Silk Road: Recommended Reads
Uzbekistan 08.04.2020
Since Marco Polo first followed the Silk Road from Venice to Xanandu in the late 13th century, some of the world’s most intrepid travellers have been seduced by the lure of the great deserts and mountain ranges of Central Asia. Here are…
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Djinns & Other Tonics: William Dalrymple's India Books
India 06.04.2020
More historian than travel author these days, William Dalrymple was working as a stringer journalist out of Delhi in 1993 when his first book on India – ‘City of Djinns’ – became a best seller. Exploring the many layers of the capital’s his…
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A Taste of Samarkand
Uzbekistan 02.04.2020
Recipes and stories gleaned from wide-ranging travels around Central Asia and the Caucasus by authors Caroline Eden and Eleanor Ford bring the distinctive, culturally hybrid flavours of this little-known region to our own kitchens. In this…
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Summer Festivals in Ladakh
India 28.02.2020
One of the most vibrant expressions of traditional Ladakhi culture visitors to the region may experience are its monastery festivals. Each of the major ‘Gompas’ host their own, usually involving ‘Cham’ dances performed by monks dressed in e…
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Royal Retreats: India's Top 9 Palace Hotels
India 13.02.2020
The extravagant lives led by India’s former rulers is the stuff of legend. No strangers to ostentation themselves, even the British Viceroys were dazzled by the displays of wealth laid on by their royal hosts: the opulent train carriages; t…
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Review: Old Delhi Street Food
India 15.01.2020
Travel writer and photographer David Abram discovers the culinary delights of Old Delhi on our popular street food tour of the former Mughal capital. “No Mr David, do not eat the toast!” I’d just sat down at the breakfast table and was…
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Top Destinations for 2020
India 05.12.2019
The new year and a new decade are almost upon us and it’s time to look forward to all the fantastic holiday adventures that lie ahead. With so much to offer, it can be difficult deciding where to visit next in Asia. However, our specialists…
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Art of the Nomads
Kyrgyzstan 19.11.2019
A little history In the 1st millennium BC the Saka warriors, otherwise known as the Scythians, roamed the vast steppe of the Central Tien Shan mountains on horseback. They brought with them a great knowledge of crafts and art and were reno…
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A Disappearing World: the Jews of Bukhara
Uzbekistan 07.11.2019
Among the members of the group tour, I recently led to Uzbekistan was a Jewish couple from north London who, when we arrived in Bukhara, asked if we might arrange a visit to the local synagogue. A former Soviet Republic stretching across th…
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Master Potters of Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan 07.11.2019
A great wealth of artistic traditions survives in modern-day Uzbekistan, a legacy of the country’s pivotal position on the old Silk Road. For many centuries, caravans of traders would cross the region’s deserts en route to the Black Sea, us…
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The Kii Peninsula | Japan’s Sacred Heartland
Japan 04.11.2019
Speak of Japan, and most people think of neon lights, beautiful Geisha, Mount Fuji and brightly lit sushi bars. But the country has a much older, more subtle, traditional and magical side to it – one which I only found out about after a cha…
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Asia: Seven Worlds in One Continent
Sri Lanka 25.10.2019
This weekend, Sir David Attenborough returns to our screens with the highly anticipated ‘Seven Worlds One Planet’ nature documentary that promises to tell “unknown, unseen and unexpected wildlife stories” from across the world’s seven conti…
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