Ouchijuku Village, Japan

For some reason, these photos look calm. Yet in reality, a blizzard raged and the muted glow of the snow-plough’s headlights provided just enough light to let me capture this scene: fragile, snow-cloaked candles beneath an otherwise relentless black sky. Sleet assaulted our eyes, abraded our cheeks and hounded our cameras, while our voices had long since been swept away.

This street, a beautifully preserved row of thatched cottages from Japan’s Edo Period, is only 300 metres long.

Walking it under these conditions, felt like 300 years. Which is handy, really, since that’s roughly how old the place is.

Ouchijuku Village used to be an important staging post on the route between Imaichi and Aizu Wakamatsu. Over time, the world grew faster and its importance faded away. Yet it kept its character and today provides a delicious taste of traditional life in Japan.

As does this photo of a woman waiting for us as we arrived at our hotel. Total and utter dedication. And possibly frostbite. I shiver at the thought.

Disclosure: I visited Japan in 2011 as a guest of the tourist board. As ever, I have complete editorial freedom.

This post forms part of Photo Friday on Delicious Baby. Head over there for some more travel pics.

A Quiet, Snowy Village in Japan first appeared on Inside the Travel Lab. Head over there for more juicy fresh travel goodness. Or, you know, something you might like to read...

Tasting India by Christine Manfield is clearly a labour of love.

With India, it’s difficult to know where to start, how best to capture its essence.

So reads the opening line of the book. But the same could be said about reviewing Tasting India itself.

Tasting India spills over nearly 500 pages, peppered with sumptuous photography from Anson Smart that captures the details of India. You’ll find accommodation listings at the back, a ribboned bookmark in the middle and pages and pages of beautiful essays about the regions of India, from Kolkata and Darjeeling to Rajasthan, Mumbai and Goa.

It’s a love song  – or sonnet – to India and a publication that certainly stays far from the real-life grit and grime of the streets. Yet before I veer into discussing the portrait of India it paints, I shouldn’t forget to talk about the whole driving force behind the book: the food.

Tasting India provides recipes for almost every taste, although they’re not from the Quick Cheat’s School of Cooking, that’s for sure. I couldn’t find more than half the ingredients listed (although I was in Seville at the time,) so in the end I plumped for “sweet and sour tomatoes” for my first trial run.

With only two bullet points worth of instructions, the recipe seemed ideal for maintaining my “amateur” status, should making Indian (or indeed any) Food one day become an Olympic Sport. (Gymnastics, by now, is probably out of the question after all.)

But back to the tomatoes.

My tastebuds shiver at the memory of it. Fresh coriander, a sharp syrupy tang, an easy dish to make…I’m hooked. This would normally be the point where I should introduce a staggeringly mouth-watering picture of my own culinary efforts…but one look at the state of my kitchen could put you off food for life. I’m working on it. New Year’s Resolutions and all that…

In the meantime…Thank you Christine Manfield for introducing me to this wonderful piece of work and reawakening my enthusiasm, if not proficiency, for cooking – and for India.

Disclosure: I was provided with a copy of Tasting India by Christine Manfield for review purposes on the understanding that I was free to review it independently. As usual. As always.

Tasting India by Christine Manfield RRP £40

Tasting India – A book to fall in love with first appeared on Inside the Travel Lab. Head over there for more juicy fresh travel goodness. Or, you know, something you might like to read...

Dust rose from the ground as the horse thundered past and the sun began its ablutions. It painted pinks and pomegranates, amber, pistachio, charcoal and soft apricot rust across the walls of Petra before calling it a day and turning in for an early night.

A donkey stamped its foot in the chalky rock. Colour faded to grey, while my muscles trembled with fatigue.

Petra at sunset isn’t a place you want to leave. It looks beautiful, you feel hot and tired and there’s a professional army of touts with a menagerie of animals whose job it is to make you stay. Donkeys, camels, horses, chariots. They all promise to make your journey easier and to let you stretch out time itself.

Time has a habit of playing tricks on you in Petra, not to mention the truth. When I first saw The Treasury, strawberry stone columns peering between a tear of jagged darkness, I felt thrilled. As though I was uncovering an ancient legend myself.

