Nice Time Being Had By All

Rating:
Summary: A flippant romp through four continents
Review: Peter Biddlecombe has carved out a niche writing silly, amusing travel essays about his business travels, seasoned with the occasional profound observation of why some countries are hives of prosperity while others are starving. He is not among the politically correct -- brace yourself for snide remarks about local customs. But at his best, he's amusing and informative. At his worst, he's just obnoxious.

This volume has an ex-Soviet theme to it, covering St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad, Yerevan, Tbilisi, and Chisinau. He also visits the three Guyanese capitals (Paramaribo, Cayenne, Georgetown), Luanda (one of his better, serious essays on Africa's challenges), Maputo, Victoria Falls, Gaberone (Botswanna being one of Africa's success stories), Tehran, Damascus, Phnom Penh, Luang Prabang (Laos), Caracas, St. John's (Antigua), and Ponce (Puerto Rico). That last one was the weakest of the batch -- endless puns on the word "Ponce" become tiresome very quickly.