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Tag Archives: Mosque
Ashes and blue skies: a Palermo travelogue.
Warm air rushes in to fill the plane. We disembark by row, adhering scrupulously to the new socially-distant orthodoxy, ditching jumpers and jackets as we do: summer might be a distant memory where we left off, washed away in the … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Italy, Sicilia
Tagged Bangla, Borgo Antico, Bread, Cathedral, Church, Duomo, Europe, Granita, Immigration, India, Italia, Italy, Kalsa, Koran, Maqueda, Market, Med, Mediterranean, Mosque, Old town, Palermo, Pane, Panelle, People, People watching, Qoran, Rubbish, Sea, Sicilia, Sicily, Ucciardone
30 Comments
Monochrome Kashgar.
I had plans for more stories from Xinjiang; however, the more I try to put pen to paper the more I realise I don’t want to add words to what I’ve already said. What I do have are some photos. … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, China, Xinjiang
Tagged Army, Arrests, Asia, Border, Border patrol, Brainwashing, CCTV, Central Asia, Chairman, Chen, Chen Quanguo, China, Concentration camps, Foreigners, Id Kah, Irkeshtam, Irkeshtam border, Islam, Islamist, Jiefang, Kashgar, Kashgar old town, Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan - Xinjiang, Land crossing, Mao, Mosque, Mountains, Music, People, Peter Robb, Photography, Police, Qomuz, Re-education camps, Religion, Repression, Soldiers, Street photography, Surveillance, Terrorism, Tourism, Travel, Truck, Turkestan, Turkic, Urban photography, Urumqi, Uyghur, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, Zedong
15 Comments
Nobody speak. A Xinjiang journal.
Why coming here? I loathe the term dark tourism. Yet why am I here? I’m not an activist, a journalist, somebody with a higher sense of purpose. My only answer is because it’s there. Because I want to see it with my own eyes. … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Xinjiang
Tagged Army, Arrests, Asia, Border, Border patrol, Brainwashing, CCTV, Central Asia, Chairman, Chen, Chen Quanguo, China, China Cables, Concentrated Education and Training, Concentration camps, Foreigners, Id Kah, Irkeshtam, Irkeshtam border, Islam, Islamist, Jiefang, Kashgar, Kashgar old town, Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan - Xinjiang, Land crossing, Mao, Mosque, Mountains, Music, People, Peter Robb, Photography, Police, Qomuz, Re-education camps, Religion, Repression, Soldiers, Street photography, Surveillance, Terrorism, Tourism, Travel, Truck, Turkestan, Turkic, Urban photography, Urumqi, Uyghur, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, Zedong
44 Comments
And then I was invited to tea.
Bukhara the holy, Bukhara the saint, Bukhara the erudite, Bukhara the city where light floods from the ground up and not from the heavens down. Or perhaps the Bukhara, in the words of traveller and linguist Ármin Vámbéry, ”whose whole … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, Uzbekistan
Tagged Abdul Aziz Madrassah, As salaam alaikum, Asia, Backgammon, Bokhara, Bukhara, Buxoro, Central Asia, Chai, Children, Chor Minor, Doors, Madrassah, Masjid, Mosaic, Mosque, Mud walls, Old town, People, Po-i-Kalyon, Registan, Samarkand ko'chasi, Stork, Stork next, Street photography, Tea, Topchan, Urban decay, Urban exploration, Urban tourism, Uzbekistan
22 Comments
“I’ve once been to Kyzyl-Orda, but never to New York”.
I recently attended a training course which, as corporate events normally do, started with an ice-breaker. Every attendee had to stand up, one by one, and declare to the roomful of colleagues something quirky, or unusual, about himself. When it … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, Kazakhstan
Tagged Aktobe, Aktyubinsk, Asia, Astana, Burger King, Central Asia, Communism, Ice breaker, Kazakhstan, Kyzyl Orda, Kyzylorda, Mosque, Murale, Russia, Russian, Soviet, Soviet Union, Steppe, Train, Train travel
14 Comments
Under the gurdwara dome: a walk through Southall, London
If you were to be parachuted anywhere in London, outside the ring described by the Circle Line, I’m sure that you’d have a tough time understanding where you have landed. With a few notable exceptions where natural features – rivers, … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, London, UK
Tagged Britain, British Airways, British National Party, Economic growth, Gurdwara, London, Mosque, Race riot, Sikh, Southall, UK, United Kingdom, West London, White flight
2 Comments
Faithful London – The London Central Mosque and Islamic Cultural Centre
This is part 3 of my journey to discover if, and how, Londoners still practice religion. I started off by visiting Chiswick’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral and then visited the Thai Buddhapadipa Temple in Wimbledon. This time my quest brings me … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Faith, London
Tagged Faithful London, Is faith alive in London?, Islam, Islamic Cultural Centre, London, Mosque, Park Road Mosque, Religion
1 Comment
Hagia Sophia – a tour through an icon’s history
The Hagia Sophia museum has an entry price which is nothing short of a rip-off. Outside, you’ll be harassed by street sellers and impostors posing as guides. Inside it’ll be full of noisy and disrespectful people either yapping on their … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, Faith, Istanbul, Overlooked locations, Turkey
Tagged Ayasofya, Byzantium, Chuch, Costantinople, Dome, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, Mosaics, Mosque, Museum, Turkey
2 Comments