In a way, I was. The legend part, that is. It turns out that despite the bullet marks and the odd Hollywood film, the Treasury isn’t really a treasury. Never was. Debate continues as to what its true role involved, but most scholars plump for the label of “ceremonial tomb.”

As for the ancient part, well, like the fast-growing ivy colleges in the US, it turns out that Petra’s not as old as it looks. The Treasury has celebrated a mere two thousand or so birthdays, a cheeky child with freckles when compared to the crumbly Egyptian Pyramids or the rocky giants of Stonehenge.

Right now, though, I have more than a few thousand years to worry about. I have about fifteen minutes.

The flashlight from an official brings me back to the present and I rally the sinews of my less than heroic muscles and attempt to stride but tend to hobble towards the exit.

Humans aren't the only ones who get tired...

Petra, as you probably don’t need me to tell you, is incredible. You may need me to tell you that it is vast. This city, built by the Naboteans, “inherited” by the Romans, lived in by the Bedouins and “discovered” by the Swiss – is colossal. Huge. A Roman-style theatre designed for around 3000 people registers as something of an afterthought, dwarfed as it is by everything else there is to see.

Petra spreads over 250 square kilometres (depending upon your source) – and the only realistic way in – and out – is by foot.

In fact, transport in Petra has become something of a political circus, with a near farcical arrangement of options. In the past, local Bedouin on horseback would charge through the kilometre-long gorge, with travellers crammed into their wagons behind. As Petra’s fame and popularity grew, however, problems arose since the gorge, or siq did not grow one inch.

Horse manure, accidents, rumours of hustling and intimidation…

“Eventually, authorities decided to ban horses in the siq altogether,” said my guide, perhaps an unreliable source himself as a horse-drawn chariot stormed past us into the gorge, drowning out his words.

“That’s different,” he said, although he never explained why.

The official line seems to be that Bedouin horses can travel the few hundred metres from the ticket gate to the entrance of the Petra gorge, with approval for a few carriages to travel on further than that.  A short – and rather stunted – effort.

The situation has irritated many, exasperated that the cost of the ride is now factored into the ticket price, regardless of whether you climb on and shout “tally ho!” (For the sake of accuracy, I should point out that the actual pronunciation of “tally-ho!” has no bearing on the ticket cost, the ride, or, well, anything at all. I just threw it in for effect.)

As a first time visitor, though, I found the sight of the horses incredibly atmospheric. They’re ridden with a ferocity and abandon I’d not seen before. Flowing robes and jet black hair streaming into the wind. Clouds of purple-pink Petra dust thrown into spirals and hanging in the heat-soaked air.

It’s what dreams and legends are made of.

But perhaps not thin cotton trousers. To preserve the skin on my thighs, I staggered on towards the gate, feeling a mixture of both gratitude and joy.

For my time in Petra wasn’t over yet. I would soon be back – for Petra at Night.

I visited Jordan as a guest of Visit Jordan. To read other posts of mine – and of others – about this fascinating country, please read A Portrait of Jordan.

Have you ever visited Petra, Jordan? Would you like to go?

The Horses of Petra, Jordan first appeared on Inside the Travel Lab. Head over there for more juicy fresh travel goodness. Or, you know, something you might like to read...

Istanbul Sunrise - Seen From the Moevenpick Istanbul

Istanbul

A man casts a glance over his shoulder before arching back and casting his line into the water. The street chatter and rush hour traffic drown out the subtle splash but from the look on his face, you’d think he stood alone in the countryside, miles from anyone, miles from anywhere.

Calm

He’s one of many who line the Galata Bridge in Istanbul, searching for sea life in the inlet of the mighty Bosphorus, the waterway known as the Golden Horn.

Despite the size of the city ( 13 million at least at the last count,) the air feels fresh and clean, with soft wisps of salt dancing through the breeze. It’s early morning and it’s also winter, meaning that the sun, like the rest of us, is still warming up to the idea of the day ahead.

I stride across the bridge, my hands curling inside my pockets to grasp any vestige of heat, while my breath joins the mist that veils the view ahead.

And what a view it is.

