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THE ALMANAC

The Scourge of ICPS
I now know that I first developed symptoms during the 1994 World Cup, waiting for a plane at Chengdu airport in central China....

Everest: a risky business

Climbing the world’s highest peak is the ultimate adventure, says Eric Ellis, but with trips costing up to $100,000 each and numerous fatalities each season, it can be an expensive one too

Overshooting the runway

THE best Asian budget airline story I’ve heard was in 2006, while taking a short walk in Pakistan’s Hindu Kush to visit the old princely state of Chitral, a Shangri-la where Osama bin Laden is said to be enjoying the alpine air and hospitality

He'd rather be nude: how an expat found peace and business success

IN AN ERA of Enrons and HIHs, Opes Primes and Chartwells, an unusual French-born businessman in India may well be the corporate antidote for this age of greed

Afghanistan's Central Bank numbers crunched by Indian accountant

WE ALL know Iraq’s bad but to hear many experts tell it, Afghanistan is the genuine headache of the age, military and economic

Banking Afghan-style

PERHAPS the best way to view Corporate Afghanistan — there’s a term you don’t often hear — is to regard it as a never-ending spigot draining sovereign wealth funds into the world’s biggest tax haven

Access of Evil

It's difficult enough getting into the secretive theocracy that is Iran, but once inside, you enter a world locked in the past and riddled with corruption and cronyism

Lost in translation

Cold, lonely, annoyed, uninformed and without toiletries in the heart of the Axis of Evil

Ferry expensive journey

Kangaroo Island is in the thrall of an overpriced monopoly ferry service to and from the South Australian mainland

Hot spots, pot shots and gold pots for the brazen and the bold 
Compile a fake CV, head for a war zone, and a fortune in taxpayers' dollars can be yours

A short walk with Eric Newby

Warriors with scimitars and muskets have given way to warlords with AK-47s and mobile phones, but there are still hidden valleys of timeless peace and beauty

The East is Rudd

Eric Ellis suggests potential slogans and policy statements from new Labor leader and former Australian diplomat to Beijing, Kevin Rudd

Dean Jones: cricket tragic

The former Australian batsman's "terrorist" slur on a South African player came as no surprise to those who have followed Jones' crass commentating career

Bleed the world

Malcolm McLaren and Bob Geldof are the new Cash Pistols

East & Eden

For a truly inspiring Asian experience step off the well-trodden path. The top 10 must-visit holiday hotspots

Innocence lost

Naval Gazing

Cruising the tropical islands of the South China Sea

Wherever they hang their hats

Spending each season on a different continent was once only possible for the rich and retired. Now, says Eric Ellis, people with jobs, kids and mortgages are becoming citizens of the world

Project oru

A reporter’s account of one personal mission

Through hell and high water

As an occasional resident of a Sri Lankan fishing village, writer Eric Ellis pitched in to help those ruined by the tsunami. But the plan to finance and organise replacement boats was beset by bureaucracy, connivance and internecine warfare. But as Ellis' diary shows, it was a story with a happy ending

Que sera sera

Whatever will be, will be, especially in a timeless village in Andalucian Spain. Until, that is, it is "discovered" by the invading hordes of New Europe and beyond

Tales and tigers at Kipling Camp

The exceptional wildlife viewing at India's most famous jungle encampment rivals the exploits of its patriarch

 

A Life in Focus

Eric Ellis recalls his rare interview with French photographer Henri Cartier-Bresson, who died earlier this month, aged 95



8 great things to do in Bali

When you feel like a break from the surfing and shopping routine, head for Bali's lesser-known attractions

Kaboom Town

It’s election time in Kabul and a motley assortment of carpet-baggers, do-gooders and telephone salesmen are gathering for the big day

Monday blues? Not on my island

Life is GOOD. And lest I sound too smug, here's why

The sultans of swing

Eric Ellis fumes, sweats and argues over a disputed squash point

I've Been to Bali Too

Twenty years ago, Redgum's hit song summed up Australia's unique relationship with Bali

Taste of the unknown

The Mergui Archipelago is an elusive paradise

Tiger tales

Along with the wildlife there's a wild character straight out of British India at Kipling Camp

Tall tales from the sanctuary

Eric Ellis visits Kipling Camp where a retired British major recounts yarns from his 'caddish' life at a nation

Hole in Jong

Word has it North Korea's Dear Leader is a golfing legend

Ban on oral sex may be lifted as nanny State goes soft on sin

SINGAPORE'S ban on oral sex, a statute dating from the island's days as a Victorian British colony, looks set to be repealed in another apparent effort by its notoriously strict Government to shake off its nanny-State image.  

The dying man, the maharajah and a cache of priceless jewels

ERIC FOY NISSEN settles into an armchair in his cluttered Bombay flat and considers his dilemma; one that a Merchant or Ivory might craft into a sumptuous film about colonial derring-do, frontiersmanship and family intrigues in 19th-century India

The Tongues Have It

The rise of the tribute band has closely followed John Howard's conservative ascent. What price Kissteria's Gene Simmons clone as next PM? 

