Tiger's Nest Monastery in Bhutan.
On friday afternoon I popped along to another of our client seminars, ‘Himalayan Treasures’, which was presented by Chris Moore from our North and Central Asia department, and Camilla Brent-Smith and Iona Laing from our Indian Subcontinent team.
North & Central Asia's Henrietta and Jo have been collecting toiletries for The Christina Noble Children's Charity in Mongolia.
Doing your bit for charity doesn’t always have to involve raising money and this week the North and Central Asia department here at Audley have come up with an ingenious way of supporting a children’s charity in Mongolia.
Hidden Japan season on BBC4
Last Monday (16th March 2009) marked the beginning of BBC4’s ‘Hidden Japan’ season. A month-long focus on all things Japanese the season kicked off with Marcel Theroux’s ‘In Search of Wabi Sabi’, one of three films which form the centrepiece for numerous other documentaries, animations and dramas.
A gathering of dervishes, watercolour, Isfahan, c. 1640. From the Ardabil section. © The Trustees of the British Museum.
‘Shah ‘Abbas: The remaking of Iran’ is a brand new feature that I have just added to the Iran section of our website. The feature focuses on an exhibition currently running at the British Museum with the same name. Shah ’Abbas: The remaking of Iran is the third major exhibition in a series by the British Museum that focuses on great rulers and is running until 14th June 2009.
I greatly enjoyed tuning into the first episode of a new five part series on Russia, presented by Jonathan Dimbleby, in which the journalist and broadcaster will be travelling the length and breadth of the country to, he says, get to know Russia through the eyes of ‘ordinary people’, away from all the politics.
I always think it’s difficult to write about Russia without lapsing into lazy clichés. While there were elements of this, the personal stories that Jonathan Dimbleby uncovered added an extra poignancy and depth to the comments about the vastness of Russia, and the suffering of its people.
As you will no doubt have heard, an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale hit China on Monday 12 May. Centred around Chengdu in Sichuan province, the earthquake has had a devastating effect on many millions of people in the area.
Fortunately, no Audley clients, staff or partners in the area have been immediately affected. By all accounts the Chinese authorities have responded well to the disaster, mobilising the army and emergency services to cope with the fall out from the earthquake, though they have been hampered by bad weather.
Visit the BBC News website for full coverage and more information about the rescue effort.
If you want to help with the relief effort, we suggest a donation to the Red Cross, who have been supporting the Chinese Red Cross.
Audley is looking at ways we might be able to assist once the area has recovered from the immediate effects of the quake.
Over the Easter weekend I went down to London to catch up with some friends. Since I love all things Japanese I had persuaded them to come with me to watch a performance by the Yamato drummers of Japan, who are currently touring the UK.
The 10 performers take the ancient art of taiko drumming and turn it into a vibrant and exuberant show, compromising of drumming, flute & shamisen (a Japanese stringed instrument) playing and some comedic interludes. The drums themselves vary in size from hand held drums to the barrel like Odaikos which are up to 6 feet across. The performance takes an enormous amount of strength and stamina and the sheer agility, co-ordination and choreography of the drummers are what make the show so powerful, along with the resounding reverberations of the drumbeats. In fact, the latest production is called Shin-on, which translates as heartbeat in English and it is said that the sound of the drums is like the sound of a mother’s heartbeat to her unborn child.
Anybody who has met me for more than about half an hour would vouch for the fact that food is right up there on my “reasons for travel.” So you can probably imagine how my eyes bulged when I heard that Michelin have now declared Tokyo to be officially the cuisine capital of the world, with an astronomical total of 191 stars (compare that to Paris’s meagre 98!). I think that my 3 night stay in Tokyo this May to catch up with our local agents will have to incorporate some fine dining – all with a mind to being able to recommend the best restaurants to our clients of course.
The Tokyo Michelin guidebook is out now and provides a mouth-watering insight into dining in Japan’s capital.
After the success of the first local client evening that we had at the Oxford Asmolean museum back on a rainy November night, I am really looking forward to the next one in a few weeks time on the 13th February. The exhibition itself is fascinating but for me the best thing about these evenings is the chance to talk to not only the curator of the world’s oldest (or so they claim!) museum, but also to Weimin He, the man who was commissioned by the museum to travel through China in order to put the collection together. Quite a task that he undertook, and a remarkable journey. I understand that a fair few people are booked onto the next evening already, so look forward to seeing you there. Anyone not able to make it should have a look at the museum’s website that has a good intro to the exhibition.
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