At one time I worked as the president of a division of TimeWarner. I was always very proud that I never-- not once-- used one of the corporate jets to fly someplace, something my peers all did. I was happy to fly with them on their trip but I always had the feeling that using a corporate jet was a tremendous waste of shareholders money and that it could be used for more productive endeavors. And I was perfectly satisfied with first class on British Air, my favorite airline. The flight from L.A. to London left at night, so you could change into your pjs, settle into your relatively private cubicle, have a fantastic dinner, read for a while, get a perfect night's sleep on a comfortable flat bed and wake up in the morning in time to get to your first meeting rested and without a trace of jetlag. All for $10,300 (roundtrip).

Now that I'm retired. I've discovered the allure of business class. Apparently I'm one step ahead of my former flying companions-- or at least the ones without corporate jets at their disposal. According to yesterday's Guardian, the British Air first class cabin is going the way of the way of the dodo bird.

Business class passengers famously draw envious glances from the herd in economy by turning left when they enter a plane, but it is the first class ticket holders who are the most pampered. On British Airways' 747s they ascend to their Kelly Hoppen-designed cabin and don their free pyjamas and slippers before supping on the likes of lobster thermidor, pan-seared wild Scottish salmon or roasted Cornish game hen, then slip between the sheets of their roomy-- and extremely flat-- bed.

Now, however, this most opulent form of travel is under threat.

The global downturn has devastated demand for expensive seats, and even Hollywood stars and bankers are shying away from BA's extravagant first class prices. The airline, stung by a slump in premium bookings that helped push the company into its worst-ever loss of £401m, has removed first class accommodation from four of its new long-haul planes, and is to review seating plans for other new aircraft.

"The long-haul aircraft that we take delivery of this year will not have any first class cabins in them," said Willie Walsh, BA's chief executive. He insisted there was no direct link to the recession, but he added: "Longer term we will review the configuration of [all] new aircraft." BA is also launching a service this year from Heathrow to Las Vegas, a prime destination for high-rollers, with no first class option.

First class is the last remnant of the more romantic days of air travel when BA's predecessor, British Overseas Airways Corporation, offered first class tickets alongside the more down-at-heel tourist or economy cabins. Its upmarket reputation has become even more rarefied over the years following the introduction of slightly less luxurious business class seats in the late 1970s, and cut-throat competition on the transatlantic market.

Walsh admitted that the cost of ripping out seats in the existing fleet is too great to get rid of first class in existing planes, leading industry watchers to speculate that upgrades for economy class travellers might become a more common occurrence... The cost of refitting an aircraft, at millions of pounds per plane, means that airlines will have to turn to riskier strategies such as overbooking flights until their new aircraft orders arrive. Airlines can guarantee strong revenues from economy class passengers if they overbook the back of the plane. Under that scenario, any passenger who is the victim of an overbooking could be upgraded to one of the many empty seats in business class, or bumped to another flight.

Of course, there's always Air Emirates. I'm not sure if this price includes tax or not, but the L.A.-London run is $24,916.97. In any case, the food looks like it's probably not that different from B.A. Business class on B.A., by the way, costs $4,274 and you'd be surprised how comfy it feels when you think of the $6,000 you save by forgoing First Class (or the $20,000 you save by avoiding Air Emirates).

Filmmaker Richard Sidey is putting together an interesting documentary about the impact of climate change on the polar regions of our planet. The film is called Speechless: The Polar Realm, and he is busy editing it now. The video below serves as a trailer for that project and offers some stunning images to remind us just how beautiful, and full of life, the polar regions actually are. I'm not sure about the film as a whole yet, but these great shots definitely have me intrigued.

Speechless : The Polar Realm (film trailer) from Richard Sidey on Vimeo.

Shot over the course of the past two years, the video below is a compilation of some amazing skydiving shots that almost makes it seem like jumping out of a perfectly good plane might be something I'd want to do. Almost. But seriously, this is is a beautiful five-minute clip that that is a good mix of style and substance.

