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A Return to Mt Abu

September 15, 2019

Nigel's article on his journey back to Mt Abu, written for Travelers Roundtable website. “When I was twenty, I dropped out of college and travelled alone, overland to India. I didn’t tell my parents where I was until, some months after my disappearance, I sent them – from Mount Abu – one of those thin,…

My Kind of Town Chicago is

July 16, 2019

Yes, it's my kind of town. Nigel Planer appeared in the original London production of Chicago... now he declares it's America's greatest city. Sherry, a charming woman in her 70s, tells me: ‘There are 3,200 pieces of glass in that dome. It’s the largest glass dome in the world — of its type.’ ‘What type…

Kindness Defeats The Killing Fields

July 2, 2018

  Kindness defeats the Killing Fields: Falling in love with Cambodia and its determination to escape the horrors of the past By Nigel Planer For The Mail On Sunday 21:01 30 Jun 2018, updated 21:01 30 Jun 2018 I’m in a village square in the middle of Cambodia; a teenager is showing off his football…

Adios, Old Cuba

March 22, 2016
Nigel in Cuba

Cuba: it’s still all there – the classic cars, the political posters, the music, the crumbling colonial buildings, the absence of advertising – but it won’t be for long. I would advise booking that trip now, rather than leaving it another year or two. Last month President Obama visited the island following his December 17…

Valentine’s Day in Rajasthan

December 14, 2015
Rajasthan

It is Valentine’s day, and for the first time ever, an enormous multi-faith, multiple wedding has been arranged in Mt Abu, Rajasthan. It takes place in a big bowl of dust which is still called ‘The Polo Ground’, but which probably hasn’t seen any polo played since the days of the Raj, when this pretty…

Ganesh, the God of Travel

December 13, 2015

When I was twenty I dropped out of college and travelled alone, overland to India. I didn’t tell my parents where I was until, some months after my disappearance, I sent them - from Mt Abu in Rajasthan - one of those thin blue airmail paper letters. It was 1973 and back then it was…