Broen / Bron

The Øresund (Danish) or Öresund (Swedish) Bridge is a four-lane motorway and twin-track railway bridge that links Copenhagen and Malmö. The two-deck bridge at the Swedish end of the crossing is 4.9 miles long, and terminates on the artificial island of Peberholm, from where the 2.5 mile Drogden Tunnel runs to Amager, in Denmark. It is Europe's longest combined road and rail bridge. The tunnel was necessary to prevent interference with the flight path for Copenhagen Airport, and to provide a clear passage for ships and ice floes.

The bridge, the principal engineering design of which was undertaken by Ove Arup, was built by a joint venture between Hochtief (Germany), Skanska (Sweden), Højgaard & Schultz (Denmark), and Monberg & Thorsen (Denmark). Construction commenced in 1995 and was completed in August 1999, three months ahead of schedule, at a cost of c.€4bn. The official dedication took place on 1 July 2000. The bridge weighs in at 81,000 tons. The three cable-stayed sections together total 1,611 feet (a third of a mile) in length, and are slung from concrete towers 669 feet high, providing 187 feet of headroom for shipping. Otherwise the bridge is supported on concrete piers spaced at intervals of 459 feet.

Peberholm - Pepper Islet - so-called to partner the nearby natural Saltholm - is built from Swedish rock and the material dredged during construction of the bridge and, in particular, from the trench in which sits the tunnel. The island is 2.5 miles long and averages a third of a mile wide. On the island the train tracks emerge from the lower deck of the bridge and splay out to parallel the vehicular traffic. The Drogden Tunnel comprises 2.2 miles of immersed tube, in twenty concrete sections of 54,000 tons each, 125 feet wide, the largest in the world, plus approach tunnels of 886 feet each. Five side-by-side tubes accommodate two train lines, two lanes of vehicles in either direction, and services and emergency access.

(Photographs by Abi Smith.)

Penang - Kek Lok Si

Covering about 30 acres, and home to millions of representations of Buddha, Kek Lok Si is the largest Buddhist temple in Malaysia.

Built in the main between 1890 and 1905, the temple is still very much under construction. One of the chief patrons was Cheong Fatt Tze, he of Penang's Blue Mansion.

It is a pilgrimage destination for Buddhists from across South East Asia. Two monumental structures provide the key attractions.

The first is the Pagoda of Ten Thousand Buddhas - known also as the Pagoda of Rama VI, the king of Thailand who laid the foundation stone - completed in 1930. 98 feet tall, this houses 10,000 bronze and alabaster statues of Buddha.

The second is the 99 feet tall bronze statue of Kuan Yin, the Taoist goddess of mercy, the tallest in the world, still undergoing the decorative process.

Nearby is a 200 foot long pavilion of three tiers, completed in 2009. Both the latter can be reached by way of a funicular railway from lower tiers of the temple complex.

The temple's eclectic mix of Mahayana (complete enlightenment) Buddhism, Theravada (conservative) Buddhism, and traditional Chinese Taoism - Kek Lok Si Temple translates as Heavenly Temple, which covers all the ground - explains its widespread appeal.

The next planned development is a temple for the reception of Buddha relics. The fund-raising stalls of tat rather belie the Buddhist principle of not holding.

Penang - Curtis Crest Treetop Walk

The Habitat is an area of conserved regrowth rainforest, cut down by the British to enable the building of bungalows in the cooler air atop Penang Hill. Its structural highlight is the Curtis Crest Treetop Walk, which opened to the public on 1 May 2017.

This 360-degree viewing platform, about 330 feet round, stands about 40 feet above the ground from which it springs. At 2,690 feet above sea level, it is the highest point in Penang, and provides a stunning view of both George Town and virgin rainforest.

The structure, which is cantilevered from a series of canted uprights that were designed to resemble chopsticks standing within a bowl, is named after the first superintendent of the Penang Botanical Gardens, Charles Curtis. Perunding YAA, of Penang, provided the structural engineering expertise.

Penang - Goddess of Mercy Temple

Founded in 1728, the Goddess of Mercy Temple, in George Town, Penang, is the island's oldest. It is dedicated to Kuan Yin, the Taoist goddess of mercy, but started life dedicated to Ma Zu, the Hokkien deity of the sea, patron of seafarers.