BackToAwake - Skydiving Compilation from BackToAwake on Vimeo.

I didn't even realize it until I got here, but it looks like the Tung Lok people partnered up with some place from Beijing called Xihe Yayuan to serve Peking duck in Singapore (200 Turf Club road #01-23, 6466-3363).

Sure, it was good, although not without some elements of tackiness, like the Pop Rocks and blueberry sauce that one was supposed to eat the skin with, as well as the bang of a gong every time a duck was ready to be carved.

But yes, it was tasty...and it had better be at a whopping S$88 (US$69) a duck. Still, I like Paradise Pavilion's duck better. It's even more expensive there, but the smell of apple wood in that place is just lovely...and the ambiance and presentation is certainly much more elegant too. Too bad that it's so expensive.

Way back in February of this year I wrote about two adventurers who were planning to embark on a trek along the length of the Nile River, covering some 4250 miles (6840 km) in the process. At the time, the team of Levison Wood and Simon Clarke were raising funds to support their efforts while aiming for a start this past summer.

That launch date came and went, and apparently so did Clarke, as Wood is now nearing the start of this epic adventure. He intends to leave the U.K. early next week and travel to the furthest headwaters of the Nile before officially getting underway on December 1. His starting point will be high in the mountains of Rwanda, where the Nile's earliest tributaries can be traced. From there, his path will take him into Burundi, Tanzania, Uganda, South Sudan, Sudan, and eventually Egypt. Along the way, he'll pass through mountainous terrain, deep jungles, one of the largest swamps in the world and of course the Sahara Desert.

Levison believes it will take roughly 12 months to complete the journey, which he says is inspired by Ed Stafford's amazing trek along the length of the Amazon a few years back. If he is able to pull off this expedition, the Nile walk would also rank amongst some of the greatest adventures in history as well. Wood won't face the overwhelming oppressiveness of the Amazon Rainforest of course, but he will have plenty of challenges to overcome none the less.

You will be able to follow Levison's progress on the Walking the Nile website as well as on Facebook and Twitter. This will certainly be one expedition that we'll be following closely in the months ahead. Good luck to Levison as he gets underway next week.

That was kinda nasty. I only got this because someone was mentioning earlier about how their friend went around to a bunch of food court stalls at Taipei airport eating dumplings, so I figured that I'd try to find some too. But these things were limp and lifeless, and I didn't care for those bubble tea pearls either. It was interesting to see the blind massage place next door though (no, Val Kilmer did not appear).

It seems I've been a little quick to write off the fall climbing season in the Himalaya. The arrival of Cyclone Phailin a couple of weeks back brought copious amounts of snow to the region and effectively put an end to several expeditions on the big mountains. But apparently not everyone gave up their climbs when the heavy snows arrived as ExWeb is reporting that there has been a pair of successful summits on Annapurna and once again they came from the difficult South Face.

According to the story, climbers Yannick Graziani and Stephane Benoist topped out yesterday morning local time after spending approximately a week on their summit push. The duo arrived in Nepal in late September and spent some time acclimatizing on smaller peaks nearby before heading over to Annapurna Base Camp. They arrived on the mountain late last week and almost immediately launched their attempt. They had expected to make the push in four days time, but it ended up taking them the entire week instead, although they were finally able to reach the top yesterday.

There is no word yet on whether or not they have gotten back down safely and we all know that is a big question mark on Annapurna. The mountain is known for being very difficult and prone to avalanches. Considering the amount of snow that has been dumped on the Himalaya recently, lets keep our fingers crossed that Yannick and Stephane get back to Base Camp safely.

This was the second attempt on Annapurna for this team. They made a previous go at climbing the mountain back in the fall of 2010. That attempt was thwarted by bad weather and excessive snow on the upper slopes of the mountain.