Executive gets down to bare essentials

A middle-class Frenchman turned Hindu monk has the faithful in India kissing his feet, Eric Ellis reports

Punter of the Punjab

The baggy greens mix it with turbans and Shane Warne and Ricky Ponting speak Hindi down the corporate end of Australia's one-day tour. After all, Aussie cricketers are as gods in this cricket-obsessed land

Holy CEO!

Christian Fabre dresses down at work, but not just to polo shirt and chinos. This 62-year-old industrialist works in the nude

Voyage Around My Father

A son combs five continents to find the father he never knew. The journey ends in heartbreak and happiness. Our correspondent Eric Ellis is that son

Crease Fire

In Sri Lanka, a national obsession with cricket is helping to heal the wounds of a long-running civil war

Travelling Man

Funding the travels of Jose Ramos-Horta requires some lateral thinking, reports Eric Ellis.

Kim's Komrades

Some people spot trains, some people spot planes, but being a member of the Korean Friendship Association requires more than a wardrobe of matching beige anoraks

Bali Bagus

A month after the Bali bombings, Eric Ellis finds life is returning to "normal" on the island

The Sybarite Stuff

After many years avoiding the place, Eric Ellis has been to Bali too. What's more, he has decided to stay. The smell of scented candles is in the air as he explains why.

From Upper East to further east

The poached salmon we were eating in New York was perfectly edible. But, enhanced by the fiery sambal with its chili, garlic and cumin ingredients we had enjoyed on holiday in Bali, it would have been sublime.

Business of terror main event of year

We are now mechanics, if not masters, of our destiny

Welcome to the Nationhood

Bob Marley and his democratic dreadlocks might be all the rage among the rabid cabbies of the Democratic Republic of Timor Lorosa'e...

Asia Buzz: Bouffant.com

If North Korea's Dear Leader Kim Jong Il really wants to open up to the world, he's going to have to do a lot more than get a new wardrobe so he can stop looking like a gas station attendant.

Hanoi Host To Motley Crew and Aussie Who's Who

The unmistakable voice of Ray Charles drifts across the velvet Hanoi night - "your cheatin' heart will tell on you ... will ... tell ... onnnnnn ... yoouuuu."

Doing Deals at the Billabong Bar

The Vietnamese know big spenders when they see them

Future Of Saigon's Floater Appears Fragile

Saigon's Floating Hotel was the place where 'men of vision' and 'foreign experts' mapped out the economic future of Vietnam. Now its demeanour -and its future - are gloomy,

Golfing in North Korea and other tales from the Hermit Kingdom

The first hole at the Pyongyang Golf Club is a 340-metre dogleg par four, a severe test of skill even for Normans and Nicklauses.

But it was a mere cakewalk for North Korea's "Dear Leader", Kim Jong-il, when he gave "on-the-spot guidance" at the country's only golf club recently.

Los Angeles Death Scene Steam Clean

Kathie Jo Kadziauskas has taken over what is normally a grisly government task, cleaning up crime scenes with her Crime Scene Steam and Clean operation in Ventura County, just north of Los Angeles.

"A healthy crime rate is good for us," she explained, stroking her two cats - Velvet and Beauregarde - as she prepared to serve mock cream cake and Earl Grey tea.

Those Old Tyrants Who Just Won't Go Away

As British Prime Minister Tony Blair might agree, life can be just as much a headache for the reluctant hosts of fallen dictators as for the tired old tyrants themselves.

Vladivostok and its wild stock exchange

VIKTOR Sakharov admits to owning just 32 shares, with a collective value of no more than several thousand roubles, a few hundred dollars. "Of course, I am like any normal man, I want to have some money but I only do this for my salary," says the former marine biologist, now president of the Vladivostok Stock Exchange.

The Booming Bombay Bourse

MONDAY was quite a day for young Anil Parikh.

His face streaked with blood, he had been headlocked twice, had his neck pinned in a human vice several times, been mugged by a gang of seven against a marble pillar and three times he had been pushed to the ground and trampled over by a marauding mob.

His cotton shirt was ripped, and once he smeared the blood away from his left eye you could see it turning a shade more purple than his right.

And it was still only 2 pm on the floor of the Bombay Stock Exchange.

Seeking Scuds in Pakistan, and other tales

Peshawar- It's not a great idea to go walking in the picturesque Kohat hills outside this ancient Pakistani city, the home of the fearsome Pathan warriors.

A casual stroll to take relief from the desert heat might also see you take a round from a Kalashnikov; a wrong step could tragically reveal a hidden land mine. Or you might spend your time dodging Stinger missiles and the occasional flying Scud.

Dead Cats in Mongolia and other tales from the tundra

PROGRESS in Mongolia may well be measured by the removal of a frozen cat.

For a year, an unfortunate puss with a severe case of rigor mortis has provided Ulan Bator residents with a macabre landmark. The cat became such a fixture that directions were often given by the proximity to the very obvious carcass lying near the official buildings around Suhbataar Square, Ulan Bator's answer to Moscow's Red Square.

