Let us through, let us through. VIPs coming your way. Prepare to be astounded by our beauty, intelligence and opulent wealth larding the ground as we go! Our 15 day museum cards seem to do the trick and get us into Aya Sofya or Hagia Sophia skipping the long queues. Our heightened sense of self importance is of course only in our heads. We are mere mortals and feel this intensely as we enter this stunning, grandeose building. It seems that the Church of Holy Wisdom as it's otherwise known is a bit of a misnomer as at various periods of its history, political controversy has been the overriding factor not wisdom. Some would rather it became a mosque again, as it was in Ottoman times, others are fine with keeping its current status as a ... read more

Being taken around the ancient sites of Istanbul my imagination transports me back in history - they do things differently there you know! I feel the weight of privilege as a woman today able to stand in these places denied to so many women of times past. I mentally stick my middle finger up on their behalf! We are standing in the grounds of what used to be the Sultan's Topkapi Palace (now Gülhane Park). Here egotistical men claimed themselves superior amongst all men (women didn't count for much in those days) and took on the role of leader, top dog, head honcho (or in my considered opinion - asshole extremist) living in opulant luxury while 'their people’ lived in abject poverty. These Sultan's felt the need to bolster their fragile masculinity by keeping up to ... read more

After just over three hours flying towards a new adventure in Turkey our captain announces it will be twenty minutes to touchdown at Istanbul's Atatürk airport. Five minutes later we hit turbulence and the plane judders and dips alarmingly making the woman next to me clutch the arm rests so tightly it literally becomes a white knuckle ride for her. A few other passengers scream at every big jolt. The captain is back on the intercom telling us that an unexpected tail wind is causing the excessive turbulence and that air traffic control has put us into a holding pattern with other aeroplanes waiting to land. We have to sit out the scary turbulence for an extra 10 minutes. It's vomit inducing being chucked around and I almost have to search the seat pockets for a ... read more

Kettuvallum is the name given to houseboats used in the Kerala backwaters. With Kettu meaning 'to tie' and Vallum meaning 'boat' these are literally tied together boats. Made from Anjili wood (Jack fruit tree) the planks are tied together using coir ropes made from coconut fibre. Historically used to transport goods between the port of Cochin and Kuttanad, these 100 foot long boats could carry up to 30 tonnes of rice, spices and other items. The journey would take three days and the operators therefore needed quarters on the boat to live. These trading vessels became defunct as a means of transporting goods once the road and rail network provided much quicker ways of getting goods from A to B. Just like the iconic trading wherries in the Broads these Kettuvallum boats were given a new ... read more

The Road Not Taken, by Robert Frost Two roads diverged in a yellow wood And sorry I could not travel both And be one traveler, long I stood And looked down one as far as I could To where it bent in the undergrowth; Then took the other, as just as fair And having perhaps the better claim, Because it was grassy and wanted wear; Though as for that, the passing there Had worn them really about the same, And both that morning equally lay In leaves no step had trodden black. Oh, I kept the first for another day! Yet knowing how way leads on to way, I doubted if I should ever come back. I shall be telling this with a sigh Somewhere ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood and ... read more