This is of course the second time this fall that climbers have successfully negotiated the South Face of Annapurna. Swiss climber Ueli Steck made his epic solo summit, in just 28-hours no less - a few weeks back along the same route. Conditions were a bit different then however as Ueli's summit took place before the arrival the cyclone.

Congratulations to the French climbers on a successful expedition. Well done! Now get home safe.

Apparently the town of Suwon is known for its rendition of kalbi. I wasn't quite sure of what was so special about it, but since we were down in Suwon today, I suggested that we get some for lunch, and our local host suggested this place (89-7 Woncheon-dong, 31-212-2354). It turns out that basically the thing that makes it unique is the marinade, which fortunately wasn't too strong at this restaurant and actually complimented it quite well.

The history, I was told, was that Suwon used to be all farmland many years ago, and hence the focus on beef. One can of course get this style of kalbi in other cities like Seoul, but this was getting it straight from the original source (a bit like going to Caesar's in Tijuana, I suppose). And yeah, the huge and slightly upscale spread of banchan at this place made it even nicer.

Yet another beautiful timelapse to wrap things up for the day. This one features plenty of sunsets and night shots to keep you mesmerized. It is 11+ minutes in length but truly spectacular. I hope you enjoy.

Dreamlapse HDR from HD Nature Video by LoungeV on Vimeo.

This place is supposed to be one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in Singapore (52 Upper Cross Street, 6449-5030), and apparently they are known for their suckling pig, which they brought out tonight, head and all. And sure, it was good, with a super thin and crispy skin dipped into a mildly sweet sauce. But I was surprised to find that the ear was so difficult to eat.

And I'm not quite sure what they did with the rest of the pig after we finished with the skin...did the remaining meat get mixed in with the noodles? They charged an extra S$10 (US$8) for some kind of chopping service. Otherwise, the seafood here was surprisingly fresh (and pricey), even if the venue itself was pretty beat up.

I'm busy making reservations for a trip to India this winter. Everything seems so much more expensive than I remember it. And it wasn't that long ago that I visited Bombay, Delhi and Calcutta. The first time I went to India, though, that was like a whole different world and a whole different age. I had just graduated from college and I drove across Europe and Asia to India. It was still 1969 when I got there-- December 1, 1969, in fact. I remember because it was a major day in my life. I was waiting for my paper work-- or my van's paper work-- to get processed at the Pakistan-Indian border (Wagah, I think) and it was very hot in the sun. I had spent a year being very frustrated about not being able to stop smoking pot and hash. But suddenly at that remote, desolate border crossing I felt a hand reach inside me and rip away the desire for drugs. Gone; forever. I never desired to use a drug again after that. What a great way to start my trip inside India.

Eventually I made my way down to Goa and rented a house on the beach. When I left I decided to drove to Sri Lanka. In between was Kerala, a very green and beautiful state. I remember they had the most Christians and the most Communists. In fact they had a Communist state government that was working far better than any of the other state governments. I was pretty carefree and drove wherever my fancy took me. I wound up one day in Cochin, a seaport on the Arabian Sea. Today's Washington Post has a story about the city, now (since 1996) called Kochi, In India, A Jewish Outpost Slowly Withers.

When I visited in 1970 is was a real outpost with nothing going on at all. I don't remember it as a city, just more as a village. Now there are around a million people and it's a major port and historically it was a place filled with traders from all over the world: Greeks, Arabs, Romans, Chinese, Portuguese, and Jews. And Cochin has been somewhat famous in the west as an oddity, a Jewish enclave in Hindu India.

I was curious about Jews living in such a place and I decided to investigate. I found very little-- an old synagogue but no actual Jews around. The Indians boys eager to take the three or four visitors a day on a tour weren't Jewish and they said the Jews had all moved to Israel. Legend says the first Jews to have settled in Cochin came when Solomon was King of Israel. A thousand years later there were Jews from Europe arriving and at the time of the Inquisition, more Jews from Spain and Portugal arrived. In the middle 1500's the Jews of the area sought protection from the Hindu king against Muslim oppression and he let them build their own "Jew Town" in Cochin.

