Author archive
5 December 2024
Note: As I consider a wedding to be a private occasion, I have not included many photos of the hosts or guests. With the wedding tomorrow, the bride and groom go through the turmeric ceremony this afternoon. While there wasn’t anything formally going on in the morning, I was invited to the family’s apartment for […]
4 December 2024
Note: As I consider a wedding to be a private occasion, I have not included many photos of the hosts or guests. Two more days till the wedding but the ceremonies have begun in earnest (in addition to the small bits yesterday). I turned up at Roshan’s apartment around 0900 and about half hour later, […]
3 December 2024
Flying to Nashik With the aid of some medication, I slept from 2100 till 0300 this morning, then got ready for my 0345 taxi to Delhi airport where I’m flying to an Indian wedding in Nashik. Free from checked-in baggage, I was able to head airside straight away after going through the strict security checkpoint, […]
2 December 2024
Above: View in the morning from the hotel in Sharjah. Flying to Delhi I woke to an awesome view of Nur Island and Sharjah in the Hotel 72 Waterfront. Awesome isn’t a word I use lightly or frequently, but it truly was! Around 0800, I took a buffet breakfast with E and Kevin. Being hosted […]
1 December 2024
Leaving Iraq With our flight departure of 1420, we had a relaxing morning at the hotel’s buffet breakfast before getting a taxi to the airport around 1040. Erbil airport is a high security zone and our taxi queued up for a check during which we had to alight. Our bags weren’t looked at but the […]
30 November 2024
Mosul to Erbil My flight situation to get from Erbil to Delhi was still top-of-mind for me as I woke up this morning in Mosul, even before having breakfast. For now, I had planned on using standby and loads are highly changeable. We left around 0900 by taxi for garage and hopped into an intercity […]
29 November 2024
Mar Thomas church It was a very foggy morning when we had breakfast at Baron Hotel’s rooftop restaurant. There was a Taiwanese group there. The idea had been to go to Mar Matai (St Matthew) monastery out of town first before returning to see places closer to the hotel. But with the dense fog, […]
28 November 2024
Getting to Samarra After the hotel’s simple breakfast, we walked to the Tikrit garage that had cars to Samarra. Because we wanted to go to both Samarra’s mosque (which is closed for restoration) plus the one at Abu Dulaf, we couldn’t get a straight up fare. It was a hassle haggling with the various […]
27 November 2024
Above: Taq Kisra. Travelling in comfort Today we travel in comfort from Karbala to Taq Kisra and then Baghdad’s Alawi Garage, using a car and driver. Such a routing would be possible with baggage and public transport. And once in Baghdad, we would try get a shared ride to Tikrit. Our driver arrived at the […]
26 November 2024
Karbala to Babylon Today is the day we go visit one of the cradles of civilisation, Babylon. We left our Karbala hotel by foot around 0900, after breakfast, headed to the garage which had minivans for Hilla. It was about a 30 min walk and we were fortunate to find a van that was nearly […]