Open for business
There’s a bunch of boys outside my window clapping along to the beat of a drum. They couldn’t control themselves – football-mad Egypt just beat Italy in the Under 20s […]
NOTEBOOK
Canter past Patagonian icefields. Sail the tranquil waters of Lake Como in Italy. Sip coffee in a Palestinian village. Listen to the ancient voices of Australia’s Arnhem Land. Climb the mountain paths of northern Albania. Let’s go!
The post-feast hangover hanging over Cairo
Well Ramadan has ended, and so has Eid el-Fitr, the three day ‘small’ feast that follows. It’s back to work, though the first day was a lot quieter than a […]
Wraps off the republic
Battling hijab hair and the basic black wardrobe, fashion is flourishing in Iran. Click here for a link to this story in the Sydney Morning Herald’s travel section…
Cash cows vs cash crisis
I’m taking a jump from markets in Morocco to a global wage comparison survey just released by UBS. The annual survey finds that Zurich workers are the best paid in […]
Sold on Marrakech
Marrakech’s streets are so full of markets and shops you hyperventilate with the desire to buy everything, all at once. Long strips of brightly coloured woven fabric made from aloe […]
Luxury trademarked:La Mamounia
Hotel porn: I’m sorry, there’s no other way to describe the new La Mamounia. It is an absolute privilege to be able to test drive a hotel before it opens […]
The beating heart of Marrakech
Djamma El Fna is pumping. Smoke from the grill of stand 29 pumps out across the square, putting a mystical haze across the snake charmers, fortune tellers, monkey pimps and […]
First look at Morocco’s revamped La Mamounia
The orange Hermes everywhere! The brass chandeliers! The bed that could fit a football team! The incessant petit fours at every turn! The pillows, the linen, the Dedon furniture on […]
Villas Fawakay
Doris the pregnant donkey wanders past, going home to her corral, the peacocks, Frank and Stein, sleep on the thatch roof of the bar, the two long little dogs, Woof […]
Rabat and the spirit of Ramadan
It is raining. It is SO raining. Rabat and Rain. Rabat is an hour by train from Casablanca, and I’m sure it’s a nice town. Pretty. Whitewash buildings echoing the […]