Waterfalls, wonderful waterfalls all over the world: America, Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, Malaysia

The Americas
This week Google has been sending me wonderful waterfall pictures of Iguazu Falls in South America. When I think of big waterfalls, I think of the big three, Niagara, which I have seen from both the Candaian and american sides, the Victoria Falls in Africa (now renamed something I cannot remember) and the South American waterfalls. Each continent has something special to see.

Niagara - Canada
Canada has the all jumping exciting side of the falls with all the museums. Marilyn Monroe made a film here. I have been several times. I never managed to time it right to see the Houdini museum.

Niagara - USA
If you cannot leave the USA, you can see the Falls from the American side.

The three things I remember are:
1 The noise
2 The wet spray - on some excursions you will be asked to wear waterrproof covering, or might be given it.
3 The prices.

The boat journeys come and go. They are allowed. They are banned. They are allowed again.
If you are the nervous type and prefer to stay at a distance, instead of spending your money on the attractions, you might prefer to indulge in a hotel room overlooking the falls.

What would you do if stuck indoors? Watch marilyn Monroe in the film Niagara.

As with all these attractions, in a tur group, I miss a lot of the commentary because of the noise or I am delaying to take a photo. Since you might miss half the commentary, it helps to resarch the place in advance, even print off your own guide from Wikipedia or Wikivoyage or the local tourist board.

If you have the chance, go from the USA to South America to see the Iguazu Falls.

Iguazu Falls - Brazil/Argentina

England
For me, South America is still just a dream. I remember reading about a boy who set out to visit all the major waterfalls. The minor waterfalls are numerous. We have been on hikes along paths to waterfalls in England's lovely Lake Distict, which is a pupular honeymoon destination.

I once rang up the local tourist board and asked, "Can you find me a hotel with a four-poster bed?"

She said, "You'll have to be more specific. Almost every hotel in the Lake District has a four-poster bed. Some of the hotels have three or four."

The Lake District is on the green and rainy west side of England like the Scottish lakes around Glasgow. You will find the same in many countries and islands. the wet part is green, with waterfalls, in rainy season.

Rain brings gushing rivers, waterfalls, great photos, also muddy paths. We turned back on our way to the waterfall.

Then we avoided the rain by going back in high summer. However, we found the drought had dried up the waterfall!

Australia
The seasons are opposite down in Australia. On the Great Ocean Road, we unexpectedly found a path leading to a waterfall. We took a detour, after some debate. Why? I said, "What's the problem? Because it's only half an hour."

My husband replied, "Yes. Half an hour there, would be an hour, return, plus time spent at the fall."

The signpost writer's idea of a half hour walk extended to an hour, as I hobbled along in unsutibale shoes, watched my step and took photos.

We were just about to turn back. I stopped. My husband carried on to the next corner. He came running back.

"We must be near - I can hear it!"

Yes, we heard it. And for the next half hour we continued to hear it. We finally made it.

We did not reach our hotel by lunch time but by dinner time!

We felt like explorer Livingstone - even on a marked path with wooden steps and railings.

What about rhe real Livingstone country?

Africa
The statue of Livinstone looking at the Victoria Falls.

David Lingstone Statue.

I hope the statue stays and does not disappear in a wave of political correctness.

Contrast the falls in raining season and the falls in dry season.



Asia - Malaysia
I live part of the year in Singapore. From Singapore many honeymoon couples go to the Kota Tinggi waterfall in Johor, Malaysia, just across the causeway, for romantic photos, often taken there by photographers.

Kota Tinggi Waterfalls, Johor, Malaysia (side trip from Singapore)

Asia - Singapore's Artificial Falls
Jewel Mall - free
Singapore itself has two magnificent artificial indoor waterfalls. The one in the centre of Jewel Shopping Mall (the old airport car park, domed and converted into a mall, with the central waterfall designed by renowned architect Moshe Safdie).





I went to the pre-opening, and several times after it opened.  It is great when you arrive at mid-level, great from higher floors, different again from the basement when it thunders behind a transparent barrier.

But Covid-19 measures are in place, so check opening times before setting off. It could be closed evenings, opening late, timed free entry, or not open at all.

The other huge waterfall and huge tourist attraction is in the Gardens by the Bay. One of the two main attractions. One is the Flower Garden (a series of gardens).

