Re-visiting Wadi al Helo

“I want to get out!” My voice is tinged with fear. “But we can drive up here.” My husband counters. “Look. There’s a track.” I look at the deeply rutted track curling up… Continue reading →

The Dubai Most People Don’t Know Of

I hover at the edge of a flat expanse of what could be misconstrued as a rubble filled building site. Everything about the place looks sad. Dead palm trees stoop like old men, while… Continue reading →

Places to Eat: Café Rider – Dubai, UAE

Name:  Café Rider Custom Motorcycles Description and Ambience:  Located in a warehouse, this coffee cum motorcycle workshop combines a love of good coffee with the beauty of design. The cavernous industrial space has cozy leather… Continue reading →

A Visit to Beaver Creek Coffee Estate – South Africa

The rich aroma of freshly roasted coffee beans permeates the cool early morning air, and awakens my taste buds, leaving me to swallow back the saliva in anticipation of my first sip of… Continue reading →

Where The Smell Of Sugar Floats On The Breeze

A smell of burnt sugar floats along the morning breeze. The sugar mill at Sezela, the first one to be built in South Africa, is working hard to process the sugarcane that is trucked in… Continue reading →

Places To Eat: Spill the Bean – Dubai

Name: Spill the Bean Description and Ambience: This family owned, quirky speciality coffee shop, with its mismatched chairs and tables, has an ambience that is funky, yet soothing. The décor choices, from a ceiling with exposed pipes,… Continue reading →

Jordan’s Desert Castles

The black asphalt road that runs towards Iraq and Saudi Arabia through Jordan’s Eastern Desert, sags under the heavy bellies of the trucks that rumble over it. Every passing kilometre is replaced by another one stretching in… Continue reading →

Mapping the World – St George’s Church, Madaba

He cannot be older than about eight, yet his eyes hold the wisdom and struggles of someone who has lived a long, hard life. He is dirty and dishevelled, and his mantra of “Money!… Continue reading →

A Silent Retreat: Shrine of the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist Patron of Madaba and Jordan

I trace the path to the museum with my finger on the tourist map, memorising the twists and turns that would take me there. Although the Madaba museum is my intended destination, I want to venture… Continue reading →

Petra – Off The Beaten Track

I draw in a deep breath of fresh air, as Musa and I step out of the car, and immediately feel small in the vast landscape that seems to stretch all the way… Continue reading →