



This family owned luxury hotel located on the golden sandy shores of the south coast of Kos Island has just completed an extensive refurbishment program. Its layout and use of space is characteristic of the distinctive Aegean architecture. This type of architecture is apparent in the newly refitted rooms and the public areas, Staying at the Aegean Village Hotel is a treat for even the most demanding guest, as holidays of quality and style are offered. It is the hotel’s objective and first priority to offer its guests the very best in hospitality, accommodation and services, and it is no wonder that repeat-guest levels continue to rise.
We had a day on our own and went in many directions from museums, to the Bund, to the bazaar or other shopping venues. I will be posting some Shanghai street photos when I get back that will give you a feel for city life. Our suitcases are full, and our wallets less so. We have learned or perfected bargaining skills and enjoyed the satisfaction of a good find.
Tonight we shared a farewell party with our Wisconsin friends, otherwise known as Bus 2 (we think they need a new fight song). Our AHI guides did a marvelous job leading us from place to place and to the head of many lines. And we looked out for each other and shared many laughs, sights, and adventures. This evening ended, as all Ohio State gatherings should, with Carmen Ohio and an impromptu and mercifully brief Script Ohio.
Thank you for reading our China story and sharing the highlights with us. More photos will be posted in a few days. We would love to have your feedback through the "Talk to Us" link at the left.
"This is the grandest project the Chinese people have undertaken in thousands of years," said Li Yong'an, general manager of the government's Three Gorges corporation, which runs the project under the direct leadership of Premier Wen Jiabao.
Travel by boat is a romantic proposition, harking back to a time when great explorers discovered new worlds in elegant tallships. There may not be many oceans left totally uncharted, but travel by boat can still open up an enticing array of destinations.
Many places you can only see by boat. Take Ecuador’s Galápagos Islands – cruising is the only way to reach remote bays clustered with curious sea lions, marine iguanas and giant tortoises. And to access the pristine expanses of Antarctica you’ll need a tough vessel to cope with icebergs and allow you to land on shores dotted with thousands of waddling penguins.
Boats are great ways to meet the locals too. Board a ferry down Mali’s River Niger, across Lake Malawi, along Alaska’s Aleutian chain or between the Caribbean islands of St Vincent and the Grenadines, and you’ll meet chatty people carting curious cargos, all with a story to tell.
Water-bound travel can also be relaxing. Watch Egyptian life scroll by as you glide down the Nile, G&T in hand – riverbank life here, complete with ancient temples, ox carts and swaying palms, hasn’t much changed for millennia. And Europe’s great arteries – the Danube, the Rhine, the Rhone – which lead you through cities such as Geneva, Vienna and Budapest, are great highways through history.
You can see a lot of wildlife from the top deck, too. Paddle a canoe through the Okavango Delta, Botswana, for close-ups with hippos. Or zip along tributaries of the Amazon in Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador to spot birds and monkeys in the jungle. That’s not to mention the marine life – sail off the coast of the Azores, Iceland, New Zealand and Baja California (Mexico) for some of the planet’s best whale