Christmas Day

A day of wonderful gifts: phonecalls to family, presents from home, messages from friends, music on the radio, a winter's day of unimaginable warmth and blueness, a walk in the country with no planned destination.
And then, the destination made itself known; the home of a marvellously hospitable family - parents with six children. They invited me in, not only for coffee, but for lunch as well, and the promise that tomorrow I'll return for a traditional Jordanian meal with them. Their home is not rich, but their warmth and kindness are as rare and precious as any treasure.

Closing Ceremony

Our hosts for the Round Square Junior Conference, the Sanskaar Valley School, Bhopal, exceeded all expectations in every way - in their courtesy, generosity, consideration for guests, organisation and above all in their outstanding cultural presentations. At the closing ceremony, they presented dances representing several regions in India. In the approaching darkness, the wonderful colours glowed and sparkled as above the dancers a series of small, flaming hot-air balloons rose into the sky.

King's Academy makes a splash

Being the only Arabs in an overwhelmingly Indian gathering, it didn't take long for the Jordanian contingent to make their presence felt.

Then off to Sanchi

A very noisy bustrip took us to the giant stupa, intricately and delicately carved with lots of animals and scenes from the Buddha's life. Our guide was the crabby Mr Joseph, whose explanation was rather hard to decipher, due to his soft voice, strong accent, apparent distaste for his audience, and the din made by everyone else. As a result, I'm still not all that sure what a stupa actually is - but it was very big and impressive, and the view from there over the surrounding countryside was gorgeous. Afterwards, we did a whirlwind tour of the Sanchi Museum, which I'm also sure was very interesting, but we were in and out at such a pace it was a bit hard to tell really ....

Monsoon Wedding without the bride and groom

We went to a marvellous party in the grounds of a private residence in Bhopal. Every sense was stimulated: we were welcomed by banks of flowers and a band of drummers; every tree was draped in coloured lights, booths of puppets and magic shows lined one side, an intricate Gudjerati maypole dance was performed, and a thali meal was set out on the grass. Eating and dancing continued into the night.

More of India

Here's some street scenes that try to capture what it's like, but of course don't.

World Wonder No 2

A quick trip east to India, including Agra, and the mindblowingly beautiful Taj Mahal. A ravishing, blue day, tourists in bright clothes, the white marble shimmering .... altogether a grand day out.

World Wonder No 1

Here we are at Petra, being overawed by its size and scope, not to mention the staggering grandeur of the facades and the astonishing colours of the rocks.
Evening was best, when after an exhaustingly steep walk, with the stallholders and donkey boys, to the back gate, we watched the sun set and had dinner in a cosy, rug-lined bedouin cave.