“Can I hold the baby?” A baboon offers her friend a helping hand so she can eat her stolen snack. We arrive in Arusha, at the foot of Mt Kilimanjaro in Tanzania after escaping showstorms in Boston and Amsterdam. It’s dark and steamy and blowing hot wind as 350 Read More
Travel
Islands – Vieques (hot), The Azores (warm), Iceland (cold).
ATLANTIC ISLANDS There’s something about the remoteness and separateness of islands that makes them so appealing. Vieques, off the southeastern coast of Puerto Rico is tiny, semi-arid and doesn’t have a single traffic light on its 20 miles of roads. Sao Miguel, largest island in the Azores, 1000 miles Read More
India: Signs and Wonders
“May you be blessed with five sons,” says the tiny, elderly woman sitting on the curb with her hand out, as I give her 10 rupees. Well, I am blessed with two – not sure I could have managed five – but that is a pretty good indication of gender Read More
The Maharajah will see you now…
We arrive at the Heritage property of Rawla Narlai, an old hunting lodge – beautifully restored — and still owned by the royal family of Jodhpur, through the town of Narlai which (on first impression) consists of dirt streets with free-range cows and open waste water ditches. I Read More
Village people: Southern Rajasthan
Driving from Udaipur north and west on tiny roads through the Aravalli hills is captivating. Each village brings fresh surprises and not always pleasant. This is real, hard, grinding life that hasn’t changed in forever. The caste system has not disappeared (or the many many categories of sub-castes) and if Read More
DeviGarh: Fort of the Goddess
We arrive at Devi Garh after a death defying drive in the dark from Udaipur airport in which the driver negotiates (drive left) speeding mopeds loaded with families heading against traffic, meandering cows, people carrying huge loads on their heads, top-heavy painted trucks, madly honking motorists, and zigzag speed bumps. Read More
Udaipur: The Raj in Rajasthan
Udaipur, in south-eastern Rajasthan, is often called the “White City”from the locally-mined white marble used to build the palaces lining the blue waters of Lake Pichola set against the backdrop of the ancient Aravalli hills. But I found it bursting with color. It’s winter here — quite chilly at night Read More
Mumbai: Scratching the Surface
We arrive in Mumbai on New Year’s Eve in 37 C weather (about 100F). It takes almost two hours from the airport to the Taj Mahal Palace hotel in Colaba, South Mumbai, during which every car in the city honks their horn incessantly. It’s chaotic and colorful as we pass Read More
Salaam Oman
After an upgrade to first class on Emirates (very cool) we land in a foggy, blustery Dubai where the tallest buildings are hidden in cloud cover. The airport is massive and we scamper through terminals trying to find Oman Air only to wait on the tarmac for two hours. Read More
Paris. City of Light. Toujours. 11/13
Thoughts for a city in mourning: Images from the past several years of having the pleasure to be in Paris de temps en temps.