After we had finished our coffee, I retired to the edge of my bed and attended to what little toilet I could while the beduin squatted in the smoke of the fire. Sa’id II sprawled in a corner, playing with … Continue reading

After we had finished our coffee, I retired to the edge of my bed and attended to what little toilet I could while the beduin squatted in the smoke of the fire. Sa’id II sprawled in a corner, playing with … Continue reading
The cook was an Indian, engaged by the hospitable al-Kafs to make British travellers feel at home with their own familiar dishes : he had been brought to Tarim with the news of my coming, and I realised what a … Continue reading
The inside of Husain’s house was cold and dark. We climbed three flights of steep stone stairs to a bare little sitting-room furnished with a single rug and a few cushions. Puffing my way up, I thought how odd it … Continue reading
A life on the road. Continue reading
A weekend away, on the island of Soqotra, south of Yemen. Continue reading
Walking through a mountain village in Yemen, I met a gang of children. ‘Sura, sura!’ was the cry that followed me wherever I went. Continue reading
‘A new epoch was beginning in my life which I attributed almost entirely to my having discovered a new and very becoming way of doing my hair.’ Continue reading