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Scenes from a Bahraini mall – empty elegance

29 September 2009 It’s 6:30 pm and I’m in Moda Mall at Bahrain World Trade Centre, wondering where all the people are. Moda is a huge shopping centre with high-end boutiques. Just from where I now sit, I see Louis Vuitton, Dior, Emporio Armani, Versace and Fendi. And where I sit is in a purple [...]

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Reading the past with the Rosetta Stone

The British Museum is one of my favourite museums in the world. Yet, like many museums in the western world, the British Museum should probably return some of the artefacts to their country of origin. One of these is the Rosetta Stone, a stele from 196 BC. It belongs, if not in Rosetta, at least [...]

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Pyramiden – an Arctic ghost town

I’m in Pyramiden, once a showcase of the Soviet Union, a perfect mining community, set between mountains, glaciers and fjords in the Svalbard archipelago. Today, it’s an Arctic ghost town! The decision to abandon the settlement was sudden, its implementation even more so. The inhabitants were given just hours to pack their bags and leave. [...]

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On the road in Egypt

Getting up at 0345 is not particularly child-friendly. Luckily, my daughters are easygoing. They look forward to sailing the Nile and seeing Egypt. A six-hour flight later, we land in Hurghada. Now, I won’t knock Hurghada, because I didn’t see all of it, but apart from beautiful beaches, grand resorts along the Red Sea coast [...]

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Barentsburg highlights

Barentsburg, you say? Where on earth… ? The Svalbard archipelago has four settlements of significant size, one of them is Russian. Norway has sovereignty over the archipelago, but the Treaty of Svalbard ensures all parties equal access to scientific and economic activities in the islands. Enter the Soviet Union. Since 1932, Russian company Trust Arktikugol [...]

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The Bedoun – Kuwait’s stateless people

On my old blog, I touch upon the issue of the Bedoun (although mostly my ignorance of the matter). This is what I wrote then – from the observation deck of Kuwait Towers: I’m soon joined by the only other westerner here. A journo from a Central European country, he is there to cover the [...]

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Things to do in Skopje

Skopje isn’t what leaps to mind when you think of European cities, is it? It’s probably among the lesser known capitals, along with Chisinau. To me, it was the easiest way to get to Kosovo for a travel writing assignment on the then two-month-old nation. When I checked into my Skopje hotel, the manager asked [...]

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Dreaming of Uzbekistan

I just submitted an article about Kiev, and was reminded of my first journey there a couple of years ago. Uzbekistan came to mind. Why? Well, as I was waiting in transit at Riga airport, I noticed an Ilyushin from Uzbekistan Airways on the tarmac. I remember staring dreamily at it while sipping a so-so [...]

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