It was still called Jew Town when I visited, although I didn't see a single Jew. According to the story in the Post there are only 13 elderly Indian-born Jews left. "In Kochi, there is concern that Jew Town soon will be little more than a quirky tourist destination." That's certainly what it was in 1970 when I visited. Occasionally Jewish tourists from the U.S. or Israel come by but it's the kind of place that's not worth more than a pleasant afternoon on the way somewhere.

Yeah, that is a bit of a mouthful of a name, but that's how they named this thing on the sign, verbatim. It was Sanji's special this month, featuring a blend of red, white, and black miso, complete with your choice of topping, which in my case, was that knob of butter in the far upper left corner.

It wasn't as heavy as they made it sound, but the broth definitely had a bit of musky depth to it...almost as if they added Chinese doufuru to it. I don't think I'll be going back for this again, but I'm glad that I tried it once. (And no, those aren't carrots above, but rather surimi crab sticks.)

We had barely enough time to squeeze in a quick lunch at Fresh Station before heading to our next meeting today. And I have to admit that I liked this place a lot more than I did last time, as somehow the fruit wasn't as blatantly in your face this time. Instead, different pieces were accentuated with just the right amount of yuzu, shiso, etc., and it worked well. Too bad that we had to go to a meeting later though; there were some raw onions in a couple items that would have been great with the food, but dragon breath was the last thing that we needed before meeting a client for the first time.

If you’d like to keep up with daily images and information about Ireland’s fantastic heritage sites please consider following Abarta Audioguides on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Spectacularly positioned on the cliffs overlooking the North Atlantic, Dunluce Castle has to be one of the most picturesque heritage sites on the island. The earliest parts of the castle are thought to date to the 14th century, but the majority of visible remains date to the 16th and 17th centuries, when it was the fortress of the MacQuillans and later the MacDonnells, who were descended from a powerful Scottish clan.

These families were embroiled in near constant conflict to control the area of North Antrim known as ‘The Route’ which extended between the Rivers Bann and Bush.

The MacDonnells rose to become the most dominant family of The Route and the Glens of Antrim, but they fell into conflict with the English Crown. In 1584, Queen Elizabeth Ist sent the Lord Deputy of Ireland, Sir John Perrot, to deal with the growing power of the MacDonnells. He laid siege to Dunluce and successfully took the castle. It was granted back to Sorley Boy MacDonnell in 1586 after he pledged his allegiance to Elizabeth, but the MacDonnells rose in rebellion again during The Nine Years War.

After the crushing defeat at the Battle of Kinsale in 1601, Randal MacDonnell surrendered and received a pardon. He prospered when King James VI of Scotland succeeded Elizabeth to the English throne. Randal brought large numbers of Scottish settlers to the area as part of the Plantation of Ulster. He established a new town for his settlers here at Dunluce. However the prosperous years of the MacDonnells of Dunluce would soon end, as his son, (also called Randall), forfeited Dunluce and his lands during the rebellions of the mid-17th century. 

Following the Restoration of the Monarchy, King Charles II regranted Dunluce back to the MacDonnells, however by then the castle had fallen into disrepair. It was abandoned as a main residence and quickly fell into ruin. Today it is a stunning site to visit with simply incredible views. You can find it along the scenic Causeway Coastal Route (A2 road) at co-ordinates 55.210404, -6.578216. For information about opening hours and entry fees please visit here. Please note that it is free entry for anyone bearing a valid OPW Heritage Card.

I really hope you enjoy our blog. If you'd like to discover more stories about Irish history, archaeology and culture and if you'd like to support us you can download audioguides from my website www.abartaheritage.ie, where we have 25 guides that tell the story of Irish heritage and the majority are absolutely free to download. 

