A friend and I drove (were driven) down to Multan today, which is where I am now. It was not a entirely smooth journey, as yesterday the driver who was supposed to take us called in sick with the hiccups so we had to arrange an alternative at some inconvenience. Then we left in the […]
Quiet Sunday
It was a working Sunday, though to be honest I worked only from the afternoon onwards, but at least finished one of the things I needed to do this weekend. Lunch was phatooray from Icchra, a classic desi meal which I used to have with my mother back in the day when she went to […]
Struck down
Sad news from the village. The grapefruit tree, which gave particularly fine fruit, was struck by lightning. About half has survived, and is being used to graft new trees, but neither they nor what’s left of the original tree are likely bear fruit for some years. A few grapefruit were salvaged, slightly sooty and a […]
Changing times
Went out this afternoon, first to a couple of shops – including a new local athleisure brand which had some nice things and even manufactures locally. I will probably get an exercise top or two, and perhaps a light cotton top to wear under my rain jacket. Then to a cafe which had ok coffee […]
Old, new
We went to old Dubai today, not the part with the sky scrapers and the athleisure, but the older bit, with rows of restaurants, jewellers, sari shops etc, from all over the subcontinent, the restaurants with a Salt n Pepper aesthetic and filled with families from all over Asia. This time it was to a […]
Social contract
Went to what is supposed to be the best coffee place in Dubai. A bit soul-deadening, like the rest of the city, and everything is breathtakingly expensive. The taxis feel especially pricy after Central Asia – my journey to the airport in Almaty was the same length as the taxi from the airport to where […]
Dolphins
We went for a stroll today, looping around the historic penninsula along a newly opened walkway. To reach the walkway one had to go through the most congested and unpleasant bits at Eminonu, shuffle through one underground chokepoint where an elderly woman used her very large belly like a bludgeon, knocking me out of her […]
Weekend tombs
Among the delights of our current way of living is that weekends take on themes and routines that never become stale. Here, in Egypt, living within an easy stroll of the Valley of Kings, what is there to do but to visit tombs of a weekend. We began with a lunch of koshary at a […]
To Nubia
It was a long day’s driving, but pleasant as it passed through interesting landscapes of barren hills with a vivid streak of green between, and drab houses made of worn brick, but the walls inside the balconies were painted vivid colours, sometimes with patterns or immense flowers, so I think the houses must not be […]
Beyond Balat
Yesterday was a sunny cold day so we went to Balat, walking down the new pathway along the Golden Horn which is a genuine delight. Such a change from when we first arrived, when there were countless immense roads with high-speed traffic to cross, and later, the never-ending construction zones. Now we can walk across […]