The second is Cloud Mountain.
This contains the large waterfall. Walkways zig zag up several floors. You can take the lift to the top and walk down.


Get tickets for both attractions at a reduced price if possible and allow several hours.

If you want something free, the free Botanic Gardens has a tiny waterfall which you can walk behind, refreshing on a hot day. You do get wet. You have to shield your camera or mobile phone with an umbrella. I started by taking photos from the outside. Then I ventured into the short tunnel walk behind the fall, which has an  window behind the noisy spray.

Water, water, everywhere. Wonderful waterfalls.

Useful Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niagara_(film)
Niagara Falls movie locations:
http://www.themoviedistrict.com/niagara-1953/2/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Falls

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iguazu_Falls

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kota_Tinggi_Waterfalls

https://www.lakescottageholiday.co.uk/blog/lake-district-waterfalls/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_waterfalls_of_Australia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_waterfalls_of_New_Zealand

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_waterfalls_of_England

About the Author
Travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.

About Angela Lansbury

I’m Angela Lansbury.

I’m not related to the actress but she does wonderful publicity for our name. I would love to meet her and the other thirteen people who are lucky to share the name.

I live in London and Singapore. I like to think that I am ‘a citizen of the world’.

Skills

DRIVING & NAVIGATING

I travel the world, hiking from a luxury hotel, sitting on a plane or train. I’ve been white water rafting in the USA and New Zealand. I drive a car occasionally, but much prefer to be a passenger. I navigate using maps, satnav, and dresses in shop windows.

Best of all is being collected by a car owned by the hotel. A proper, luxury hotel, where somebody carries your luggage.

TAKING GREAT PHOTOGRAPHS

I take travel photos with a smart phone. You don’t need a luxury camera. It’s lovely to have a camera which takes both videos and still pictures, as my husband does when climbing mountains such as Kilimanjaro. But I can take photos with any camera.

I once went on a ferry trip to France, partly sponsored by Polaroid. I won a camera in the competition with one of my twelve last-minute photos taken the port, of a statue against the sunset. The statue was just a silhouette.

The candidates from the photography magazines looked at it suspiciously. One of them conceded, ‘Contre jour’.

I was a bit worried because I didn’t know the term. I knew contra was against and jour was day - had I done something against the rules of the day?  

No. One of them kindly explained,  “Contre-jour meant taken against the (day)light.”  

EDITING PHOTOS

People who protest, “Don’t photograph me - I don’t photograph well,“ allow me to take a few photos, then later say, “Wow - you  make me look good!”

I photograph them holding something suited to their hobbies or the location, such as reading a newspaper and peering around it, or hugging a distracting dog and wearing sunglasses. The girl wearing sunglasses as well as the dog.

Making Friends

One of my friends told me: "I don't stay in luxury hotels; I doesn’t stay in hotels of any size. I prefer to stay with friends." 

If you can spend less on accommodation, you can spend more on other luxuries.

How Do You Make Friends In New Places?

When I was a teenager I watched a boy circle a room circling clockwise around a room, chatting up all the girls, complete strangers, who transformed, smiling animatedly and gave him their phone numbers, whilst other boys had no success and didn’t fancy anybody. One of the other boys muttered, “How does he do it? What is he saying to them?”

Only one person knew.  I proceeded anti-clockwise around the room until I could confront Casanova. I  asked him, “What’s the secret of your success in conversation with girls?”

He replied, “Everybody has something good. If a girl is hideously ugly, she may be carrying a nice handbag. So I compliment her on her taste in handbags.”

Photographic Experience

When I am photographing, I remember what he said. If my subject has pretty, patterned shoes, but a plain face, I focus on the feet. Their face can be half hidden by a stunning sunhat,  an amusing umbrella, or glass of pink champagne. If you don’t have a handy hat or umbrella, walk  into a department store and try on a hat just long enough to get three shots.

If you don’t have a glass of champagne and can’t afford one, what then? I go into a grand bar and ask for an empty glass or add water, or buy tomato juice.

EDITING SKILL

I edit out their wrinkles, make the pretty girls sharp, and the ugly ones gently out of focus.

FRENCH CONVERSATION

I speak French fluently. (“Oui!) My aim is to learn one language each year, and five minutes a day, learning two more. By the year 2027, I should be fluent in ten languages. 

Ten years after that I shall probably be fluent in twenty, or I shall be dead, of exhaustion. 