Minarets in lavender blue, matching domes in resting chrome. A foreground of scarlet wagons selling roast sweetcorn and pretzels and damp yet golden flagstones lit by the rising sun.

Both Europe & Asia

I love the city of Istanbul, perched as it is across the Bosphorus that divides Europe from Asia, with diplomatic parallels to match. When designing my #ironroute tour, a rail journey to look at the “east-west” divides in Europe and the former iron curtain, Istanbul seemed like a natural fit.

Its terminal used to mark the end of the Orient Express, a near-mythical journey that swept up Agatha Christie, Jackie Kennedy, Ernest Hemingway and more from the chic streets of Paris to the chandeliers of the Pera Palace Hotel. And while Turkey’s role in the Cold War was rather low key, Istanbul is certainly a city that knows a thing or two about divisions, from geography to ideology.

Vast Empires

When the vast empire of Rome drew a curtain between its own territories, “western Rome” took Rome as its capital, while “eastern Rome” took Istanbul (or Constantinople as it became at the time.)

While the western Roman Empire crumbled in less than 100 years, the eastern one continued for more than a thousand. This Christian stronghold switched to Islam with the invasion of the Ottomans, who themselves established an empire that spanned more than seven centuries.

It’s hard to miss the greatest symbols of these two former empires as they face one another in the grassy area of Sultanahmet. The Hagia Sofia and the “Blue Mosque” remain two of the most awe-inspiring and magnificent buildings in the world – and at the very least they deserve is a blog post of their own (watch this space.)

Inside the Blue Mosque

Crossing to Asia

This morning, though, while I admire Sultanahmet’s silhouettes on the horizon, that’s not where I’m headed. I’m filing along behind the commuters to reach the Spice Market – a collection of stained glass, leather, perfume, and yes, spice – and the designated meeting point for my guide from Context Travel.

Context employs academics in love with their cities. I took my first tour with them last year in my own city, London, to find to my surprise Roman remains and Victorian markets beneath the glistening brittle glass of the City.

This time, I’m crossing the Bosphorus to reach Asia on a public ferry that costs about two lira (about one euro.) We’ve missed the rush hour and have both the seats and space to stretch out a little, while gulls loom ominously past the railings.

Sultanahmet Slides Away

The foam froths below and Sultanahmet slides away. I try to talk to my guide about the project I’m working on and she misunderstands me straight away.

“So you’re retracing the rail route from Istanbul to Berlin because of its 50th anniversary.”

Well, yes – and no. I will be travelling by rail, I will be travelling to Berlin but my little journalist’s heart flutters a little at this potentially missed detail. “What anniversary?”

Conversation becomes difficult. “The workers who went… In the 1960s… I thought that’s what…You know…”

More awkwardness – and I’m not quite sure whether the reticence comes from the misunderstood purpose of my visit or the event itself five decade ago.

I let a few more metres of Bosphorus glide past before trying again. Turkey, it seems, sided with Germany in World War One, the conflict that set the world stage for all the other global conflicts that followed that century.

“Turkey won all of its battles,” she says. “All of them. But it lost overall because it picked the wrong side. And that’s when the Bosphorus became international waters.”

The Bosphorus

The gulls circle past, squawking and angry.

In less than twenty minutes, we will have passed from Europe to Asia. We will have reached the other side of Istanbul. But we will have travelled through international waters.

Never underestimate the complexity of politics when a valuable resource is at stake.

And the Bosphorus is valuable. Extremely valuable. This narrow channel connects the Black Sea in the north to the Sea of Marmara in the south and from there on towards the Aegean and then the Med. In shorter terms, it provides the only international shipping access for several watchful countries. No wonder both the Christian Romans and the Islamic Ottomans fought over its vital strategic position. And, perhaps no wonder that Turkey is now a secular state.

“They are planning to build their own channel now, though,” my guide continues. “It will be bigger than the Panama Canal, bigger than the Suez. The plans are in the pipeline…It will…happen.”

My mind spins a little as I listen to the plans to carve a route through inland Turkey. It sounds like a plot from a James Bond thriller rather than 21st century politics.