Its conversion took place in 1824, when the temple was renovated, reflecting the more diverse origins of the Chinese community in the city by that juncture. The temple acted as mediator in disputes between the Hokkien and the Cantonese, run as it was by a balanced committee of the two ethnic groups.

These secular purposes transferred to the Penang Chinese Town Hall subsequent to the Penang Riots of 1867. Remarkably, the temple survived unscathed the aerial bombing that presaged the arrival of the Japanese in December 1941.

The building features extensive porcelain decorations, created in the chien nien style, which involves clipping into the requisite shapes many thousands of pieces from broken-up Chinese bowls of various colours.

Singapore - National Orchid Garden

The National Orchid Garden is located within the Singapore Botanic Gardens. The latter dates to 1859 at its present site, was founded by an agri-horticultural society, and played a pivotal role in the development of Malaysia's agricultural economy.

The former lies within the latter, but dates back to just October 1995. The orchid collection covers more than seven acres, spread across the highest hill in the gardens. The Garden is home to about 60,000 orchids - the largest collection in the world.

The collection comprises about 1,200 separate species, plus about 2,000 hybrids. The Garden is at the leading edge of orchid studies and is a pioneer in the cultivation of hybrids, Singapore being a major exporter of cut orchids.

The Garden is home to a very large display of Papilionanthe 'Miss Joaquim', the hybrid climbing orchid that in 1981 was adopted as the country's national flower. Singapore honours visiting heads of state and celebrities by naming hybrids for them, and the Garden includes a fine display of these.

Zwolle - Foundation Museum

The building that now houses the fine art collection of the Museum de Fundatie - the Museum Foundation - has had a number of lives. It started as a courthouse, built between 1838 and 1841 by Eduard Louis de Coninck, of The Hague.

The neoclassical building was renovated in 1977 to provide offices for the Netherlands' National Planning Department. The architect who oversaw this work, Arne Mastenbroek, returned in 1994 to convert the building into a museum. Architect Gunnar Daan had his turn in 2004/05, when the museum was adapted for the display of fine art.

The rugby ball-shaped roof extension was added in 2012/13 under the auspices of the architectural practice Bierman Henket. The two storey ovoid is covered with 55,000 blue and white three-dimensional tiles that mirror the sky above.

MAMCO, Geneva

The Musée d'art moderne et contemporain, MAMCO, is to be found in the Bains district of Geneva, Switzerland.

In the main the exhibits pale into insignificance against the beauty of the building, which started life as a fabric factory.

The museum opened in 1984. One of the first exhibits was a set of four works in neon tubing, reading ART, TEXT, LIGHT and SIGN (below).

Kuwait - The Souqs

There are numerous souqs in the capital of Kuwait. All are proper markets, geared to the demands of the locals. Istanbul Grand Bazaar-like tourist tat and pushy sales pitches are entirely absent.

Most items have marked prices, although haggling is still de rigueur. Amongst the best souqs are those in Kuwait City, the downtown part of the capital.

The souqs sell the fruit, vegetables and spices, in great profusion, that one might expect. Fish and meat have their own areas within the larger markets. Clothing comes in the form of inexpensive hijabs and niqabs for the ladies, dishdashas for the gents, right through to cheap imitations of Western dress.

There are alleys of the souqs devoted to particular products, such as perfumes, both raw and blended. And always an alley of tea-pots and other kitchenwares. Addictive.

Isle of Man - Douglas Head

Overlooking the town of Douglas is the Great Union Camera Obscura. Built as a tourist attraction in 1892, this is the only camera obscura in the world with eleven apertures. A metal tube is rotated between each of these, and the captured light mirrored down and through a series of lenses onto a circular and concave white tabletop, to produce a properly-oriented changing view of the immediate locale.

Clearly visible is the Douglas Head Lighthouse, built in 1857 by David and Thomas Stevenson, and rebuilt in 1892. The tower is 66 feet tall, and provides a light at an elevation of 105 feet. The light, one of five on the island, was automated in 1986.

