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Echoes of a Global Life – film part 2

Outtakes from my book. Enjoy photos from around the world.

Friday Photos – Mexico

Olmec Head, National Museum of Anthropology, Mexico City

I am featuring random photos each week that pertain to my upcoming book, Echoes of a Global Life.

I lived in Mexico City from age severn to fourteen. I went to a British School and wore a uniform. We traveled around Mexico a lot.

Friday Photos

My postcard collection is done and I am back here at ExpatAlien.blog. I wrote a memoir about ten years ago and self published it. I recently decided I wanted to do better so I have re-written it and updated it and found a publisher and it will be rolling out pretty soon – Echos of a Global Life. Leading up to the great reveal, I have decided to launch a bit of a teaser. There won’t be tons of photos in the book but I have lots of photos. So I am going to feature random photos each week that pertain to the book with a short description. At least I’m going to give it a try. Friday seems like a good day for it. Friday Photos.

Here we go.

The 1950’s. Pyinmina, Burma.

I was born in Burma to Expat parents who were living on the campus of an Agricultural Institute. Top left is “Tigger”. My father always told people he killed the tiger but he didn’t. Back then it was a lot more common to find tigers in the area. If they were killing livestock or getting close to town, somebody would kill them. They are known as the Indochinese Tiger and are currently critically endangered due to poaching and habitat encroachment. They were originally found throughout Southeast Asia and in 1970 there were thought to be about 40,000 of them but now there are only about 200, mostly in Thailand.

I lived in Burma the first three years of my life and I enjoyed it.

Walk on the river

Sunset on the St Croix

Back on Land

The night before we docked in Longyearbyen, Norway, we all toasted the Captain and crew and thanked them all for a wonderful trip. Earlier in the day I watched about twenty people take the polar plunge. They all survived.

Night or day the views were the same.

Once we docked in Longyearbyen, Norway we boarded a bus that took us to the airport. On the way we passed the entrance to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.

I had an uneventful overnight in Helsinki and it was on to London the next day. I opted for a slower pace and stayed in Windsor for my last few days abroad. The castle wasn’t open on the days I was there but I managed to see a few sights. It really is a lovely town. With Eton right next door.

Windsor Castle was originally built by William the Conqueror in the 11th century. Eton College was founded in 1440 by Henry VI. You will need $56,000 per year to send your teenage boy there. No girls, please.

Jan Mayen

Leaving Funningur, the captain announced rough water ahead. We needed to make sure everything was secured so it wouldn’t move around. I took my pill but not soon enough. I went to bed at six and my pill kicked in about an hour later but it was so rough, I didn’t want to try to walk around. I just stayed in bed until 6 am. From then on it was fairly calm.

From Faroe Islands we went directly north with Iceland to our left. After two days of sailing we arrived at Jan Mayen. During those two days we had lectures on whales, seals, Vikings, birds, as well as nature documentaries about the area.

During our whale lecture an announcement over the loud speaker directed us all to head on deck as Orkas had been spotted. We all rushed out and saw about six Orkas swimming around. Then we went back to our whale lecture. It was kind of magical.

Later that day we crossed the Arctic Circle. We all had a glass of champagne and a short celebration.

We arrived in Jan Mayen in the afternoon. We had hoped to land and take a walk but conditions were such that it was not possible. We were in the middle of nowhere. Jan Mayen was discovered by a Dutch whaler, Jan Jacobsz May, in 1614. It is basically a 7470 ft. high glacier-covered volcano that last erupted in 1985. The volcano is called Beerenberg and is the world’s northernmost sub-aerial active volcano (as opposed to under water or under ground). The island is 34 miles long. In the past it was a major whaling area but is currently a Norwegian military base and weather station.

We sailed all along the coast with lots of photo opportunities.

Unfortunately clouds were covering the summit but otherwise it could not have been a nicer day.

Faroe Islands

Sailing from Fair Isle, Shetlands to the Faroe Islands we came across some nasty weather. People who have been working on ships for 15 years were sick for the first time. I was very sick. It was a very unpleasant night. But by the time we arrived in Torshavn things had calmed down and I was feeling okay. I did contact the doctor, however, and got some pills to carry me through our next leg of the trip.

Torshavn is the capital of the Faroe Islands. Faroe means sheep so they are the sheep islands. We took a walking tour of the old town down by the harbor, Tinganes.

The village of Kirkjubour is an important historic site with a church dating back to the 12th century and an old farmhouse from the 11th century. There is very little wood on this island as well so they relied on shipwrecks and driftwood to build and furnish the farm house.

From October to May the sheep stay in town and in the warmer weather from May to October the sheep go up to the hills to feed. There are about 80,000 sheep and about 50,000 people on the islands.

The next day we sailed to Funningur.

Funningur is the oldest village on the islands. Irish monks arrived in about 625AD. The Norse (Vikings) arrived around 800. Today the Islands belong to Denmark. During WWII Denmark was occupied by Germany and the Faroes were occupied by Britain. So the Faroes had to have their own flag on their ships in order to distinguish them from the Danes.

Funningur is a village of about 40 people on Eystory Island. We took the zodiacs from ship to shore and the whole village came out to show us around, provide some history, feed us fish soup and pancakes, and in the afternoon we all danced traditional dances and sang hymns in the church. Plus they made a promotional film about it all since they are hoping to attract more tourists. Quite a day!

On our way north…

Rounding up Scotland

Random snaps of Aberdeen (click for larger view)

The sculpture garden

Dunnater Castle outside Stonehaven. Built 1400-1600. In use until 1718. I had to hike down a million steps and then up half a million steps to get there.