I still haven’t uncovered the real story behind the Turkish workers who travelled to Berlin 50 years ago, other than to read between the lines of economic and educational exclusion and conflicts over repatriation. It’s something for me to investigate on perhaps another day.

For now, though, the foam turns the international water turquoise as we come in dock, translucent jellyfish suspended in fathomless blue.

Through our words, we’ve travelled through centuries. And yet in twenty minutes, we’ve only just reached Asia.

#Ironroute is an independent journey with transport sponsored by InterRail. Read more about the idea for the project here, follow along on twitter using the #ironroute hashtag and subscribe here for email updates.

For other multimedia #ironroute snippets, check out this section on the blog.

Disclosure: Context Travel provided complimentary Istanbul tours although, as always, editorial control remains mine. All mine.

Read More About Istanbul

Photos of Istanbul
A Shooting in Istanbul

About Istanbul: Crossing Between Europe & Asia first appeared on Inside the Travel Lab. Head over there for more juicy fresh travel goodness. Or, you know, something you might like to read...

Winter Festivals

Whenever I feel the cold breath of winter on my neck as autumn runs out of time, my tastebuds turn to octopus, the signature dish at the Hachinohe Enburi winter festival.

I remember it so vividly not because of the smile of the former beauty queen who handed it to me, nor the tangy texture and secret seasoning that plunged into mayonnaise simply to satisfy my stomach. No, what I remember the most is that the octopus was warm, at times even hot, while I was very, very cold.

The small town of Hachinohe in Japan’s Aomori Prefecture celebrates the end of winter every year with a four day winter festival. Children and musicians practise for weeks so that when February arrives, they can swish their headdresses around and usher in good fortune for the harvest ahead.

It’s a festival that’s been running for 800 years through icy winds, gales, earthquakes and war and so they’re not going to let a little snow stop them. Nor a blue-skinned gaijin. Thankfully.

Hot Octopus, Cold Winters

I sit cross-legged on a tatami mat inside their historic town hall. One wall opens up to the garden, where snow decorates stone lanterns and greedily engulfs the lawn.

The wind laughs at my predicament, while the cold makes itself at home in my bones. I break open a crystal packet to warm up my hands and accept more octopus gladly.

Then the performance begins, melting something inside me.

Rainbow coloured ribbons meant to resemble a horse’s tail flick, flounce and flourish against the whiteness of the snow. Children enact the rice-planting ritual while flag bearers look on.

Yet what captures my attention the most is something I usually pay very little attention to: shoes.

From children to elders, dancers to musicians, all are decked out in the traditional footwear of Aomori. Straw-woven shoes with straw gaiters to match. My feet turn numb just from looking at them.

Yet everyone else radiates with smiles of warmth – literally.

So now, every time the seasons turn cold, I think of hot octopus – and the mystery of comfort that seems to be straw shoes.

Straw Shoes. Toasty Warm. Apparently.

I hope you enjoy the winter festival of Hachinohe’s Enburi through the photos below. Disclosure – I shivered and ate octopus as a guest of the Japanese Tourist Board.

The Enburi...

How do you keep warm in the cold? And does it involve straw shoes and hot octopus?

Hot Octopus & Straw Shoes: A Winter Festival in Japan first appeared on Inside the Travel Lab. Head over there for more juicy fresh travel goodness. Or, you know, something you might like to read...

Little India, Penang

Take a look at these photos. Then imagine the percussion of hissing and fizzing around you.

Close your eyes and feel the sticky weight of the sunshine, its humidity heavy on your skin while sonnets of spice and a chorus of cardamon clash with cloves, cumin and chopped coriander on the streets of Little India in Penang.

Close your eyes and let this Photo Friday take you to northwest Malaysia.

A Sonnet of Spice & A Cauldron of Colour first appeared on Inside the Travel Lab. Head over there for more juicy fresh travel goodness. Or, you know, something you might like to read...

Quite simply, good food is one of the best things in life, wherever you find it. And Malaysian street food ranks among the best of the best.

Malaysian Street Food

Georgetown sits on Malaysia’s west coast, a city so rich in food and cultural experiences it could cover its chopsticks with gold and still have some left over for high days and holidays. Redang lies to the east, where it lazes around among white sand and clear waters as any self-respecting paradise island would.

