THIRSTY FISH, RUMI
I have a thirsty fish inside that can never get enough of what it is thirsty for,
So show me the way to the ocean.
Break all these small containers,
These half measures,
All of this fantasy,
All of this this grief.
Let my house be drowned by the wave that rose last night
From the courtyard hidden in the centre of my chest.
Listen – the harvest I expected has been washed away,
But no matter – Joseph fell from the moon into my well
And now, I don’t want learning or dignity or respectability:
I want music and this dawn and the warmth of your cheek against mine.
Yes, I hear the armies of grief amassing,
But I am not going with them.
Si-o-Se Pol, The Bridge of Thirty-Three Arches, Isfahan, Iran
The Journeys
Silk roads travelled (red line): Mongolia to Turkey through China, Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and Iran. And back the other way through the Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
Bedouin children, Petra, Jordan
Soccer in the Jewish Quarter of Damascus
Bedouin, Little Petra, Jordan
Barbusa Pass, Kashmir, Pakistan
Diskit, Nubra Valley, Ladakh, India
Sooq, Damascus
Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Cake thieves, Bidool, Jordan
Kavir Desert, Iran (Yazd to Garmeh oasis)
Golestan-e Isfahan - martyrs of the Iran-Iraq war
Monks, Diskit, Nubra Valley, Ladakh
The cedars of Lebanon, Bcharre
Nubra Valley, Ladakh, northern India
Chitral, Pakistan
Arches National Park, Utah, USA
Motorcyle repairs in southern Turkey
Mountain children, Tajikistan
Harsh, Rajasthan, India
Khiva, Uzbekistan
Langtang, Nepal
Canyonlands National Park, Utah, USA
Mountain children, Tajikistan
Meidun-e Iman, Esfahan, Iran
Allahabad, Maha Kumbh Mela, India 2013
Mount Shasta, northern California, USA
Muzzafarabad, Pakistan in wake of 2005 earthquake
Making tea, Hampi, India
Pokhara, Nepal
Lençóis Maranhenses National Park, northern Brazil
Riding from Chile to Argentina via Pasu de Agua Negra (alt. 4870 m)
North of Pokhara, Nepal
Nomadic shepherd, above village of Parveh, Kordestan, Iran
Little Petra, Jordan
Rishikesh, India
Meidun-e Iman, Esfahan, Iran
Riding pillion to Minaret of Jam, central Afghanistan
Ronda, Andalucia, Spain
Khunjerab Pass (alt. 4593 m), riding from Xinjiang China to Pakistan
Sedona, Arizona, USA
Pilgrim, Badrinath, India
Hampi, India
Nubra Valley, Ladakh, northern India
Skardu, northern Pakistan
Ilam Province, western Iran
Aspiring writer, Alter do Chão, Santarém, Brazil (2008)
Beduoin woman, Petra, Jordan
Jam, central Afghanistan
Yazd, Iran
Kandi, Sri Lanka
Spectator of polo, Gilgit, northern Pakistan
Jalsu Pass, Himachal Pradesh, India
Song-Kul, Kyrgyzstan
Ramayana temple, Rajasthan, India
Maha Kumbh Mela, Allahabad, India
Nubra Valley, Ladakh, northern India
Nubra Valley, Ladakh, northern India
Beartooth Pass, Wyoming, USA
Royal Palace, Kathmandu
Shendur Pass, Pakistan
Conclave, Hampi, India
Indus tributary, Khaplu, Pakistan
Rajasthan, India
Qal'aat ash-shamamis, Syria
Badrinath, Uttarakhand, India
Varanassi, India
El Chalten, Patagonia, Argentina
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Damascus sooq
Pilgrim, Badrinath, India
Pilgrim, Badrinath, India
Leh to Nubra valley over world's highest metalled road
Back waters of Kerala, India
Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca, Peru
Alto Paraíso de Goiás, Brazil
Sooq, Damascus
Passu, Hunza Valley, northern Pakistan
Shiraz, Iran
Jasailmer, Rajasthan, India
Arches National Park, Utah, USA
Pilgrim, Badrinath, India
Wakhan Corridor, Tajikistan (snow-capped mountains of Afghanistan)
Uttarakhand, India
Friday Mosque, Damascus
North of Pokhara, Nepal
Baltit Fort, Hunza Valley, northern Pakistan
Sillustani, Peru
Wakhan Corridor loop, Tajikistan
Song-Kul, Kyrgyzstan
Band-i-Amir Lakes, central Afghanistan
Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Passu, northern Pakistan
Sooq, Damascus
Varanassi, India
Polo, Gilgit, northern Pakistan
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia
Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan
Isla del Sol, Titicaca, Peru
Naga baba, Varanassi, Maha Kumbh Mela 2013
Torres del Paine National Park, Chile
On a bus, Iran
Western Mongolia
Sanliurfa, Turkey
Exiting Friday Mosque into Al-Hamidiyah Sooq, Damascus
Damascus, Syria
Langtang, Nepal
Jam, near Minaret of Jam, central Afghanistan
Ak-Baital Pass, Tajikistan
Smugglers Bazaar, Peshawar, Pakistan, en route to the Khyber Pass and across Afghanistan
Sooq, Damascus
Langtang Valley, Nepal
Sooq, Damascus
Ladakh, India
Mosque in Shiraz, Iran
Bryce Canyon, Utah, USA
Soccer in Jewish quarter of Damascus
Taita Martin, Putumayo, Colombia
Setting off for Band-i-Amir Lakes, central Afghanistan
Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia