JOHN BIGGS

travelogues

I have written travelogues of some recent trips in PDF format (Acrobat Reader required); they are not so much straight docos but accounts of more quirky happenings. They are selectively illustrated but some have a slideshow of a lot more images, as indicated. They are in order down the page: the Mediterranean, Shanghai, S. America including the Galapagos Is, Eastern Europe, the Three Gorges of the Yangtse, Beijing, Yunnan, Arizona, Crossing USA, Vancouver Island, Provence, Ireland, US West Coast, Eastern Canada, Malaysia, and the Silk Route.

	Cruising the Mediterranean We join Celebrity Cruises’ massive Millennium and its massive passengers. Our floating hotel takes us from Barcelona to Venice, via the Riviera, various Italian stops, Santorini, Athens, Dubrovnik and finally Venice. Read: Barcelona-Riviera-Tuscany-Pompeii-Capri Read: Santorini-Athens-Dubrovnik-Florence-Venice For all images See Slideshow Mediterranean
	Shanghai and Thereabouts We join what we thought was a Hong Kong based tour to Shanghai, Hangzhou and some very interesting towns in between. But things don’t run particularly smoothly. Read now For all images See Slideshow Shanghai
	The Captain's Choice of South America Buenos Aires, Rio, Iguassu Falls, La Paz, Lima, Cuzco, Machu Picchu, the Amazon, the Galapagos, Santiago … all in one brilliant package. Who could resist? Read: Buenos Aires-Iguassu-Rio-La Paz Read:Cusco-Machu Picchu-Amazon-Galapagos For a selectionof images See Slideshow South America
	Eastern Europe by Train From Berlin through Hungary, Poland, Lithuania to Russia. We see the horrors of Auschwitz and the wonderfully restored cities of Prague, Budapest, Krakow, Warsaw, Vilnius, St. Petersburg and Moscow. Read: Berlin to Budapest Read: Krakow to Vilnius Read: St. Petersburg to Moscow For selected images see Slideshow E. Europe
	Closing the Gates on China's Three Gorges We travel the Yangtze in 1993, before the flooding began. Now some wonderful villages and monuments are drowned, over one million people displaced. Read For all images See Slideshow 3 Gorges
	The Birds of Nanjin A quirky story of how I attended a conference where I meet some very attractive ladies but end up like one of China's famous caged birds ... promises, promises, but not what you're thinking! Read
	The Generosity of Dr. Fung I am invited to Beijing but my host has already left. I attend a meeting where George Bush Sr's musclemen take control. I am propositioned to no avail and end up dancing under the stars instead ... just dancing. Read
	In the Depths of Rural Yunnan Catherine and I join a minibus tour of Yunnan, a beautiful and still unspoilt part of China in 1990. Yunnan is home to many of the nonHan minority ethnic groups such as the Bai, Yi, and Na Xi people. We visit Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, then our bus driver pulls a few tricks ... Read For all images See Slideshow Yunnan
	On Guns, God and Testosterone A visit to Phoenix Arizona, soon after the Brady Gun Laws have been promulgated. Testosterone everywhere but some stunningly beauitful desert countryside, then I come across the father of Rosemary's Baby. I end up at the Grand Canyon Read
	Crossing USA Oh dear, more violence! This time it is rather older. Catherine and I are driving across the USA and we keep coming across reminders of the Wild West and the American Civil War and ... Read
	On Motorcycles but not on Whales I attempt to meet two ambitions while on Vancouver Island: to ride a Harley and to see a whale. I have a wonderful time doing neither ... Read For all images See Slideshow Whales
	A Week in Provence Catherine and I attend a conference in Aix-en-Provence, but find our surroundings rather more attractive than the conference. We visit some breath-takingly beautiful places, with food and wine to match. Read
	Ireland in the Sun After a conference, we have three days to do Ireland. Ridiculous but we do our best: the West and Dublin, using the great hop-on/hop-off Dublin bus tour. But wherever we go, we meet road works and Guinness (independently). And we find out what "Dublin coddle" is. Read See Slideshow Ireland in the Sun
	From Beggars to Beauty and Back: Down America's West Coast We start in Vancouver with a clash of cultures over environmental issues; then it's round the Olympic Peninsula to Seattle, where we are surprised at contrasts. We rip down the coast through Oregon and California, taking Yosemite in on the way. To San Francisco and its contrasts again: we live at one end of the scale while others barely survive at the other. Read See Slideshow US West Coast
	One System, Two Countries? A Tour of Eastern Canada Starting from Kingston Ontario I head East through some striking countryside to explore Anglo- and French-Canadian, and American-Canadian, relations. All is resolved as I eat my way round Old Quebec City. Read For all images See Slideshow One System
	Malaysian Interlude We are in Malaysia for a conference and afterwards we have a few spare days to see what we can. Not nearly as much as we'd like, but the contrasts: modern KL, old world Malacca steeped in multicultural history, and the Cameron Highlands, where amazingly the British sun still hasn't set. Read For all images see Slideshow Malaysia
	The Silk Route ... The Easy Way We do the Silk Route (one of them) by train, starting in Beijing, through Louyang, Xi'an, north of the Taklamakan Desert into Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and ending up in Russia. Brilliant, but we wade through a biological minefield that rather spoils things. Read For all (565) images see Slideshow The Silk Route