Tag Archives: Asia

A samosa wrapper.

Posted on May 20, 2017 by

There are street food sellers on Nuwara Eliya’s main street. If one is to walk outside the market, where the porticoed sidewalk shrinks to the width of a catflap, he’d see how a food cart has been parked in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Sri Lanka | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 12 Comments

Rummaging through Sir David’s bin: Outtakes from “Planet Earth II”.

Posted on April 29, 2017 by

In the year of our Lord 2016, BBC’s Natural History Unit decided to embark on a mammoth project, filming what would’ve become the four, splendid episodes of “Planet Earth II”. Under the watchful eye of Sir David Attenborough crews were dispatched to … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Sri Lanka | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

After the daytrippers have gone.

Posted on April 19, 2017 by

It never ceases to amaze me how much a place can change depending on the weather. Take, for instance, Nuwara Eliya: I arrive under a glorious sunshine and an air so gleaming with light that you’d be excused for trying … Continue reading →

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Where kites fly above the fort.

Posted on March 24, 2017 by

I often think that I’d have been a Portuguese explorer. This isn’t because of an unquenchable thirst for boot, a penchant for ending up chewed by unfriendly natives, or an interest in being consumed by hideous tropical diseases; rather, it’s … Continue reading →

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Sri Lankan trains.

Posted on March 10, 2017 by

To travel by train is to see nature and human beings, towns and churches and rivers – In fact, to see life  Agatha Christie There’s something special about the very act of boarding a train. For starters, it’s a lot … Continue reading →

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A tent, a poplar tree and the Dubai of the steppe.

Posted on December 17, 2016 by

An ever-helpful airshow runs on a loop on my seat’s in-flight entertainment system as we fly high above the steppe towards Astana. A tiny Air Astana airplane flies above a map of the world painted in greens, blues and tans, … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Kazakhstan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

A snowfall that would’ve made Bruegel proud.

Posted on December 3, 2016 by

It was snowing when I arrived, and it hadn’t finished yet when I left. Everything between the flights from and to Kiev – with their cargo of harmonica-playing, duty-free-vodka-guzzling men – happened under a soft blanket of falling snow. Of … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Kazakhstan | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Weren’t all they supposed to be madmen?

Posted on September 18, 2016 by

Lunatics. Zealots. Religious fanatics. These were a few of the attributes that friends and acquaintances slapped on the people of Iran whenever the topic came up. Unrequested opinions were offered, together with garbled memories of articles penned down by the … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Iran | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

A taste of things to come

Posted on August 30, 2016 by

Ah, teasers, don’t we all love them? Despite Turkish Airlines’ best efforts I’ve arrived home from a visit to the most photogenic place I’ve been to recently – Isfahan in Iran. I’ve filled half of my notepad with scribbles which I’ll … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Iran | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Hanoi: life on the streets.

Posted on February 18, 2016 by

I love writing longreads, but sometimes there are places, situations or moments where that only great writers can render through words, and I’m not of them. One such place is Hanoi’s Old Quarter. I could ramble about it for pages … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Vietnam | Tagged , , , , , , , | 8 Comments