Isle of Man - Snaefell Mountain Railway

The Snaefell Mountain Railway climbs from Laxey to the Isle of Man's highest point (2,034 feet) over a distance of five miles. The electrified railway, built in a single season in 1895, is of 3 ft 6 in gauge, and employs bow collectors to pick up 550 volts DC from catenary wires, the most exposed of which are removed in winter to prevent damage through icing.

There are six wood-bodied railcars, all built by George F. Milnes & Co. in 1895 (although No. 5 was rebuilt in 1971). These can also be used on the Manx Electric Railway (the "low road"), which runs between Douglas and Ramsey, on track of 3 ft gauge, crossing that of the Mountain Railway at Laxey, by virtue of a change of bogies.

Isle of Man - Laxey Wheel

Known also as the Lady Isabella (after the wife of the island's then governor), the Laxey Wheel is the largest operational waterwheel in the world. It was designed by Robert Casement and built in 1854 to pump water from part of the Great Laxey Mine.

The overshot wheel, six feet broad, and a stunning 72 feet and six inches in diameter, is still, as designed, driven by water syphoned to the top of the structure in concealed pipework. The wheel turns, in 'reverse', at about three rpm, and drives a crank with a throw of four feet. This is connected to a counterweight and a wooden rod, 600 feet long, which runs on iron wheels seated upon short lengths of flat ironwork affixed to the top of a stone 'viaduct'.

The wheeled rod moves back and forth about eight feet, its movement transferred, via T-rockers, to vertical pump rods that descend 1,500 down the mine shaft. Although the wheel no longer pumps water, it originally moved 250 gallons per minute, and was capable of managing significantly greater volumes. Great Laxey Mine closed in 1929.

Isle of Man - Peel Harbour

Peel is the third largest town on the Isle of Man, but known as the isle's sole 'city' - as only Peel has a cathedral. The town is the island's main fishing port, and shellfish processing and kipper curing continue as viable trades.

Accordingly, Peel has a substantial harbour. The inner harbour, pictured, is tidal, but a gate was added in 2005 as part of the development of Peel Marina. There are five marine lights around the town, that on Peel Castle Jetty marking the west side of the entrance to the inner harbour.

Bishkek - Brutal & Beautiful

The capital of the Kyrgyz Republic, Bishkek, is a city of concrete on an Altaic plain - altitude 2,600 feet - just north of the Ala-Too portion of the Tian Shah mountain range, which boasts peaks over 15,900 feet. A dramatic setting for a time capsule of concrete Soviet Brutalist architecture.

The Kyrgyz Republic gained its political independence from the USSR in 1991. The White House, of seven storeys and faced with marble, was built just six years previously. Originally the headquarters of the Communist Party's Central Committee for the sometime Kirghiz 'Republic', it is now the presidential offices.



On Ala-Too (once Lenin) Square is the Historical (once Lenin) Museum, of 1984. The square is enormous, designed to both impress and intimidate, but the surface is subject to subsidence due to poor substrate. Out the back of the museum is the giant statue of Lenin that previously stood out front, but now points into history.

































Appended to the headquarters of Kyrgyz Telecom, also the post office, is a tower that houses a clock presented by Armenia in 1984. This broke down in 2000 and was silent until 2013. It sounds exactly like the Great Clock of the Palace of Westminster.

On Togolok Moldo Street is the National Centre of Cardiology and Internal Medicine, the centrepiece of the republic's efforts to rebuild its healthcare system, which has suffered due to sharp cuts in expenditure since 1991. The UK's hospitals often look brutal unintentionally. This is the real deal.

Hand-in-hand with health often goes sport. The nearby Sports Palace (above) was built in 1974 as part of the modernisation of the city, and is Bishkek's largest indoor venue, with seating for 2,500. The statue is of Kojomkol, born 1889, seven feet five inches tall, and famous for his feats of strength.

Bishkek is a bustling place, without being manic, and there are plenty of signs of a café life for the well-heeled. Yet the residential areas are largely of Soviet bloc blocks, architecturally interesting, even beautiful, but not necessarily much fun in which to live. The Ala-Too Cinema, likely of the late 1960s, adds some colour.