Hasankeyf, Southeastern-Anatolia, Turkey 17th June, 2014 “The birds they sing at the break of day Start again I seem to hear them say Don't dwell on what has passed away Or what is yet to be” Leonard Cohen Today I swam in the Tigris river. Refreshing and fast moving. Today wars seem to often revolve around oil. Tomorrow they seem set to revolve around water. The Middle East endures with a multitude of ideological, ethnic, religious and pan-national tensions, conflicts and associations. The politics of water already plays a major role in relations between Iraq, Syria and Turkey. In 1990, Turkey started construction of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (also known as GAP) to dam sections of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers north of the Syrian/Turkey border. Syria and Iraq, otherwise often in dispute themselves, formed an ... read more

Sanliurfa, Hekim Dede, Turkey 11th June 2014 “Old friends pass away, new friends appear. It is just like the days. An old day passes, a new day arrives. The important thing is to make it meaningful a meaningful friend – or a meaningful day.” The Dalai Lama “It is the soul's duty to be loyal to its own desires. It must abandon itself to its master passion.” Dame Rebecca West Abrahim (Abraham of Old Testament fame) is believed to have been born in a cave in Sanliurfa (known as Urfa) about 4,000 years ago. As legend has it, he gave the local king a very hard time about the local king's worship of idols. The upset king had Abrahim strung up to be slowly roasted on a wood fire. God intervened and turned the fire to ... read more

Gaziantep, Southern Anatolia, Turkey June 9th 2014 “Only the truth of who you are, if realized, will set you free.” Eckhart Tolle I had been struggling with 'being' in Turkey after almost a year in India. This was due to a combination of many things, including the relative jump in living expenses. But I think too it was about not feeling at home with the flood of western tourists in Istanbul and Kapadokya (the places I had so far been in other than a stint on a farm). My arrogance leads me to think I can somehow be above 'tourism' and be an authentic 'traveler' and find the 'real' Turkey. Well, I should laugh at myself (and I do). But in any case, I started to travel eastwards on a quest.... to find places and people ... read more

Kartepe, Turkey May 2014 "There is no sincerer love than the love of food." George Bernard Shaw "When diet is wrong medicine is of no use. When diet is correct medicine is of no need." Ayurvedic Proverb “Never do to excess, but let moderation be your guide” Marcus Tullius Cicero I found myself in Turkey. Well, it was planned as a place to go in between India visas and it was a country I had always said I wanted to see. But for one reason or another (and more just one particular reason actually, which I won't go into here) I just had no appetite for traveling around alone and I had done with hanging around Istanbul. On a whim, I took myself off to an organic “raw food” farm 2 hours by bus south west ... read more

Solahnu April 1st 2014 Find a place to call my own And try and fix up Start a brand new day Neil Young, Out on the Weekend Solahnu village (pop 123) sits at 2,800 mts above sea level in Banjar Valley, Kullu District, Himachal Pradesh and is one of hundreds of small villages strung across the lower Himali which are only accessible by walking/climbing track (often goat track). Yes it has electricity and piped water, satellite TV and even sporadic internet (for the few who have computers) but no shops and little flat space as it clings to the mountain side. The plus here is that being so high it receives over 10 hours direct sunlight from Spring to Autumn and a good deal more sunlight than the lower valley in Winter. And so agriculture is ... read more