Travelling light A long-overdue biography of Harry de Windt (1856-1933) has just been published in Britain, and will be released in the United States next month. One of the lesser-known but most interesting travel writers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, this French-born Englishman was already exploring Borneo at the age of 16, working as aide-de-camp to his brother-in-law, the second White Rajah of Sarawak. His second visit to the tropics was described in
On the Equator (1882), written when he was in his early 20s. It contained some useful tips for other young men setting out to explore the world. “Nothing is more embarrassing than a large amount of luggage,” he advised. Travelling with only “one small overland trunk, one small portmanteau for cabin use on board ship, and a gun-case” – at a time when tourists would routinely set out with small library trunks, collapsible rubber bathtubs and portable beds just to visit the French Riviera – he was the Victorian forerunner of the modern backpacker.
Some of de Windt’s later journeys were described in
From Pekin to Calais by Land (1889),
A Ride to India (1891) and
From Paris to New York by Land (1903). That last trip took him across Siberia (for the fourth or fifth time) in search of a potential overland route between the Russian Far East and North America – something now being actively re-examined by China and Russia.
Going to Extremes: The Adventurous Life of Harry de Windt, by Stephen Wade, is available at
Amazon.co.uk. Several books by de Windt, including those mentioned above, can be downloaded cheaply or free of charge, either for Kindle at Amazon.com or from the iBooks store.
Raffles renewal Singapore’s Raffles Hotel, which turns 130 this year, will embark upon extensive renovations in January. The work will be undertaken gradually until the end of 2017, when the hotel will close until mid-2018. General manager Simon Hirst is quoted in a press release as saying the work will be “designed to ensure that we retain what is so special about Raffles Hotel Singapore – the ambiance, the service, the charm and the heritage of the hotel”. That’s a more upbeat appraisal than was offered to the media by Roberto Pregarz, when the hotel closed for a two-year restoration in 1989.
