A dressing down on Islamic dressing up
Today I got yelled at for my hair. It wasn’t that it was squashed and unkempt, but that a lock of hair had escaped my scarf. The woman who yelled […]
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!
Iranian democracy
“Stay away from politics and religion unless your Iranian host broaches the subject first,” warms the Lonely Planet. Politics is all we’ve talked about. That’s all anyone’s talking about. And […]
Curious and curiouser
Curious facts about Iran: The Sydney Morning Herald website is filtered, but New York Times loads fine. Chris de Burgh is the only Western artist to have performed in post-Revolution […]
Carpet burns
Deep excitement, people! I bought a carpet. Of course. Could you imagine going to Persia and NOT buying a carpet? The total excitement about it is that I am in […]
The dust of ancient history
I love Shiraz – deep, red and Australian. But Shiraz the city from which the grapes originated, is nice too. Set in central Iran, the modern city of 1.6 million […]
Hijab hair
Day One in Iran and the novelty of doing a French Lieutenant’s Woman hasn’t yet worn off. By that I mean wearing the hijab, or head scarf, that is compulsory […]
The charm of Sharm part II
Sorry for the delay on this second installment on Sharm, I’ve had flu, deadlines and no internet. I’m going to do a shameless plug for two things – one, the […]
The charm of Sharm, Part 1
It’s a mark of what to expect when I hit the southern Sinai resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh when am chatting with a guy in the sandwich queue in the […]
El Ahly stops the nation
If you wanted to tear through the congested Cairo streets at 200km/hour, last night would have been a good time to do it, as 20 million people were all glued […]
Getting porked
Rumour has it on the streets that the government is selling pork meat for the stunningly low price of LE5 (just over a US dollar) a kilo. Of course, the […]