I am learning conversational Chinese, German, Greek, Hebrew, Japanese, Malaysian, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian. Spanish, Welsh. I am learning with the aid of Duolingo, Earworms and taxi drivers.

I am a great listener.  

When I was a postgraduate I made friends with a girl who said, “It’s my policy to be friends with everybody.” Good policy.

COLOURFUL, MEMORABLE CHARACTER

I make friends everywhere I go. I don’t generally read novels during my travels. I watch the scenery for interesting photo shots and smiling faces. But I read business cards which people give me with the excitement of an avid reader discovering the denouement to a thriller.

A woman in a jewellery shop in New Zealand remembered me when I returned five years later. I asked, “Do you remember everybody?”

“No,” she replied, “But I remember you!”

Experience

At Grammar school and Sunday school, I studied English grammar, and other subjects useful for a travel writer: French, History, Latin, Hebrew, Religious knowledge,  art appreciation, country dancing, and singing folk songs out of tune.  I picked up enough maths to enable me to count my change, whatever the currency, and to check it twice.

UNIVERSITY

I studied at University College, London. I wish I had studied Swedish.

Postgraduate Training

As a postgraduate, I studied shorthand, typing, and business at a Secretarial College. I learned Pitman’s shorthand, all dots and dashes,  which I promptly forgot.

Travel Recording

Later, I learned Speedwriting which is abbreviated like TextSpeak. It comes in handy when I am taking notes from a recording on an open-top bus on a city tour. Tape recordings don’t work because of the background noise of the engine him and the passing traffic and people behind you talking loudly in other languages over the English.

When I became a journalists and went to work for IPC, it was obligatory to join the National Union of Journalists. I was thrilled. I was sent on a journalism course at London College of Printing where I studied law for journalists. I was a sub-editor on Woman and Woman’s Realm.

Writing For a German Audience

I wrote for encyclopaedias and partworks, notably on a science partwork to be translated from English to German.  I remember researching  bridges of the world. Everything had to be written for a German audience. It was an exercise in diplomacy, long before political correctness. Amazing how copy about the Allies sounds different when the subject of a sentence changes and you are self-censoring.

Freelance Travel Writer

I became a freelance and wrote travel articles for:

• Brides.
• Parents
• Good Motoring.
• Northern Echo.
• And many more.

The walls of my house are full of framed copies of articles I have written. Articles used to get stuck together in filing systems. It’s quicker to find an article by racing up and down the corridor. I call it wallpaper filing.

Books On Travel

I have written twenty books. The earliest was Enquire Within Upon Travel and Holidays.

Researching Jewish Interest

My most recent is a Jewish Travel Guide. It was the result of my being asked to speak about travel on a Jewish travel programme on the radio in London. I thought that there would not be much to say. How many Jewish places are there?

Anne Frank’s House in Amsterdam, The Netherlands,

The Jewish museum in London, and

The Jewish museum in Manchester, and

Schindler’s Factory Museum in Poland near

Auschwitz, and

Jerusalem in Israel, and the

Jewish Museum in Washington DC, and

Singer Island in Florida named after the man who aimed to sell every house a sewing machine.

I found a story in every country and every state which had somebody Jewish connected with it. For example, I went to Niagara Falls. What could I say of Jewish interest? Marilyn Monroe made a film at Niagara Falls. She married Arthur Miller, who was Jewish, and she converted to Judaism.

Niagara also had a museum to Houdini. He  was Jewish.

I remember standing on the USA stand at the world Travel Market and talking to a tourist board rep about Elvis. I eventually admitted, “I’m looking for a story of Jewish interest for a radio programme. I don’t supposed you have a Jewish story connected with Elvis, do you?”

The man grinned, “I sure do. Elvis turned on the cooker on Saturday for a Jewish neighbour. He was a - what do you call it?”

“ A shabbos goy - a non-Jew who helps out on Shabbos, the sabbath.”

To capture and record all the stories because I could not read my handwriting nor co-ordinate my filing, I ended up publishing a book about Jews in every country. To make life easy for me and the reader, I listed the countries alphabetically. Then, of course, I had to search for something to suit every letter of the alphabet.

You might think at first, as I did, that there can’t be that many stories. Yes there can.

But surely there’s nothing to interest people who are not Jewish?

