One week in Namibia barely scratches the surface. ArcticTropic was there in October, 2013 for the Adventure Travel Trade Association annual conferences in the capital city of Windhoek and the small seaside city of Swakopmund. At least weeks is needed to see the country properly.

After Namibia , ArcticTropic had less than a week to explore the vast territory of South Africa. 3 days in Cape Town was plenty, but the 1000 mile,1600 km journey back to Johannesburg via the Wynlands,the Great Karoo and the South Coast was quite a feat, meaning many hours in the car.

Long Beach at Kommetjie is just south of Hout’s Bay – that often has the biggest surf in the world – 25 meters in the winter. On this day it was tranquil, with only 1 to 2 meters. While the water looks tropical – it is not, only about 15 C ( 59 F ). Lots more edited footage to follow.

Coming down 1050m ( 4000 ft) Table Mountain in Cape Town on a beautiful spring morning n November,2013. Cape Town had just exited a long cold winter that saw snow on top of the mountain for the first time in many years Edited footage will soon be available.

Our final day in Mongolia was spent touring Ulanbatataar – the booming capital home to half of Mongolia’s 2.9 million people. It has the distinction of being the world’s coldest national capitol – January temperatures average close to 40 below zero ( C/F) even in the daytime. On this July day ,the temperature was pleasant – in the low 60s ( 18 C) and down to about 40 at night ( 5C ) . There is an excellent recent article in the The New York Times.

Lamasery. Beautiful ceremony inside with drums,chanting and bells – photography forbidden.

Peace !

The Communists shut down all temples and monasteries in 1922 and they did not reopen until 1992. Buddhist Life thrives once again.

The Natural History Museum has the world’s largest collection of dinosaur bones – all from Mongolia. It is currently under reconstruction.

Night Market Dining.

At Summer Palace.

Mao Zedong’s Car at Military Museum.

Summer Palace

Local Party Officials

Rush Hour.

Beijing Zoo.

Beijing Zoo.

Hong Kong, while less exotic than it used to be, is probably the most thriving city in the Far East. The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is more than just a city – it is really more like a small country as seen here in this fast paced panoramic. Hong Kong was our final stop before heading back to the United States.

We have been in Shanghai for the past two days and just now the photo uploading is working properly. Getting here was not easy. Our connecting flight from Beijing was cancelled ( as were all flights to Shanghai ) and we had to take an overnight train. Today we leave for Guilin and the wilds of Guanxi Province,South China. Here are some random photos. ArcticTropic will catch up when we arrive in Hong Kong late next week. We have been shooting beautiful video with the GoPro, but the videos would take hours to upload on slow hotel speeds.

Lamasery Ulanbaatar.

Roadside on the way back to Ulanbataar.

At the Statue of Genghis Khan.

Boom Town Ulanbaatar.

On the Plexiglass floor 1000 feet above Pudong from the Shanghai TV Tower,

There is no better way to explore the glorious metropolis of Istanbul than with a citizen of the city. ArcticTropic was very fortunate to be hosted by Nezih Çavuşoğlu – a renowned artist in Turkey and increasingly throughout Europe. He descends from an old Ottoman family and was educated in Switzerland and the United States.

On the day I arrived Nezih sent his driver to pick me up at my hotel. As it turned out, his work was being auctioned that evening at Istanbul’s top gallery.

Sold !

More works by The Artist.

Fame !

The next day I arrived at Nezih’s beautiful apartment overlooking the Bosporus, with a view from Europe to Asia. His work graced the walls. From there we left for a cruise up and down the Bosporus – featured earlier on ArcticTropic Blog.

With Artist Nezih Çavuşoğlu before Yachting in the Bosporus.

With his wife Gulsen.

Istanbul by night is incredible. We feasted in the top restaurants.

Partied in the most exclusive clubs.

Then aperitifs at other artists houses.

ArcticTropic thanks our gracious host Nezih,who showed Istanbul in an incredible way that no one else could.

Today ArcticTropic was invited on a private yacht tour by a renowned Istanbul artist who will later be featured in the Blog.Time and bandwidth constraints in the hotel make posting difficult at this time. Today was an incredible fall day with temperatures in the 70s – in one of the most beautiful cities in the world.

From Asia looking to Europe.

Turkey is extremely patriotic – the nation controls a good portion of this part of the world.

The entrance the Black Sea.

Saudi Prince Abdul Aziz pops in for a visit.