Articles of Interest
July 2008
The August, 2008 issue of Architectural Digest had two articles of great interest to me.
The first article was about some of the new homes and apartments being built in China. For those of us who remember Charlie Chan movies, stories of the Chinese laborers working on the railroad during its expansion westward, the Little Red Book from Mao's era, or the mental image of coolies pulling rickshaws, modern China will come as a great surprise.
In a country with a annual GNP higher than any other country in the world, "Where the purchasing power of an average citizen has 10 times the purchasing power he or she had just 25 years ago...where there are 345,000 millionaires, 4,935 individuals with assets of over $30 million and 106 billionaires", the new China is emerging with a blast. With taste and elegance for the most part, but still with a blast.
Cities are new and modern, the housing is substantial by anyone's standards and some of the homes and apartments are something befitting what Paris, Berlin, New York City or San Francisco would be proud to show off. The use of modern materials and building methods on both their buildings and in their living quarters---marble, stainless steel, glass, lacquer, wood, bamboo, rock or composite surfaces point to the latest in architectural excellence in design, beauty and functionality.
Most of this is new to the Chinese. Most don't have preexisting collections of art, antiques or furnishings. And in a country so focused on the future and which is very much living in the present, most Chinese seem to be willing to shed the past......at least in their living arrangements. So, as the article states, "When a new home is completed, the owner sheds his old residence like the skin of a snake and moves into his new one with.....very likely with just the designer clothes in his suitcase. He may be part of an old civilization, but he lives in a brave new world".
Enjoy the pictures. I think you will be surprised.
The second article is about something for which I have a passion. Trains. Any train and all trains. I lived by one growing up and some of my earliest memories are of troop trains bringing soldiers home from the second World War. Then we lived in Europe and England for nine years and traveled by train.At another duty station we went from Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand down through the delta, into Malaysia, over the Cameroon Highlands and down into Kuala Lumpur. I have loved every trip I ever took on a train.
But the train featured in this article exceeds the beauty, comfort and luxuary of any train I have ever been fortunate enough to travel on. It is the Trans-Siberian Express, Moscow's latest contribution to luxuary rail service. a two-week trip covering 5,771 miles across Siberia. Pictured is a dining table in one of the restaurant cars where you are treated to caviar and traditional Russian dishes of borscht and smoked fish. The interior of the restaurant cars were inspired by the grand ballroom at the Pushkin Palace in St. Petersburg.
The Trans-Siberian railroad was completed in 1905 and has carried royalty, dissidents in chains and commissars. Some were being sent into oblivion in the nortorious prisons for which Siberia is most often remembered and others emerged from Siberia into positions of power.
The difference in travel now is the Golden Eagle started last year by GW Travel in Britain. The train holds 132 passengers. In addition to two cars for dining, there is a bar car and 12 sleeping cars.
To the delight of train buffs worldwide, the train is pulled by an old-fashioned steam locomotive dating from the 1950s and restored for the Golden Eagle.
For the ultimate vacation in grand style you might consider the Golden Eagle....a trip back into time but in the most luxurious accommodations.
Enjoy.