SYRIA | Saturday, 11 Apr 2009 | Views [1091]
Three kilometres from Tartus, the southernmost city of Syria's brief Mediterranean coast, is the island of Arwad. It is small – only 500 metres end to end and even less across – and has been inhabited by Canaanites, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Romans, ... Read more >
SYRIA | Saturday, 4 Apr 2009 | Views [2410]
65 km north-east of Hama, on the road that leads from the
fertile valley of the Orontes river to the stony plains beyond, are the
bee-hive houses of Sarouj and Twalid Dabaghein. Though few now remain these two
villages contain enough of the dwellings, ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Saturday, 28 Mar 2009 | Views [637]
My Arabic is mishkweis [1] ,
but enough words have crept in that aiwa and la have replaced
the regular yes and no of English. So it was automatic, one morning while
drinking tea in the roof garden of the Dahab [2] ... Read more >
EGYPT | Saturday, 21 Mar 2009 | Views [1048]
The Blue Mosque is named for the tiles, imported from
Istanbul during the days of Ottoman rule, that decorate its interior walls.
Every surface is covered with flowers and floral motifs and the simple but
elegant exterior contrasts markedly ... Read more >
EGYPT | Saturday, 14 Mar 2009 | Views [965] | Comments [1]
At the south-eastern edge of the Giza plateau, not exactly
in the shadow of the pyramids but certainly close enough for the sky to be
dominated by their impossibly massive forms, are the remains of the city that
once housed the 60,000 odd workers ... Read more >
EGYPT | Saturday, 7 Mar 2009 | Views [1022] | Comments [1]
Old, or rather historic, or rather Fatimid, or rather
Islamic Cairo has changed its name almost as often as rulers have come and gone
over the centuries. The most recent of the names [old and historic] are
designed to reduce the emphasis on precisely ... Read more >
SINGAPORE | Saturday, 28 Feb 2009 | Views [617] | Comments [1]
Singapore is many things, though few of them as described by
friends before I arrived there last week. Mostly it is lush and green, and the
trees in the carefully tended parks are heavy with staghorns and epiphytes.
Orchids grow in roadside ... Read more >
AUSTRALIA | Monday, 15 Dec 2008 | Views [528]
In March 2009, with the support of the Toyota Community Spirit
Artist Travel Award I will be travelling around the world, visiting cities as
diverse as Singapore, Cairo, Barcelona, New York and Wellington. During this
time I will undertake ... Read more >
PAKISTAN | Tuesday, 19 Feb 2008 | Views [1413] | Comments [3]
Two hours north west of Lahore, and half way to Gujranwala, is the town of Aminabad. Once prosperous, for the last 150 years it has been slipping into quiet obscurity. The decline began in the 19 th century with the realignment of the GT ... Read more >
Tags: culture
PAKISTAN | Sunday, 3 Feb 2008 | Views [1708]
Just outside Lahore on the
road that once connected Delhi to Kabul, and across the floodplain of the now dry Ravi, are the twin tombs of Nur Jahan and her husband,
the Mughal Emperor Jehangir.
The road, though now sheared of its ... Read more >
Tags: culture
PAKISTAN | Monday, 28 Jan 2008 | Views [3355]
Pakistan
is well known internationally for its cricket, turbulent politics, and key role
in the complex geostrategy of region. It also has a vigorous arts sector, and
contributes strongly to the art of South Asia,
of which the recent rise ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
PAKISTAN | Monday, 21 Jan 2008 | Views [996]
On Wednesday we returned to Pakistan after three weeks
travelling through its neighbour, sometime enemy, and rising regional
superpower, India. Crossing the border felt like coming home, and that small
absurd step across an invisible line cleared ... Read more >
Tags: culture
INDIA | Monday, 14 Jan 2008 | Views [1353]
Jodhpur and Jaisalmer were founded to defend the great
desert trading routes east and so surround enormous stone and mortar forts
built atop rocky bluffs in the centre of town. From below the forts are
everywhere visible, and from their ramparts ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
PAKISTAN | Monday, 7 Jan 2008 | Views [965]
Bhutto died on Thursday afternoon. Once confirmed word
spread fast from mouth to mouth to mobile phone. What began as a certain
posture between two men talking in a doorway spread quickly up and down the
street.
With regrettable, ... Read more >
Tags: on the road
PAKISTAN | Saturday, 29 Dec 2007 | Views [1019]
Just before Pakistan proper ends, and the interzone of autonomous tribal regions begin, some 40km from the Afghan border, are a series of markets. As with markets everywhere they sell everything, and the first hundred metres are dominated by ... Read more >
Tags: Markets
PAKISTAN | Wednesday, 19 Dec 2007 | Views [7041] | Comments [2]
Inside Bhatti Gate in the walled city, and just before the
remains of the red light district, is the Fakir Khana
Museum. Housed in a
traditional three story house, and built on the collection of gifts and
tributes paid to an advisor of Maharajah ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
PAKISTAN | Wednesday, 12 Dec 2007 | Views [1558] | Comments [1]
Just past the Mayo Hospital is Landa bazaar. Or more precisely a Landa bazaar, as there is another further east running between Lahore Railway Station and the Delhi Gate of the old town. Both specialise in second hand clothes, much of it imported, ... Read more >
Tags: Shopping
PAKISTAN | Tuesday, 4 Dec 2007 | Views [2098]
Zoos can be unhappy places. Even at home, where money and
rendered concrete conspire to trick the viewer, though rarely the animals, into
believing the cage to be some semblance of native habitat.
This is true in part of Lahore Zoo;... Read more >
Tags: sightseeing
PAKISTAN | Monday, 26 Nov 2007 | Views [1082]
In November the Rafi Peer Theatre Workshop holds its annual performing arts festival, with dancers, musicians, puppeteers, theatre troupes and comedians from Pakistan, the subcontinent and around the world. We went last night to see the Czech group ... Read more >
Tags: Culture
PAKISTAN | Monday, 19 Nov 2007 | Views [876] | Comments [1]
The week has been fairly occupied with preparations for the
show next Monday at Alhamra Art Gallery. It is my first in Pakistan, and first
solo abroad. The etchings are from the last four years and are inspired by
people and places seen on my ... Read more >
Tags: culture
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