Category Archives: Every Day Life Nestled at the foot of the Hajar Mountains are some of the oldest villages in Oman. This is a rugged, desert region with little rainfall. Settlements could only survive where ground water was available. But, where water was found, it was ingeniously managed. Using a type of irrigation system developed 5000 years ago in Persia, […]  Puducherry / Pondicherry, in Peninsular India, is known for its colonial charm. The colonial period there began in 1521 with the Portuguese – the first Europeans to conduct textile trade in the region. The Dutch and the Danes followed in the 17th century, but it was the French who had the most enduring influence after […]  Any visitor to these pages knows I love markets. I love the insight they give into the lives of the locals: What foods do they eat? How do they barter or trade? How do they engage with (or not!) the foreigner in their midst? How do they interact with each other? I love the apparent […]  In the traditional town of Bungamati – or Amarapur – in the fertile Kathmandu Valley about nine kilometres to the south of Kathmandu, people live and farm simply, much as they have for generations. These are the Newars (Newari): the historical inhabitants of the region. This settlement site has probably existed since at least the […]  When I spend time in the crush of Indian streets, rubbing shoulders with holy men and drinking masala chai with the locals, I always come away with some new realisation about myself, or the world. My first visit to Varanasi was not my first trip to India, but it was revelatory. Most of my time […] |
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