If you’d like to keep up with daily images and information about Ireland’s fantastic heritage sites please consider following Abarta Audioguides on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

Backpacker Magazine has a reputation of throughly "field testing" their gear before they make recommendations on it's quality. Any gear that makes their "Gear of the Year" list usally comes highly recommended and ends up being duralbe, functional, and well worth the money.

GoBlog has published the complete list of winners of this years Editor's Choice Awards, and as always, it's a list that will have our hearts beating a little faster and our wallets trembling in fear.

Highlights of this year's list include the Jansport Whittaker LT Pack (Yes, I was drawn to the pack first!), the MSR Reactor camping stove, which has been garnering a lot of attention it seems, and Big Anges Emerald Mountain tent.

So much gear...so little money!

The funny thing is that I actually got this monthly special at Tamoya in part because of how weird it sounded (and frankly, the shop's photo of it didn't look very good either). But that just got me even more curious: could this thing be as bad as I imagined it to be?

Fortunately, it wasn't, and in fact I finished the entire thing. Granted, I don't think I'll be getting it again, but at least I got some fresh veggies in my dinner. I ended up using that sesame dressing as more of a dipping sauce rather than trying to toss the salad.

Photo © Julie Jacobson/AP-All Rights Reserved
It is estimated that Afghanistan supplies nearly all the world's opium, the raw ingredient used to make heroin, and while most of the deadly crop is exported, enough remains in it to feed a cycle of addiction among its population. It's also estimated there are at least 200,000 opium and heroin addicts in Afghanistan.

It's a fact of life that many rural areas in Afghanistan have no access to basic medicine such as aspirin, so whenever a villager needs a painkiller for a minor ailment, they are given opium instead.

Julie Jacobson is an Associated Press Writer and Photojournalist, who produced a video on opium addiction amongst a family in Afghanistan. In many of Afghanistan's remote mountain villages, opium addiction has infected toddlers to old men.

Julie has also written an interesting article published by Nieman Reports titled Crossing The Line: From Still To Video, which includes these four main guidelines:

"Some moments should be captured in photographs only. With those, be true to your photography and don’t worry about video."

"Remain as true to your photography while capturing video imagery. Make good “pictures” in your video".

"Some moments and events clearly call for video. But it isn’t possible to be everywhere and to get everything, so don’t try".

"When shooting stills and video, anticipate moments carefully. If they’re not there or time doesn’t permit, then make sure to be complete in shooting only one or both will suffer."

A worthwhile read to photographers and photojournalists facing this transition.

The Augustinian Priory of St. Mary at Clontuskert is thought to have been founded in the later part of the twelfth century by Turlough O'Connor, King of Connacht, on the site of an eighth century monastery dedicated to St. Boedán, although no archaeological evidence has been found as yet of the earlier monastery.

Originally Clontuskert would have been a considerably sized Priory that was regularly expanded, with a large undivided church dating to the late twelfth century that later became the chancel when the church was expanded in the early fifeenth century, it was enlarged again when a north transept was added to the building in the late fifteenth century. Though the Church still survives well today, many of the other structures only survive as foundations, although a small part of the cloister has been reconstructed from the remains found on site.
The Priory was under the patronage of the powerful O'Kelly family who held sway in this region during the medieval period, and the head of the Priory traditionally had the honour of inaugurating the new head of the O'Kelly's.

An O'Kelly Tomb dating to 1646

It is recorded in 1413 that an indulgence was granted to raise funds for the repair of the Priory Church that had recently been 'totally destroyed' by fire, and much of the visible architectural remains on site date to after this point.

It appears that the original Augustinian Canons were replaced by Augustinian Friars in the early seventeenth century, and a doorway in the Church between the chancel and nave has the date 1637 carved above it.

