Nagaland is a state located in the far northeast corner of India on the border with Burma. Born and raised in the neighbouring state of Meghalaya, I grew up hearing stories about the ethnic clashes, separatist and underground movements that plagued the state. But then there were also the tales of the valour, indomitable spirit…

I had bronchitis a couple of weeks before I was due to travel to Sri Lanka. I suddenly did not want to go. I felt really vulnerable and depressed, but I also had faith that sunshine and a change of environment (I live in London) would be good medicine for me. My first mistake was…

My first long-distance travel experience was accepting a one-year studentship to work at Guanajuato University Library in Mexico in the mid-1980s. I extended my time in Mexico for another year by working for the British Council in Mexico City. I loved Mexico and living there gave me a wonderful insight into the Mexican way of…

The only lake of any size in the northern province of Tigray, Lake Hashinge feels like the Como of Ethiopia. It joins two large areas of lush flatland to the north and south where droves of cattle and other livestock are brought to graze and water. At a 2500m elevation the lake waters rest calmly,…

  Coming lunchtime and just what I am looking for:- water running from a plastic pipe but with a drinking cup left beside the fuente de beber close to a crude table and bench. No need for signs attesting to the water quality, the locals – gente local, obviously use this spring. I unpack my…

‘Don’t Cry For Me Argentina’ was resonating from loudspeakers throughout the Sunday market in the San Telmo district of Buenos Aires, sounding even more wonderfully romantic sung in Spanish as ‘No Llores Por Mi Argentina’. It was balm to my spirits, having just experienced one of the great scams inflicted on foreigners in that city.…

Pete Martin describes St Basil’s in Moscow, one of the many places around the world that has taken his breath away and he now calls his Transformational Moments. I enter Red Square. It’s un- believable. I have that same feeling I got in Times Square, inTiananmen Square, at the Grand Canyon and on the banks…