Tahir Shah

As a travel writer I've specialized in gritty, fearful destinations, the kind of places that make a reader's hair stick on end.

In Morocco," said Osman, "word spreads like a fire tearing through the depths of Hell.

During the days I felt myself slipping into a kind of madness. Solitary confinement has an astonishing effect on the mind. The trip was to stay calm and keep myself occupied. I spent hours working out how to break free. But trying to escape would have been instant suicide.

The first few hours in the cell were quite stimulating. I'd never been in a prison cell before and was quite enjoying the experience.

These days no one challenges us,' he said. 'And because there is no challenge, there is no reason to work hard. And with no reason to work hard, we have all become lazy.

Explorers like to pretend that they are a select breed of people with iron nerve and an ability to endure terrible hardship.

Prideep pointed to the flames of paraffin lamps as they came alive in the distance and cackled in awe at the experience. (_) I was to discover that making tasty soup with one carrot, ten peas and a little dishwater, was his greatest skill. One wondered what the man would be capable of creating with a blender and a non-stick frying-pan.

Bombay is a city where gossip is treated as a commodity.

At the last moment, the fish and I exchange a troubled glance. The murrel seems to be demanding an explanation. Alas, I am in no position to start justifying the unusual treatment. What comes next is a new experience for both the fish and me.

It is almost impossible to overemphasize the importance with which ancestry is held in the Middle East and North Africa.

My father looked on in disbelief, overwhelmed that his son had been taught to eat glass and relish it.

The pursuit of illusion is not about studying for prizes, or for study's sake. There's no right or wrong, no pass or fail.

There is nothing like a train journey for reflection.

Because there is no challenge, there is no reason to work hard. And with no reason to work hard, we all have become lazy. Lazy people are like cancer. They spread. Before you know it, the entire country is destroyed.

As I see the world, there's one element that's even more corrosive than missionaries: tourists. It's not that I feel above them in any way, but that the very places they patronize are destroyed by their affection.

Visit Cape Town and history is never far from your grasp. It lingers in the air, a scent on the breezy, an explanation of circumstance that shaped the Rainbow People. Stroll around the old downtown and it's impossible not to be affected by the trials and tribulations of the struggle. But, in many ways, it is the sense of triumph in the face of such adversity that makes the experience all the more poignant.

As the man was bundled into an armoured police van, he turned and shouted: __on__ waste your life following others! Be individual! Live your dreams!__ stood there thinking. He was right. Ours is a society of followers, trapped by an island mentality.

In any case, a little danger is a small price to pay for ridding a place of tourists.