meaning Candle Mass) when the saint’s image was washed up Chimisay beach.

LOVER’S SPAT WITH THE ETERNAL CITY: Rome, Italy
I love Rome so much I live there two months every year. But last year, Roma morphed from lover to spouse who no longer strived to satisfy, much less delight me. I did not have an aha! moment, that moved my passion for Roma to the echoes of Medieval bells and memories of riso gelato. It was good while it lasted. And then it was over.

AMONG THE LIONS: Gir, India
Sasan Gir, land of the wild and the free, the savage and the beautiful, where endless dry and arid grasslands are rife with game. Lions prowl there, magnificent lions with imposing manes. A stunning variety of some of the magnificent specimens of wildlife found anywhere else on earth are here in Sasan Gir.

WALKING THE WALLS INTO ANTIQUITY: Dubrovnik, Croatia
My husband and I had one goal in mind when we visited Croatia: to stroll Dubrovnik’s magnificent walls. But first, we had to immerse ourselves into the atmosphere of that ancient city that had come into existence between AD 598 and 615.

PASSEGGIATA: Strolling Through Italy
In Italy, life proceeds at its own pace and with its own rhythm. When a hotel manager says that the room will be ready, “In ten minutes,” he doesn’t mean by the clock. He means, “In a little while,” an indeterminate amount of time. Maybe it will be soon but more likely later. Once we accept this, we relax.

AFRICA - THE CLIFFS OF BANDIAGARA: Bandiagara, Mali
Dogon Country denotes a region of roughly 400,000 hectares, following the Bandiagara Escarpment, an astonishing line of cliffs which climbs up to 500m at its highest points in 150 km. The stunning views from the top went for miles. Savannah went all the way to the horizon, or sand, or rock. The area felt at times impossibly remote, but it was one of Mali’s first tourist groups.

THE PEDDLERS OF THE HANGZHOU NIGHT MARKET: Hangzhou, China
It is the low season for tourism, so other than myself there are only a few westerners out this evening. Vendors beckon with cries of “Hello, hello!” and “CD, DVD!” They are relentless, thrusting cracked plates and crumbling vases in my face as they scream, “Ming Dynasty!”

AWAY FROM HOME FOR THE HOLIDAYS: Athens, Greece
Christmas in 1983 was the first time I had ever spent Christmas away from my family. I couldn’t have been any farther away from Vancouver, Canada than Athens, Greece. It looked as though it would be a dismal time. Donald and Barry became my saviors, cheering me with their Irish humor and lively music.

A CIVIL WAR CAMP ADVENTURE: Petersburg, Virginia
My husband John and I signed up for the Civil War Adventure Camp, part of the Pamplin Historical Park. I volunteered for the Army of the Potomac and John joined the Army of the Confederacy. Regardless of the visions of glory when enlisting, this quickly faded with the intensity of the training and experiencing the horror of war, albeit a ‘mock’ war.

GHOSTS OF SOUTHERN SASKATCHEWAN: Canada
Saskatchewan is crisscrossed with a myriad of highways so the choice of routes seemed endless. Old Wives appealed to me because of the legend I had heard surrounding its name. Many years ago there was an encampment of Cree at this site. Further away in the hills the Blackfoot were waiting to attack.

THE TALL SHIPS RACES: Liverpool, England
Around a million visitors were expected to descend on Liverpool’s World Heritage waterfront between the 18th and 21st July to watch the ceremonies and departure of The Tall Ships’ Races 2008. The fleet of tall ships, that is both spectacular and unique, was the largest ever to grace British waters, being made up of around 70 vessels.

DISCOVERING ONE OF MEXICO’S BEST KEPT SECRETS: Melaque,Mexico
Oscar bound the hind legs of a long-horned Brahma cow, poured 100%-proof sugarcane alcohol and Ibarra Mexican chocolate into a tin mug, shoved it under the cow’s teat and began milking. Offering us a round of steaming frothy mixture, the farmer chuckled and said: “Good Latte! Si?”

SURVIVING CYCLONE NARGIS: Mayanmar
When dawn broke, the gardens were a spectacle of utter devastation: royal palms chopped in half; bougainvillea trellises collapsed into the swimming pool; hundreds of ridge tiles shooting off the roofs and crashing into the pool and as far as the lake. The lake itself appeared through the dawn like an ocean, with waves streaking across it as the cyclone circled overhead.

POURQUOI? Oswiecim, Poland
It was the beginning of February and the weather was predictably Polish; snowing and –10 degrees C. It stopped snowing on my arrival at the small town of Oswiecim, which was a quaint and isolated town for most of its 700 years history until the twentieth century when it gained notoriety by its German name, Auschwitz.

THE GHOST OF BELGRAVIA: London, England
On a rainy morning in June 1922, Field Marshal Sir Henry Wilson, dressed in full military regalia complete with a ceremonial sword, returned to his home at 36 Eaton Place, Belgravia after dedicating a war memorial. He was about to enter his house when two armed gunmen approached him from behind and shot him nine times. Sir Henry died on his doorstep.

THE WEDDING, ETHIOPIAN STYLE: Abdurafi, Ethiopia
It’s wedding season in Abdurafi, Ethiopia. Wedding season comes but once a year, and lasts for two months only. Raise a flag, kill a goat, beat a drum, invite the neighbours and get yourself a wife! Tastefully photocopied scrap-paper wedding invitations pile up on tukul doorsteps, well fattened goats become harder to find, and the nights are filled with the throbbing of drums as wedding processions parade through the village.

THE SURREAL LIFE: My Memoirs of Saudi Arabia
How did I get to that lonely desert highway in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia? Who was I, this foreign western woman draped in a long black robe sitting on the backseat of the cab? What was I doing there? The answers I prepared in my mind for the Saudi police were simplified and well rehearsed after one year of living and working in the land of oil and sand.

WHEN IN ROME: Rome, Italy
We wander through the vast Forum. It looks like an archaeological dig, with its mounds of dirt and randomly scattered monoliths. Its ancient, imposing edifices are resplendent under the sun. Despite the majestic glory surrounding me, I can’t help musing about the pathologies of the ancient Romans.