Sunday, November 21, 2004

The True American Middle East Travel Guide

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Click the picture to read the manual.

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Spot the difference

Photos from a Market in Samarkand 1963 versus Photos from a Market in Samarkand 2001.

Oh, and if you haven't already, read Wild West China by Christian Tyler and take a Great Leap Forward of your own.

Friday, November 19, 2004

Ibn Battutah on China

For many the lure of Ibn Battutah lies in his candidness. The anodyne observations of our politically correct age were as alien to him as his forthright views seem to us. The British government dismissed its ambassador to Uzbekistan, Craig Murray, for expressing his opinions. God knows how IB would be dealt with had he held his position in the world of international diplomacy in the current era.

I accompanied green dot and TC on a memorable recent trip to China. A (very) brief photo diary of our expedition, interspersed by some rather blunt yet endearing extracts from ‘The Travels of Ibn Battutah’ edited by Tim Mackintosh-Smith follows.
  • The Chinese are infidels

  • The Chinese infidels eat the meat of pigs and dogs and sell it in the bazaars’.

  • In every city of China is a quarter where the Muslims live separately and have mosques for their Friday prayers and other assemblies. They are highly regarded and treated with respect’.

  • China, for all its magnificence, did not please me. I was deeply depressed by the prevalence of infidelity, and whenever I left my lodgings I saw many offensive things which distressed me so much that I tended to stay at home as much as possible. When I saw Muslims it was as though I had met my family and my relatives.’

  • China is the safest and best country for the traveller’.