But last week he was cleaned up, immediately becoming the topic of much discussion for the few that brave the many discomforts of the climatically challenged Mongolia.

Horse Racing in Guangzhou

THE Guangzhou Jockey Club may not be quite ready for the Chinese Communist Party Invitation Cup, but it has a reasonable claim to host the Socialist Market Economy Improvers Handicap.

The Folly of Brasilia

A cheeky Gough Whitlam once mused that Canberra had "a whiff of Brasilia" about it. Gough may have been right about many things but that wasn't one of them.

Gourmet Tour of the Karakoram Highway

The consistency of Timboon Gourmet Fetta Cheese isn't great at 5,500m above sea level. Tasty, 'tis true, but the thin air makes it a little hard to spread on crunchy Kashgar bagels. Our impromptu repast, as 20 Chinese, Uighurs, Pakistanis, Tajiks and Kirghizis were trying to dig our Landcruiser out of a Khunjerab Pass snowdrift, was the envy of the convoy of French, Singaporean and Japanese travellers piled up behind us, hoping to cross from China to Pakistan on the world's highest road - the famous Karakoram Highway across the Pamir, Karakoram, Hindu Kush and Himalaya ranges.

Golf in Asia - A Disease

MOLOTOV CHEN of Taipei is in no doubt what poses the biggest threat to Asia's future. North Korea's Kim Il Sung threatening nuclear Armageddon on South Korea? Exploding stockmarkets? China's Balkanisation?

All just Mickey Mouse, according to Molotov, who has lobbed his cocktail at the royal and ancient, noble game of golf. Chen - with a name like Molotov we assume he's a Mister - felt compelled to warn recently, via Taipei's China Times, that Taiwanese "citizens face a 20th Century scourge worse than AIDS".

An Evening Meal in Nerdistan

They might now have the biggest house, the sharpest car and the fattest stock option package, but geeks with table manners? Ordinarily, that wouldn't be a cool look for Silicon Valley's awkward 20-something squillionaires so enamoured of their anti-hero slob status they name corporate conference rooms after American snack food brands.

But as the world's businessmen descend on Nerdistan's precocious pointy-heads, one-time British model Lyndy Janes is out to change all that.

Cold War to Cold Store

HOW best to escape the heat in sweltering Hanoi? A long G & T in the Metropole Hotel bar? Visiting the homes of privileged communist party elite? Hunkering down inside one of the new air-conditioned Japanese-built Hanoi taxis? Wrong to all of the above.

The Only Place To Cash In Your Chips

Imagine a bank that won't bounce your cheques, that issues unlimited credit and doesn't ask for references or repayment; a bank that doesn't charge fees and whose manager always says yes. Welcome to the Bank of Hell.

Shades Of Yesteryear Lure Wok 'n' Roll Stars

The young Hong Kong taxi driver dressed in streetwise clothes and Ray-Ban sunglasses looks the epitome of cool. But the dated music pumping from his stereo would bring a grin to Australia's new wave of entrepreneurs.

Mac Backfire - Despite Arch Support

McDonald's must wish all its customers were like Don Gorske.

Arnie's LA Story: He Muscled In On The Old Beach

When Arnold Schwarzenegger declared "I'll be back" in James Cameron's 1984 hit The Terminator, he may well have been referring to this notorious part of Los Angeles.

Some Big Money Brooding In The Mississippi Bayous

Eric Ellis reports from Brookhaven, Mississippi on another lost export opportunity for Australia

Glitter Sells In Tinsel Town

It's been a brush with fame at every turn for Eric Ellis since he arrived to open The Financial Review's Los Angeles bureau. 

After two centuries of being mercilessly thrashed by Poms for our supposedly coarse brand of English, it comes as something of a surprise to learn that some Californians think Australians are "intellectual" - because of how we speak.

Golden Globes A Glittering Farce

Tonight, in a glittering ceremony, an army of film and television stars, directors, writers and various industry "luvvies" will celebrate the Golden Globe Awards in a storm of gushery, hoopla and, of course, the merit and sincerity one finds only in Hollywood.

Mild-mannered Clerk Turns Into A Warlord

It is enlightening, and perhaps even disturbing, that for a place with such a penetrating influence on international popular culture, Los Angeles often seems to know remarkably little about the outside world.

Crash! Boom! Merchants Do A Brisk Trade In Crisis

The Earth moved for San Francisco yesterday, and it was not just because the First Philanderer, Bill Clinton, was in town.

Lethal Salesman Randy's A Ghoul's Best Friend

Randy Bell, "Mr Disaster" to his colleagues and competitors, is the man you call when you have a problem with a difficult-to-sell property.

The Valley Is Aiming To Escape LA's Clutches

"Welcome to Pornodelphia, the, like, totally awesome, sixth biggest city in the USA, dude."

In Search of Ms Black Love Doll

WHATEVER a reporter does in the daily line of work, it's best not to announce that you're undertaking an article about the blow-up -PVC-doll-and-sex-gadgets industry