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Keep walking … even on crutches!
We were just twenty-four hours into our first visit to Marrakesh. We had arrived in the city with high expectations. It had been on our wish-list for some years; and as this was the first holiday of any length that we had been able to take together for over a year, we were determined to enjoy it. But on the…
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Friendly Friday: meet a young tightrope walker in Jaisalmer
Perched on the top of Trikuta Hill, Jaisalmer’s honey coloured fort rises above the city like a giant sandcastle. This is the second oldest fort in Rajasthan, one of the largest in the world, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and almost unique in India in being still inhabited.
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Gallery: shoes, slippers, trainers, boots and clogs
Visiting other countries, meeting people from different cultures and beliefs to our own, helps to narrow the gaps between us. We start to appreciate all the things we have in common, and to understand why some may see things differently from ourselves. We learn that having a different belief from our own doesn’t make a person less of a person;…
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Gallery: people at work in Kerala and Rajasthan
If you enjoy candid photography there is no better country to visit, perhaps, than India. I have never been anywhere else where people are so comfortable to be photographed and that is its one downside, as they can be too eager to pose as soon as they see your camera. However, a posed photo can be as effective as a…
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Postcards from a time of war
Browsing a flea market in East Berlin many years ago I came across an old postcard, with a pretty painting of forget-me-nots. Turning it over I found, to my surprise, that the message was in English. It was dated 19.6.17 and was sent from BEF France – the British Expeditionary Forces.
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Friendly Friday: meet Cheikh, a guide in Senegal
Welcome to a new departure for the Friendly Friday Challenge. Every six weeks when it's my turn to host, I will be introducing you to a person or people I have met on my travels. People whom I have been inspired by, fascinated by or perhaps intrigued by. And I will be inviting you to do the same. As much…
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Gallery: street photography in Hoi An, two ways
For most photographers the old town of Hoi An is a riot of colour, as it was for me too. The beautiful lanterns adorning the streets; the rich ochre of its buildings; the traditional costumes worn by many Vietnamese visitors; the boats bobbing on the river … But I also took a lot of street photos there, and traditionally most…
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Shanti Arts: inspired by world travel
As much as the sights we see, it is the people we meet who make travel so rewarding and so memorable. Whether close to home or on the other side of the world, an interesting encounter can really bring a place to life. A few years ago we had just such an encounter in Seaton Sluice, a coastal village north…
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Saying prayers for Korean reunification
One person I did not expect to meet in North Korea was a monk. In this famously atheist country, where tourists are forbidden to disseminate religious texts and the prevailing religion might be said to be belief in the supremacy of the Dear Leaders and the Juche idea, true religious conviction is hard to find. And I am still unsure…
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Lunch with a Bedouin family in Oman
Salma is an Omani Bedouin. She lives part of the time in a tent on the fringes of the vast Wahiba Sands; and part of the time in a modern house in the nearby town of Bidiyyah. She wore the traditional Bedouin face mask, designed to protect from sandstorms and the elements in general, as she and her daughter in…
