Category: Places

I F*cking Love Beirut

As a child of the 70s, who grew up in the 80s, Beirut has all the magical allure of the forbidden that China did. And,...

On Mars in the Wadi Rum

“So, what are you doing about gravity?” asks Z. We’re sitting in a resort in Jordan’s Wadi Rum with an old, old friend of mine...

Stripy boulders in Petra.

Petrified in Petra (2)

Even after our traumatic scramble over the cliffs, I still had a yen to see Petra from above – not to mention exploring Wadi Muthlim,...

Little Bedouin girl with her great-grandfather in a village near Petra, Jordan.

The Friday Photo: Bedouin Girl

This is Anoud, 2, with her great-grandfather, Mohammed, 93, looking at a picture of him in his British Army uniform from World War II. They...

Shadi on a tricky cliff path outside Petra.

Petrified in Petra (1)

Back in the UK, for our first visit after over two years travelling, at a goodbye dinner that was, sadly, kind of a “hello dinner”...

Lost City of the Giants

Winding your way through a narrow, towering canyon where camel trains the size of armies once brought frankincense, myrrh, silk and slaves, that first glimpse...

My Son’s Brain Is Weird

Here in Aqaba, a coastal town in Jordan which is gunning for second city status but has all the verve and vigour of Bournemouth on...

Siwa: A Wild West Town in Egypt

There is something about the desert that sends folk stir crazy, and Siwa, a Wild West town in Egypt’s Western Desert, is about as crazy...