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Walking Jodhpur And Meeting The Lentil Man
Jodhpur plays out its days in a decidedly lower key. Such things are relative of course – you probably wouldn’t describe Jodhpur as “low key” in many countries of the world – but compared to other Indian cities it is precisely that, especially among the narrow twisting streets of its old town. Under the watchful eye of the gigantic Mehrangarh fort looking down from the hills above, Jodhpur is probably the most tourist friendly Indian city we have seen so far. Throughout the old town any number of dark staircases lead up four or five storeys to rooftop restaurants affording fabulous views of the fort which is imposing during daylight…
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Exploring The Algarve In High Season: Olhão, Tavira And Faro
The good news starts as soon as we arrive in Olhão. There, in the uppermost in-tray of the offices of our corporate airbnb host, is the Jiffy envelope I’ve been hoping to see, the one containing my replacement debit and credit cards and driving licence, all present and correct and ready for action. End of saga, at last. Incident forgotten. Having signed off in Carvoeiro with a proper Brits-on-holiday night, dancing to a very decent live band in the main square, we head along the Algarve coast to Olhão, a place recommended to us by, amongst others, Michaela’s Mum. Carvoeiro, holiday hotspot as it is, has been fun and we’ve…
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Samaipata: Finding Our Happy Place
You know how it works. Places are never quite how you picture them to be: some places exceed expectations, some don’t quite get there, some turn out to be completely different from how you imagine, one way or another. It’s quite rare that somewhere is precisely what you were hoping for, and is the perfect setting for the next part of your travel plan. Samaipata is exactly that. We pictured as our last destination on this fabulous journey a quiet, peaceful village surrounded by beautiful scenery, maybe an apartment with fabulous views, where we could relax and enjoy our last few days, maybe meet a few people, become, albeit briefly,…
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From The Sublime To The Surreal: The Enigma Which Is La Paz
We enter the city of La Paz and find ourselves in a place where lurking just beneath the veneer of an ordinary large city there are strange stories, mysterious behaviours and rituals from a different era. This is a city where dozens of witches still practice, where shrivelled animal embryos are on sale, where families buy human skulls and keep them in their home for good luck, where a museum celebrates and documents the history of cocaine, where public transport is a network of cable car lines. After all these years of knowing smugly that La Paz is the highest capital city in the world, it turns out that it’s…
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One Man’s Passion: Rua d’Arte, Praia
Before we move on from Praia, we take another wander through its ripped backsides with an offbeat destination in mind: Rua d’Arte. Local artist Tutu Sousa, who honed his skills at Senegalese artistic workshops, later returned to Cape Verde and converted his childhood home into a studio and gallery. Augmenting his paintings by transforming the exterior of the house into a canvas, Tutu soon began persuading neighbours to allow expansion of the works until eventually the whole neighbourhood has become an open air gallery. Here’s some examples of how it looks today….
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From Boa Vista To Santiago: A Praia Arrangement
There’s an endearing simplicity about the names of places on the Cape Verde islands, a simplicity which somehow reflects the unhurried, uncomplicated way of life here. The island with salt pans is called, simply, Salt; the island with hills is called Good View and a town with a sandy shore is named Beach. Perhaps even more amusing, the two islands with active volcanoes are named Fire and Angry. In the native tongue, these five are, respectively, Sal, Boa Vista, Praia, Fogo and Brava: translated into English they sound hilariously basic. You can’t get much more straightforward than names like those! Thursday morning sees the hazy cloud lift and the humidity…
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Street Art & Tech Art In Singapore
For a fee which is eminently reasonable we are able to delay checkout till 6pm, hugely useful when it’s an overnight flight home. One last ride on the MRT and a couple of stops on the Skytrain and we’re wandering into a crowded Changi Airport, still far too early for our flight but happy to kill time with a beer and a sandwich. Until, that is, the lady at the check-in desk suggests we stay land-side and head to the Jewel. Has anyone seen the Jewel at Changi in the last few years? At night? Just when we think we’ve seen all of the wonders which Singapore has to offer,…
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Kingston: Heroes And Thankfully No Villains
Our walk out from the comfortable surroundings of the Liguanea Club each morning takes us across Emancipation Park with its manicured gardens and one-way jogging circuit where copper coloured doves peck among the benches and resting gentlemen call out a greeting, or a welcome to Jamaica, as we walk by. This park is part of the land which was gifted to the Government by the original and exclusive Liguanea Club as the parishes of Kingston and St Andrew burgeoned in size when merchants and workers alike sought better working and living conditions. Much of the area of what is now known as New Kingston sits on the Liguanea Plain which…
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From Chiapas To The Coast With A Touch Of Tuxtla
Usually the first one we hear is just before 7am, though occasionally we hear an earlier one and sometimes a handful just after midnight. And then at regular intervals throughout the day. We didn’t know what they were at first – somebody shooting rabbits, perhaps, but then, could the louder ones be cannons? They’re sky rockets, of course they are. It turns out that in the provincial towns of Mexico (the pueblas), there is an obsession with buying or making fireworks and then lighting them outside the church. Apparently intended to “amplify” prayers and take them closer to God, these rockets don’t light up the sky or provide colourful shows,…
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Djerba: Rich Jewish History & The Riches Of Street Art
The island of Djerba has a unique and fascinating history of huge significance for those of Jewish faith. Legend has it that when Nebuchadnezzar II destroyed the Temple Of Solomon during the destruction of Jerusalem in 586BC, the fleeing high priests took with them sections of the temple, settled on Djerba and used the remnants to commence construction of a synagogue on the island. Legend or fact? Story or history? DNA testing of the modern day community has revealed a high level of Kohanim lineage – direct descendants of the early high priests, so the story may well be founded on truth. The Jewish community on Djerba has survived and…
