As I pay dues to this great organisation each year and never get the opportunity to visit, I thought a I was in London I should take an hour and wander around there for a while breathing in the history and get inspired again. I tested the taxi driver – a little bit of fun – he thought for a while “Kensington Gore?” he offered.
Off we went, past the Icelandic Embassy (we chatted for a while about the historic English football defeat) and a few minutes later he tipped me out on Exhibition Road. The Exhibition entrance was a lot smarter than I remember, a glass reception area is a welcome addition.
There was a display of photographs of Britain from above and another of environmental photography. I had to smile at the photo of a young couple walking in Beijing with their pollution masks on. I took a deep breath and compared the difference between London and China – lovely! 
As I wandered through the halls and corridors small groups of people had broken away from a large meeting in one of the rooms. I headed towards the tearooms but I was told they opened between 12:30 – 1:45pm – I was too late. I heard that I have access to some meeting rooms and the members’ room upstairs so I found the wide stone steps which lead up past posters of famous explorers from history.
I stopped and gazed into the faces of these hero of exploration, these intrepid adventurers who risked everything to reach unexplored deserts, jungles and mountains of the world. Some of them were pictured with snowy beards and others, sitting at their desks having returned safely to Blighty. I recognised only own foreigner – the Norweigian, Nansen.
But what struck me particularly was the lack of anyone who was not white and male. I suppose that is the sign of the times. Hopefully these days there’s a better mix of people. I hope that today there are some Chinese who are doing adventurous things. I kn
ow the young Chinese do not get the encouragement that we had to go off on our pwn and explore,.
The next time I go to the RGS (after another 10 years!) I want to see the Chinese represented in pictures of wild places with snow in their eyes or in a sand storm or being tipped out of boat in a jungle river. Currently they are only seen in Tian’anmen Square protecting themselves from pollution. Maybe I will make it my mission this year to get them going on expedition.
How can a whole nation make their children study all through their summer holidays – it seems cruel and when they back to school in August they are worn out. Let’s all try to change the plight of these poor little workers and give them a more interesting life.