In between, the road swirls and lurches, staggers and stretches from one great coastline to the next. The clouds test our headlights, the skies give the windscreen wipers a run for their money and the road signs that threaten various unidentified animals keep our eyes on constant alert.

Yet vigilance isn’t the only name of the game. In between the towns and villages, under makeshift rooftops and stocked by the contents of the backseats of cars, impromptu food stalls line the roads.

It’s Ramadan, and not yet dusk, so food is traded if not eaten on site. Most meals come served in clear plastic bags, swinging from hands like goldfish at candy-pink fun fairs of the past.

People laugh as we walk past, at the awkward foreigners who clearly don’t belong. But it’s shy and friendly, welcoming and with peace. They’re happy for us to take photos, happy for us to blunder along as we shop and even happier when we come back for more.

Leaning against the car at the side of the road, songs of coconut and rice, smoky charcoal and malt syrup flow through my mind. The wet earth clings to my feet and I think about what it means to taste good food. This year I’ve been lucky. I’ve eaten at arguably the best restaurant in the world and now I’ve eaten here.

Both,  my tastebuds are sure of it, serve up some of the best food in the world.

Malaysian Street Food Quiz

It’s been a while since we’ve had a quiz together here, so I’m making it a tough one…

Can you identify the food in these photos? Answers on a postcard…or better yet in the comments below…

Malaysian Street Food – On The Road first appeared on Inside the Travel Lab. Head over there for more juicy fresh travel goodness. Or, you know, something you might like to read...

A Monkey at the Batu Caves

The Batu Caves, Malaysia

Less than ten miles from Kuala Lumpur, the Batu Caves house one of the most popular Hindu shrines in the region. When I first caught the expression of this monkey, poised and watchful, I imagined to myself he might be wearing an expression of prayer, of solemnity, of reverance.

How wrong I was.

The Backdrop: The Batu Caves

Entrance to the Batu Caves (Check out the people on the staircase...)

The Staircase to the Batu Caves

Staircase to the Batu Caves - It's hot here, folks

Monkey At the Ready

A Monkey Watches & Waits at the Batu Caves

The Monkey Attacks…

The Monkey Knows What He Wants...

The Monkey Wins…

Victory at the Batu Caves

The Spoils of Victory

Victory never tasted this good...

A Final Glimpse at the Batu Caves…

Shrinking away from the Batu Caves...

Secrets of the Batu Caves, Malaysia – A Photo Story first appeared on Inside the Travel Lab. Head over there for more juicy fresh travel goodness. Or, you know, something you might like to read...

Today is photo Friday and it’s also my last day in Malaysia. While the internet access has been scant, the experiences have been plentiful. And let’s face it, that’s the best way round for things to be.

So, as I’m typing this out on an iPad at the speed of the snarling traffic in KL (slow, almost stationary) I can tell you now that it’s not going to be a long one.

However, I did want to give you a sneak preview, a quick taste of Malaysia through these photos (all mine, but I can’t watermark them from here.)

Enjoy. The full story is on its way…

More Tastes of Malaysia

Malaysian Street Food – On the Road

Secrets of the Batu Caves, Malaysia

A Quick Taste of Malaysia first appeared on Inside the Travel Lab. Head over there for more juicy fresh travel goodness. Or, you know, something you might like to read...

Picture Quiz: Where is this?

Following on from the other fun quizzes, this week I bring you a picture from the archives. It’s a golden oldie, but it’s an image that’s become world famous and it’s easy to see why.

That head is taller than I am (even if that isn’t saying a lot.)

So…Where is it?

Previous Fun Quizzes

Fun Quizzes: Daggers, Hearts & Plenty of Water

Photo Quiz: Classical Europe & Home of the Biro

Photo Quiz – Giant Eggs & Sunshine

Photo Quiz – Curved Daggers & Water

Photo Quiz – Film Strips & Clouds

Fun Quizzes: Indiana Jones Style first appeared on Inside the Travel Lab. Head over there for more juicy fresh travel goodness. Or, you know, something you might like to read...