Yes, there is! I was surprised in the Cat Museum in Kuching, Malaysia, the name Kuching means cat. Who do I see in a photo with her cat.  Anne Frank!

Resident of Spain and Singapore

When my family lived in Spain, we travelled all the way down through France and Portugal into Spain, literally with the kitchen sink, bought from Wickes in North Harrow, all the way across Spain to Marbella in the far South.

I lived with the family in the USA and Spain. I taught English in four schools in Singapore.

Having a base in England, still part of Europe, makes it easy to do short trips using RyanAir. The highlight of this year was Romania and Dracula.

What can you do for cheap flights from Singapore? Airmiles. This year’s highlight was Cambodia. A favourite saying you hear often in Singapore is, “I can get it for you cheaper.”

Awards

My best prizes was a trip I won as a postgraduate student to Japan, via Russia, staying with Japanese families and at Japanese youth hostels, such as one at Hiroshima. Afterwards, I stayed on for a night in a luxury hotel in Tokyo before catching the shop and plane home. Dinner was bought by my American boyfriend who was there just for the evening before he flew on. I had travelled on an overnight couchette train to meet up with him.

Later, one of my books was a best seller. Because of my books, I have spoken on the radio all over the world. In addition to winning awards, I have presented awards.

I presented the awards at a Murder Weekend in Wales.

I presented awards at a competition for matchmaking romantic singles in Singapore.

I hope you will quote me. I love quoting famous people. Disraeli said, When I want to read a book, I write one.

I have written or perhaps I should say, edited, two books of quotations>

Quick Quotations

Who Said What When

Evil Knievel, Evel Knievel, Motorbike Museums and Stunts

Problem
Daredevil and stunt rider Evil Knievel attempted to ride over a bus and a canyon. Where can I see Evil Knievel, motorcycles and stunts? Actually his name sounds like evil Knievel, but it's really Evel Knievel. However, I reckon Evil Knievel is amusing and apr. I laughed out loud when I read about his earliest attempts at stunts:

Wikipedia reports on his early career: "Knievel was fired when he made the earth mover do a motorcycle-type wheelie and drove it into Butte's main power line.^[8] The incident left the city without electricity for several hours."

Answers
1 You can see online or visit in person the Evel Knievel Museum in Topeka, Kansas.

2 Evel Knievel has been featured in exhibitions at the Harley Davidson Museum.
The Harley-Davidson Museum is a North American museum near downtown, Milwaukee, Wisconsin celebrating the more than 100-year history of Harley-Davidson motorcycles.^[2] 

3 Evel Knievel has featured in The AMA Motorcycle Hall of Fame Museum which is an offshoot of the American Motorcyclist Association, recognizing individuals who have contributed to motorcycle sport, motorcycle construction, or motorcycling in general. It also displays motorcycles, riding gear, and memorabilia.

The museum is located in Pickerington, Ohio, United States.

Stunts as parts of films, or as standalone entertainments include:

Tightrope walking including over Niagara Falls. (See museums at Niagara Falls.)

In Niagara Falls, Canada, also see the Houdini museum. His stunts included getting out of trapped places and handcuffs under water. 

See Aircraft stunts in films (movies) on YouTube, and stunt planes displayed at aircraft museums.

See horseback riding stunts.

Modern stunts include leaping from buildings.

Tips

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evel_Knievel
You can see his grave on find a grave.

For motorcycle stunts in the UK see
http://www.motostuntsinternational.co.uk

See my previous detailed post on Evil Knievel, Topeka and Kanvas.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer, author, speaker. Please share links to my posts.

Houses of the Famous Museum Visit Wishlist - Elvis, Freud, Levi, Trotsky, Twain and more

I'm researching a book of quotations and keep coming across new museums in the birthplace of somebody famous - or where they lived and died. You can visit Trotsky's house, where he was murdered, in Mexico. You can see exiled author Stefan Zvieg, home, where he supposedly committed suicide with his wife - although conspiracy theorists think he was murdered in the Rio area, Brazil.
   Sometimes you visit a country or place and the most interesting or mysterious part, such as the controversy about how the person died, is not mentioned at all. Instead you are shown only the verifiable facts, such as this was his pen or Freud's spectacles. I imagine guides are wary of giving misleading information or being negative when people are trying to have a happy holiday.
  I went to Molly Brown's house in the USA and heard not a word about the Titanic. Then when I visited Jim Thompson's house in Bangkok, twice, I had to buy a book in the bookshop to find out the theories as to where or why he disappeared on his last walk through the jungle.