For me the most spectacular feature on the site is the amazing west doorway into the nave. It is beautifully carved and bears the figures of St. Michael brandishing a sword and scales for weighing souls on Judgement Day, St. John the Baptist, St. Catherine and a Bishop. It also depicts a pelican, a star, a pair of griffins, a dog, a deer, a rose and strangely, a mermaid (see bottom picture) who has a mirror in her left hand and a star in her right hand. Similar mermaids can be found at Clonfert and St.Nicholas's Cathedral in Galway (thanks to Finn Delaney for the great reference there!).  The inscription above the doorway reads:
Mathev Dei gra eps Clonfertens et Patre oneacdavayn canonie esti domine fi fecert Ano do MCCCCLXXI
Which can be translated to:
Mathew by the Grace of God, Bishop of Clonfert, and Patrick O’Naughton, canon of this house, caused me to be made in 1471.

Close up of the top of the western doorway with (from left-right) St. Michael, John the Baptist, St.Catherine and a Bishop

 This doorway alone is worth the trip to Ballinasloe, as it has some of the finest fifteenth century medieval carvings in Ireland.
Contuskert Priory is very easy to find. Simply head from Ballinasloe towards Portumna on the R355, go past the Ballinasloe Golf Club and keep going straight down the road, after about 5-6km on the R355 you'll see the site on your left hand side. There is a small carpark then the site is a short 100m walk down a lane.

I hope you are enjoying the blog, I'm doing my best to cover as much as the country as I can so please do bear with me. If anyone has suggestions about great sites to visit please do let me know by leaving a comment, I'd love to hear from you. If you'd like to keep up with daily images and posts about Irish heritage you might like to follow us on Facebook, Google+ and Twitter.
If you'd like to support us then perhaps consider downloading one of our audioguides to Irish heritage sites, packed with original music and sound effects they are a fun and immersive way of enjoying the incredible story of Ireland whether you are at the site or sitting in your favourite chair at home. You can find us at www.abartaaudioguides.com, our latest guide, The Rock of Dunamase is available completely free of charge.

All photographs © Neil Jackman / abartaaudioguides.com

The Mermaid at Clontuskert, she's no Darryl Hannah

Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
Photo © Tewfic El-Sawy-All Rights Reserved
During my Theyyams of Malabar Photo~Expedition™ in early 2009, I had arranged for a photo shoot at an ancient Vedic 'gurukul' (or training/boarding school very similar to the Buddhist monasteries for novitiates, or a Muslim madrasa) in Thrissur, where we were treated to a demonstration of this way of teaching the sacred Vedic scriptures.

The Vedas are the earliest literary record of the Indo-Aryan civilization, and the most sacred books of India. These are the original scriptures of Hindu teachings. The oral tradition of the Vedas consists of several rhythmic recitations and ways of chanting the Vedic mantras. The traditions of Vedic chant are often considered the oldest unbroken oral tradition in existence.

While photographing and watching the hypnotic chanting by the young boys, I was reminded of the similar recitation styles used by the Buddhist novices and the Muslim children at madrasas, who sway their torsos in time with the cadence of their chant. Moreover, many Jews also sway their bodies during prayer; a practice called shokeling in Yiddish.

This was an unplanned visit. I needed to run an errand nearby, but the store that I needed to go to wasn't open yet. So figured that I'd grab a quick breakfast here in the meantime (426 West Capitol Expressway, 229-2190). It didn't seem like anything spectacular from the outside, but when I saw pozole listed on the menu, it was a no brainer on what I was going to get.

I kept forgetting that pozole could come in a red variety though (in my mind, pozole is white, whereas menudo and birria are red). Either way, the broth was just what I needed, especially when spiked with some of those onions and lemons. And the meat was relatively tender too, even if was way more protein than I needed this morning.

So lettuce is usually used as a garnish for pozole rather than cilantro and avocado? I'm not going to come running back here, but it's good to know for future reference that they are open at 9 AM, and that they have cheap taco plates available here too.