Tag Archives: boats The best way to visit the Maluka’s (Malakas, Moluccas) in the eastern part of Indonesia is by ship. These were once known as the Spice Islands. The nutmeg, mace, and cloves that grew here – and nowhere else – attracted the attention of 16th century European colonial powers. The Spice Wars of the 1500s were […]  I’ve heard it described as a chocolate-box scene: you know, like those pastel-painted views of idealised or conventionally pretty locations that were on the front of old-fashioned chocolate or sweet tins. They are not wrong! Dal Lake, Srinagar, in India’s Kashmir, is impossibly beautiful. The way the autumn light filtered through the willow trees at […]  Istanbul is the heart of Türkiye – economically, culturally, and historically. It is quite literally at the crossroads of Europe and Asia – sitting, as it does, either side of the Bosphorus Strait: part of the imaginary divide between the two continents. Strategically located along the historic Silk Road, it commands the only sea route […]  Sorong, the largest city in the newly-formed Indonesian province of Southwest Papua, is the sort of place people usually go through rather than to. As the logistics hub for Indonesia’s thriving eastern oil and gas frontier, it harbours a busy industrial port. For tourists and scientists, it is the gateway to Raja Ampat, a collection […]  The first day I was on Dal Lake – the centrepiece of Srinagar in the North Indian territory of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), I felt like I was in a dream – or a Monet painting (see: Floating in a Dream). The air is hot and thick. The stillness is punctuated by the plunk of boat oars in the water, […] |
|
