Afaranwide

NEWSLETTER 34: Dec. 21, 2019

Hi, and thanks you for your interest in the Afaranwide travel blog!

12 Posts for Christmas

The first of our 12 Posts for Christmas appeared yesterday, and there’ll be another one today and each day until the end of the year. We’re showcasing updated versions of some of our favourite posts from 2019, together with ones that were particularly popular. And there’ll be a new piece on Christmas Day that should make anyone who’s having a miserable time feel a bit better. It’s true what they say, there’s always someone worse off!

We began with a post about Macau’s giant pandas. Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the handover of the former Portuguese colony to China. Beijing gave pandas to Macau to mark previous anniversaries, and four of the animals can be seen in a special pavilion. READ MORE

Today’s post coincides with the opening of the latest Star Wars blockbuster, The Rise of Skywalker. We visited the San Francisco home of Lucasfilm, which makes the movies, and were greeted by a statue of Yoda. READ MORE

Look out for more posts over the festive season!

You Can Live Without Photo Op!

The wheels of change turn slowly, but the Association of British Travel Agents updated its animal welfare guidelines this week, and this time around they’ve got teeth – albeit the guidelines are voluntary. They want tour operators to support a ban on elephant rides and walking with or feeding big cats, and no tourist contact or feeding of great apes, bears, crocodiles, alligators, orca or sloths. Of course, this subject is complicated, and the welfare of the people who make their money from animal tourism, and the animals, need to be cared for. I’m still haunted by a tourist I saw in Oman who stopped an exhausted female turtle making her way back to the sea after laying her eggs to have her photo taken with it! – SB

For more on animal welfare, CLICK HERE

China a Century Behind US

In our post about the USS Midway, a retired aircraft carrier that’s now a floating museum in San Diego, California, we mentioned how far ahead the US is in naval aviation compared with China. The point was underlined this week when Beijing’s first home-built carrier, the Shandong, entered service. The conventionally powered Shandong uses a ski-jump style ramp to get planes airborne, while the US’s nuclear-powered giants have superior catapult launchers. Catapults were used on the Midway, which left service in 1992. China’s failure to develop the more advanced technology is all the most surprising given that the US made the first catapult launch from a ship underway as far back as 1915. Midway Magic – READ MORE

San Diego Says Bye-Bye to Bai-Yun

Talking about giant pandas and San Diego, which we were sort of, the city’s zoo has lost one of its biggest attractions. For more than 20 years visitors have been captivated by pandas leased from China. This year the animals were recalled by Beijing when, amid growing trade war tensions, the agreement was not renewed. Getting pandas to mate is notoriously difficult, but the zoo’s panda breeding programme was remarkably successful. Bai Yun (pictured), an amazingly charismatic panda, produced six cubs. The zoo displayed the animals particularly well, and we loved seeing them.

Westminster Gets a Facelift

In the days before we became expats, the urge to visit other countries meant we slipped over to France from our home in southeast England whenever we could. Often we stayed at Le Touquet-Paris-Plage, a coastal resort 50 kilometres from Calais. In its heyday it attracted the likes of Noel Coward, P.G. Wodehouse, Winston Churchill, and the Duke and Duchess of Windsor (who were portrayed in Netflix’s The Crown). The smart set stayed at the Westminster Hotel. We loved this place’s style and elegance, and the tastefully restrained cocktail bar was always our first port of call in Le Touquet. We once spent Christmas at the hotel and had a nine-course dinner that included transparent ravioli. The Westminster closed this month for what’s described as a “total renovation”. It’s due to welcome guests again in June; lets hope it loses none of its special character.

We’re taking a week off over the Christmas and New Year break, and the newsletter will be back on Jan. 4. See you then!

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