Fun

Trevor’s Travel Trivia – Part VIII – Thames Trivia

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PLEASE DO NOT LET ANY OF THESE THAMES TRIVIA PUT YOU OFF ENJOYING THE BEAUTIFUL THAMES. I MEAN IT. THERE IS NO REASON TO BE PUT OFF. Frost Fairs Perhaps my favourite Thames trivia is this first one here. In the olden days the Thames was much wider and hence slower-flowing. This meant that it regularly froze over in winter. Londoners used to do so-called Frost Fairs on the Thames, even though that hasn’t happened since 1814.     Pics free stock photography except where otherwise noted. 2nd pic (c) BerkeleySqB Either the longest or the second longest river in the UK The Thames is usually considered to be the second longest river in the UK at 346km. It’s said to be only exceeded by the Severn, which is supposed to be 8km longer at 354km. However, one of the lesser known Thames trivia is that the river Churn, a […]

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Fun

Trevor’s Travel Trivia – Part VI – Papua New Guinea Trivia

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I spent one month in Papua New Guinea as a development consultant in 1998 and I’ve been fascinated by Papua New Guinea trivia ever since. To me PNG is the epitome of adventure, so hopefully this should make for some tremendous travel trivia. That’s one HUGE travel trivia: World’s second largest island Papua New Guinea covers the eastern half of the world’s second-largest island, New Guinea, in the southwest Pacific. Greenland ranks #1, Borneo #3, and Great Britain #9. The western half of the island belongs to Indonesia.   Stock photography, mainly Pexels, except where indicated otherwise. 2nd pic (c) Simon Hayes, AdventureBagging. It never rains in Southern California? Well it certainly rains in PNG. There is only one country with higher rainfall, the tiny Sao Tome and Principe. You thought it rains a lot in Old Blighty? You might want to think again. It rains more than 2.5 times […]

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Fun

Trevor’s Travel Trivia – Bhutan – PART II

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Highest country in the world – Bhutan Travel Trivia Bhutan is the highest country on our planet with an average altitude of 3,280m. If Tibet were a sovereign country, then it would of course easily eat Bhutan for brekkies at an absolutely incredible average elevation of 4,380m. In terms of mean elevation, Bhutan ranks #4 at 2,220m after Tajikistan (3,186m), Kyrgyzstan (2,988m), and Nepal (2,565m) and before Lesotho (#5 at 2,161m), Andorra (#6 at 1,996m), Afghanistan (#7 at 1,884m), Chile (#8 at 1,871m), and perhaps surprisingly China (#9 at 1,840m). Left picture (c) The Planet D, where uncredited either free stock photography or BSqB For comparison, the United States are at 760m, France at 375m, and the United Kingdom and India both have a mean elevation of roughly 160m. Zebra Crossings In the towns, policemen will politely but firmly remind you to use the zebra crossings, should you forget. Big […]

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Food

Trevor’s Travel Trivia – Part VII – Peasant Food to Luxury

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  From Poor Man’s Pot to Posh People’s Prized Possession: A Story about Food over the past 5,000 years   Most of us do not realise that much of what we consider to be luxury food items today used to be poor man’s food. It was frowned upon by the rest of society. As food blogger I find this topic hugely fascinating. Food rising the ranks only to drop back into the gutter when the next big trend comes. This shows how subjective food is. It illustrates how much of its appreciation depends on convention and society’s dictates rather than pure and simple deliciousness as it should. In some cases it also shows how cooking techniques have improved over time. Nowadays, not so much in countries like France or Italy with their ancient, deeply ingrained appreciation of food and good produce, but certainly in Anglo-Saxon cultures with their wide-spread use […]

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