Displaying items by tag: Shanghai
Irish Duo Reach End of Asian Adventure By Kayak
#Kayaking - David Burns and Maghnus Collins yesterday celebrated the end of their 16,000-mile Silk Roads to Shanghai adventure across Asia by foot, bike, raft and kayak.
Ten days ago we reported that the duo were in Wugu on the Yangtze River, just 450km away from completing their epic 292-day journey from Istanbul to Shanghai - and becoming the first people to navigate Asia's longest river from source to sea by kayak.
But as Shanghai Daily reports, the Irishmen have reached their destination in one piece, and received a rapturous welcome from the city's Irish community at the Bund yesterday morning.
Burns and Collins, from Derry and Limerick respectively, negotiated the final leg of their charity challenge in sea kayaks, battling rapids and avoiding dangerous wildlife such as bears and wolves.
And on arrival in Shanghai they paid tribute to the kindness and generosity of the Chinese people they met along the way.
"Chinese people were incredible for the whole journey as they offered help everywhere," said Burns. "The fishermen gave us tea when we were cold and gave us food when we were hungry. We were well looked after."
Shanghai Daily has more on the story HERE.
The 13 Deadliest Shipwrecks in History
#TITANIC - Irreverent tech website Gizmodo has marked the 100th annversary of the sinking of the Titanic with a list of the 13 deadliest shipwrecks in history.
The list runs the gamut from well over a century ago, in the early days of passenger shipping - see the SS Sultana, a tragedy overshadowed by the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and the end of the American Civl War - to more recent events.
Included are such as sad tales as that of the Empress of Ireland, the worst disaster in Canadian maritime history in which more than 1,000 died, and much closer to home the Lusitania, which went down off Kinsale in May 1915 after a torpedo attack.
But the worst was arguably suffered by the passengers of the steamship SS Kiangya - which blew up 50 miles north of Shanghai in December 1948, taking as many as 3,920 lives - and the horror that befell the MV Doña Paz in the Philippines in December 1987, where estimates put the death toll at an unbelievable 4,000.
Gizmodo has more on the story HERE.
