Taj Mahal: For the favourite wife – it must be love Taj Mahal, the sublime shrine to eternal love – meh, here’s the big misconception. I can tell you what really happens inside the Taj Mahal. Love, shmove, this is brutal. Approach the stunning Taj Mahal, and the route to this monument of love becomes, well, a bit less lovey. Built in 1648...
Mumbai: The haves and the have-nots Dharavi Mumbai slum? When leaving Mumbai, I took a video during take-off, and the astounding sight emerged of a vast ‘slum’. Families living alongside the major international airport in the prosperous part of the city came into view as we taxied down the runway. The sight appeared shocking to my unaccustomed, westernised eye. I had...
Namibia: is there anybody out there? Namibia is roughly the size of the United Kingdom and has a population of under 2.5 million. While navigating from the North to the South, you can drive for hours seeing no one other than the odd passing tourist. That is striking enough. More surprising I found, was that the further south we travelled, it became more, well –...
City of Ghosts Vietnam- Not on the usual tourist trail City of Ghosts – not what you expect to see on your tourist itinerary for the day. As indeed, it probably isn’t. Most tourists bus off to see the historical highlights of Hue, the former imperial capital city of Vietnam. Meanwhile, I had spied a colourful looking place on the internet while googling ‘what...
Leg it: What happens when you fall down a sinkhole Down, down the rabbit hole, Alice went No, I am not talking about drugs, I just like Alice in Wonderland. So anyway, I have waited a few days to get my head around this story. But yes, it is true. I did disappear down a sinkhole. At least my entire left leg did. Now, I don’t know how this happened. No, I...
Mbunza visit: otherwise entitled the dug-out canoe fiasco So, we just got out of this dug-out canoe, from a crocodile and hippo-infested lake, with a Mbunza tribesman. I say got out. That’s a simplification of the situation. First, I was pushed by Iain from behind, then pulled by the tribesman from the front, before finally kind of, falling out. Tumbling if you like...
One Life: No pan stand required The day approached to pack up to leave on our world adventure. My mind wandered, as it often does, to the life I was leaving behind and the experience that awaited ahead. I realised it was, of course, the same life. The only change was how I was choosing to live it. I looked at my neat row of pans, hanging orderly, purposely placed...
“Remember in your first letter to me from Death Row, you told me you were going on hunger strike” “Yes, and you told me I had to live to fight to be free” “And here we are nearly 30 years on sharing a bowl of chips!” I started writing to Dan nearly 30 years ago when he was a political prisoner on death row...
Will a lion eat me? As we prepared to set off for our camping adventure in Botswana from South Africa, I returned to thinking of the question that kept me awake an entire night back home in London. Would a lion eat me? Firstly, I worked through the logistics of this scenario, step by step, in my mind. Okay, so first, get in the tent on top of the van, yes...