Today I've added more places to visit to my wish list.
Here are the ones I have done and my most significant memories:

My Been There Top Ten:
1 Anne Frank House,
2 Bronte Museum,
3 Disraeli,
4 Dickens, London
5 Rothschild,
6 Freud, London
7 Jefferson, USA
8 Webster, USA
9 Poe, USA
10 Scott, Scotland.

My Wishlist Top Ten:
1 Elvis Presley's Graceland,
2 Mob Museum Las Vegas,
3 Jane Austen, UK
4 Mark Twain, USA
5 Jim Reeves, TN< USA
6 Robbie Burns, Scotland
7 Abraham Lincoln (I've done the theatre in DC, a battlefield with explanation of how he wrote his Gettysburg address speech, but not the birthplace area),
8 Trotsky, Mexico
9 Chagall, France (or Eastern Europe)
10 Robben Island

BEEN THERE _ DONE THAT
USA - BEEN THERE
Elvis Presley museums/souvenirs -
when living in the USA I seemed to find an Elvis souvenir such as a car in every city.( But I still haven't done the big Elvis centre Graceland.)
President Jefferson home, Washington DC.
Fallingwater designed by architect by Frank Lloyd Wright
Edgar Allan Poe House Museum, Baltimore.
Home of Jack London, California.
Home of Molly Brown.
Home of Pearl Buck.
Home of Clara Barton.
Buffalo Bill Cody Artwork museum.
Hearst Castle, California.
Noah Webster. The man who wrote the dictionary, revised spelling, and made a grammar book.
Noah Webster House 227 Main St W Hartford CT 06107
noahwebsterhouse.org
(NB on the web your search for Webster will probably bring up a different Webster, Daniel,danielwebsterestate.org and Tripadvisor you'll see Daniel Webster House.)
Winchester Mystery House
Deadwood, reproduction of poker table with Wild Bill Hicock's dead man's hand

CHINA
Sassoon hotel in Shanghai - not much to see. Great place, with small plaque in hall, but having been there made me read about Sassoons.

UK
London - Dickens house.
Keats House.
Freud's house - highly recommended.
Bronte's house in Haworthy, Yorkshire - highly recommended. Loads of info and shop.
Rothschild home Waddesdon. National Trust.
Disraeli's house.
Portsmouth - another Dickens' house.

SCOTLAND
Home of Walter Scott;
David Livingston.

WALES
Dylan Thomas (3 locations).

EUROPE
Anne Frank House, Amsterdam, Netherlands. Highly Recommended.
Hans Andersen Museum, Denmark.
Puccini's house, Italy.
Bialik's house, Israel.

ASIA
House of American, Jim Thompson, who started Thai silk industry, Bangkok, Thailand.
Gandhi's House, Delhi, India.
Sun Yat-Sen's home, Shanghai, China.

AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND
Katherine Mansfield Birthplace museum, Wellington, New Zealand Katherinemansfield.com

SOUTH AFRICA
A former home of Nelson Mandela was included in a tour I took around Soweto. You can also visit Robben Island.

*****
TODO - WISHLIST
England
London: William Morris house. Hogarth house.
Jane Austen.

Scotland
Robbie Burns House.

USA and North America
Mark Twain House and Museum, Hartford, Connecticut. marktwainhouse.com
Niagara - Houdini Museum
Graceland - Elvis
Hemingway
Cemetery with Al Jolson statue.
Replica of White House President's room in Boston.
Homes of Country Music stars: Jim Reeves near Nashville, TN.
Abraham Lincoln museum.
Several halls of fame - though most are online and some are only online with no premises.
Whitehouse tour, Washington DC.
Las Vegas Mob Museum.

MEXICO
Trotsky museum.

S AMERICA
Stefan Zvieg museum near Rio, Brazil.

PACIFIC
Robert Louis Stevenson home and hilltop grave in Pacific.

EUROPE
Birthplace home of Levi-Strauss in Buttenheim, Germany.
Brothers Grimm fairytale trail.
Chagall Museum - Eastern Europe.
Chagall Museum, France.

I'll add some more details and books later this week so keep checking this post daily.