It is almost an inevitable late night topic of conversation among journalists. ‘What is your most memorable hotel?’ Usually people respond with a fond anecdote of the cocktails in the Long Bar at Raffles in Singapore, the impeccable service at the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo, or the creative accountant at the Commodore Hotel in Beirut […]
A Night in Mobutu’s Zaire Read More »
PAP EN WORS We were going to the drive-in. Dad was coming home from work before it was dark, and Mom gave us our bath at half-past-four. She had to struggle to keep both of us still enough to be washed properly. Steve was splashing around so much at the front of the bath near
A Visit to the Drive in with my American Mom Read More »
Her neatly manicured fingers fold the edges of the Big Mac box. Her movements gentle, unobtrusive, but quietly determined. She looks up as she finishes folding the shiny cardboard. Her brown eyes are warm and filled with a pride that holds back dark tendrils of so much fear. Perhaps, from the little I know about
Essay | The Memory of Too Many Murders: Life and Death on the Cape Flats Read More »
Even small shards of history that survive help us to remember who we truly are One afternoon in autumn I stood at the ruins of the Sanctuary of Artemis Orthia in the ancient city of Sparta. There was little left of the temple except a few stone walls with two eucalyptus trees standing at the
Solitude and the Ruins of Ancient Sparta Read More »
A trip to the virtually unknown enclave of Karakalpakstan brings dislocated memories of Stalin Read the full article on Substack Our plane was delayed in Tashkent because the man sitting behind me began squirming. The people next to him remained surprisingly calm. The man started moaning. He kicked the back of my seat. A doctor
Lost Memories on the Silk Road Read More »
I have infinitely evocative memories of a trip to Timbuktu before the present civil war. Read the full article on Substack The very notion of Timbuktu is that of an intangible city, fabled in legend, myth and language. It is a place that conjures up long journeys to distant and exotic lands. It carries with
I’m glad I’ve been to Timbuktu Read More »
Years ago I went to the Svalbard islands in the Arctic circle. What a powerful, magical experience it was!
Under the little-known Svalbard treaty, South Africans have the right to live, trap, fish and prospect for minerals in a remote archipelago deep in the Arctic Circle. Hamilton Wende went there to try his luck.
The Uncertain Light of the Midnight Sun Read More »