Illuminating Belarus
Change is inevitable. It’s one of life’s certainties, along with death and taxes. Sometimes though, change takes its time in arriving. In the case of…
Illuminating New Zealand
Sheep. There, I mentioned it, and now it’s out of the way. It’s true to say that they aren’t as big a factor in New…
Illuminating Tajikistan
A gruff policeman in an oversized soviet-throwback uniform cap is clearly unhappy to see us. Much of his day will be spent finding any number…
Illuminating Armenia
As the biblical deluge subsided, the ark, ordained to carry refugees from every species of animal, came to rest on top of the dormant volcano…
Illuminating Nigeria
Nigeria, with 170 million inhabitants, is Africa’s most populous country. It still maintains the borders the British decreed in 1914 when it was one of…
Illuminating Georgia
Apparently, when God apportioned the Earth to all the peoples of the world, the Georgians showed-up late. When questioned, they replied that they had stopped…
Illuminating Iceland
Situated in the middle of the North Atlantic, Iceland is a ‘Land of Fire and Ice’ where the Mid-Atlantic Volcanic Ridge breaches the surface of…
Illuminating Bolivia
Perhaps it is the numbing effects of the coca tea (the perfect antidote to altitude sickness), or maybe it’s the lack of Latino and the…
Illuminating South Africa
‘The Rainbow Nation’, a term first used to describe post-apartheid South Africa, symbolised the different races unified in a newly democratic nation. Two decades on…
Illuminating Indonesia
A busy street in the university town of Jogjakarta and I’m struggling to get a borrowed moped through the layers of tangled traffic. There is…
Illuminating Iran
Iran has been an Islamic Republic since the revolution in 1979 and the observance of the Muslim religion is strongly encouraged (some might say enforced)…
Illuminating Vietnam
Vietnam is flooded each year by more than 3 million tourists from all over the world. They come to see a nation shaped by thousands…