postaweek | Karavansara

27 January 2013
by Davide Mana 2 Comments

John Barry – High Road to China

I know I said only three posts per week, but what the heck, it’s nice to have some music and some fun on sunday.

So, here we go – John Barry’s wonderful soundtrack for High Road to China, a 1983 adventure movie featuring Tom Selleck and Bess Armstrong.

The complete track listing for the score…

1. Main Title; Charlie Gets The Knife
2. Airborne
3. Love Theme
4. Waziri Village Attack & Escape
5. Farewell To Struts
6. O’Malley And Eve
7. Charleston* (J. Jonson & C. Mack)
8. Von Kern’s Attack
9. Flight From Katmandu
10. Eve Finds Her Father
11. Raid On Chang’s Camp
12. High Road & End Title

Have a nice day!

25 January 2013
by Davide Mana 9 Comments

Deep time and History

OK, so this is my blog, here I talk about my passions.
Now, passions are interesting, because once you start along a certain path, once you develop a deep interest in a certain subject, it starts popping up in the weirdest places.

Like this…

In the august of 2004 I was in Florence for the 32nd International Geological Conference.
I had some research to show, some people to meet, it was my first big night on the town.
Held on the hottest days of the year in the most expensive town in Italy, the conference was an unmissable opportunity for a freelance researcher like me – well worth the expenses, and the less-than-confortable hotel room 50 kms from the seat of the conference.
My mother contributed with money from her pension to my trip and participation.

The 32nd IGC in Florence was seen by many as the first big international outing for Chinese geology – and certainly the Chinese presence was impressive.
Among the many show-pieces of the Chinese area at the conference, was a huge geological map of the Himalayas and Transhimalayas, a big colorful map taking up a whole wall. Continue reading →

23 January 2013
by Davide Mana 9 Comments

Rosita Forbes

We breathed the same air for one month.

If it has to start somewhere, my personal gallery of travellers, explorers, adventurers and assorted daredevils, it has to start with Rosita Forbes.

Joan Rosita “Sita” Forbes neé Torr, was born in England in 1890.
She owed that distinctively un-British name to a Spanish grandmother.
She left home at seventeen and married at twentyone – but the marriage did not last long.
She only kept the Forbes surname.
Now calling herself Rosita Forbes, she drove an ambulance during WWI.

Then, with a friend called Undine, she left London and travelled the world – thirty countries in thirteen months.
She wrote a book about it.
In Paris, she planned to cover the Peace Talks, as a jounalist, but the newspaper for which she worked sent her as a reporter in Casablanca.

Continue reading →