One for the Road: Colour – Travels Through the Paintbox

by Kelly Amabile on

This book beckoned me from a front table at Artisan Books on Gertrude St. in Melbourne’s Fitzroy neighborhood. The 2006 paperback version I bought has the bold cover shown here, although I’ve seen several other versions of this book that was originally released in 2002. Regardless of what it looks like, Victoria Finlay’s Colour: Travels Through The Paintbox is a masterpiece. Just as I enjoy looking at Van Gogh’s Sunflowers again and again, so too will I delight in returning to passages from this multicolored exploration of our world.

From ochre to violet, Findlay unearths every possible facet of the rainbow. Her research takes her to Spain, for Consuegra’s Saffron Festival (yellow), to lapis lazuli mines in Sar-e-sang, Afghanistan (blue), and to Mexico, in search of the purple of the Mixtecs (violet). Finlay takes the reader along on this magical journey as she creates a spectacular canvas loaded with pigments, dyes, gems and stones. Her quest to uncover the history and origins of color reveals a rich palette that stretches to every corner of our planet. It would be wonderful to see a map painted to match the discoveries from her color expeditions.

America’s Next Top Model, Afghani-style

by Martha Edwards on

Imagine models dressed prudishly in jackets and long pants strutting their stuff on a low-budget TV would hardly seem the stuff of controversy to most of us, but in the Middle East, it has the potential to raise a few eyebrows. It’s true — a version of America’s Top Model has now hit the most unlikely of places: Afghanistan. Of all the bits of American culture to adopt, they just had to pick that one. Yep, we’re so proud.

So I’m wondering — does this version of the hit show include the characteristic catfights? The verbal backlash from Tyra? No, they don’t need criticism from each other or the judges — technically, the show directly violates the teachings of Islam. But in forward-thinking Mazar-i-Sharif, few objected to the program — particularly the young folks.

Still, it’s a step ahead for this zealously conservative country, and I guess on some level it’s nice that girls in Afghanistan are being recognized for their beauty — after all, Americans didn’t write the book on beauty.

Savvy Traveler: Arab vs Muslim

by Iva Skoch on

It is a little frightening how many people use the terms “Arab” and “Muslim” interchangeably. Shows how much we know about that region of the world even after years of being intimately involved with the Middle East.

One often hears that people say “Arabs” when referring to Iranians. They are actually not Arabs; they are primarily Persians. Yes, they might practice Islam but that’s another story. Iraqis, on the other hand, are primarily Arabs. Afghanistan is not an Arabic state.

Just last week, I heard somebody describing a person as “looking Muslim.” People don’t generally look Muslim, just like they generally don’t look Christian. They might look Arab, but even that’s questionable because there are many races that live in the Arab world. Needless to say, Muslims in the Middle East look different than Muslims in Africa or Indonesia.

Arab refers to somebody from an ethnic group that shares a culture, history and language. Muslims are people who practice Islam. The Arab world covers most of Northern Africa and part of the Middle East. Many Arabs practice Islam, but many are also Christians, Jews, etc. Arab world is only a part of the Muslim world.

List of Arab Countries:

  • Algeria
  • Bahrain
  • Djibouti
  • Egypt
  • Iraq
  • Jordan
  • Kuwait
  • Lebanon
  • Libya
  • Mauritania
  • Morocco
  • Oman
  • Palestine
  • Qatar
  • Saudi Arabia
  • Sudan
  • Syria
  • Tunisia
  • United Arab Emirates
  • Western Sahara
  • Yemen

Afghanistan – Back On The Travel Map

by Brett Atkinson on

The troubled nation of Afghanistan is inching its way back onto the intrepid traveller’s radar. Lonely Planet’s first guide to the country is published this month, and recently we reported on the coverage of Kabul’s unique charms in the New York Times. But while peace in former trouble spots like Cambodia and Bosnia has restored the architectural heritage of Angkor Wat and the bridge at Mostar, one of Afghanistan’s greatest treasures is under threat of destruction.

The Towers of Victory have stood for more than eight hundred years, but now the honey-coloured minarets that have survived periods of war and invasion are under serious threat of erosion. When the son of Ghenghis Khan destroyed the nearby city of Ghazni in 1221, the towers survived, but centuries of neglect and illegal excavations for antiquities and buried treasure have made them increasingly precarious.

Afghanistan’s financially strapped new government has only been able to allocate $100 across the last six years to ensure the towers’ upkeep. In the glory days of the “Hippie Trail” Afghanistan was a heady stopping-off point from Europe to Asia. Let’s hope lasting peace can come to Afghanistan so its unique heritage can be secured.

The Places In Between

by Iva Skoch on

We’re not shy about plugging audible.com. First, listening to books gives our computer-weary eyes a needed rest. Two, schlepping around an iPod is easier than a big, new hardcover. Third, often the authors themselves read the books, adding an extra dimension that reading can’t touch. (audible.com version of Anthony Bourdain’s Kitchen Confidential, anyone?)

We’ve been hearing about another book for a while and we mentioned it a few months ago, but hadn’t picked it up until just now, because now we can hear it from audible.com: Rory Stewart’s The Places in Between.

What makes this book special? Mr. Stewart walked across Asia solo. The book is about just a relatively small portion of that trip: walking–as in on foot–across Afghanistan during the war in 2002. He’s a young, Farsi and Persian-speaking, former British diplomat and current resident of Kabul, and his tale is fascinating. He re-traced the steps of a 16th Century Muslim Emperor (Babur), straight across the country, across high mountain passes–in the middle of winter–from Herat to Kabul.

You’ll definitely gain new insights into the culture and people of Afghanistan and hearing it directly from the author himself is well worth a listen. It’s surprising and interesting, and you’ll definitely learn a lot. We sure did.