Editor’s Note: Part 4 of the Iran series continues with photo stories through Tehran. 1. Paytakht Shopping Centre Paytakht shopping centre At Paytakht (which means Capital) shopping centre, they mainly sell software, computers, hardware and camera equipment. Software is very cheap in Iran due to there being no copyright or if there is copyright, it’s [...]

The Damavand mountains can only be seen from the north of Tehran. One night, we went up there for dinner at a traditional tea house. Damavand mountains The tea house which is situated beside a river, is a place where they used to serve the flavoured tobacco used in hubbly bubbly or shisha. However, the [...]

Lonely planet sums up Tehran with one succinct quote: “Heavy traffic and make-up!” During some short trips in and around Tehran I would hold the camera outside the window of whatever vehicle we were in and take snaps of the scenery/buildings flying by. Just Good Friends There were little Honda 100cc motorcycles everywhere and conveying [...]

Editor’s Note: Australian photographer Bryan Freeman travelled to Iran for the first time with his Tehran-born wife. This five part series recounts in his own words the highlights of his travels, often told with humour, and as seen through his camera lens. The first morning I woke up in Tehran, I heard a sheep baa-ing [...]

If you find the heat of the Dubai desert a little too hard to bear, and a swim in the Arabian Gulf of your Jumeirah Beach hotel not cooling you enough, head over to the Mall of the Emirates shopping centre where you can Ski Dubai. Ski Dubai, Mall of the Emirates Inside this gargantuan [...]

A sweet scent of flowers perfumes the night air. Beneath the stillness of palm trees, we relax on comfortable sofas under majlis-style tents that make up the outdoor dining area of Al Khaima Restaurant, one of the fourteen dining establishments belonging to Le Royal Meridien Beach Resort and Spa in Dubai. Al Khaima Restaurant* Al [...]

Gourmantic recently celebrated its second anniversary, and with nearly 400 articles under its belt, it’s time for a little navel-gazing. The purpose is not to ascertain how much weight has been gained from delectable food and drink experiences but to review the progress and reminisce about good times in travel writing. My 7 Links is [...]