June, 2011 | followtheboat

Jantar Mantar and the Pink City Beggars

June 30, 2011

We’d only been in Jaipur a day and a night and already we’d witnessed some police brutality, so we thought we’d balance it with a bit of civilised culture. Cue one UNESCO World Heritage site and a huge palace-cum-fort. After visiting these incredible places, however, we thought we’d get back to reality with some interaction with beggars, street-dwellers and kids rummaging through piles of rubbish. Just to remind ourselves of this diverse city we’re in before leaving for the Taj.

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World’s Most Clichéd Shot, In HDR

June 28, 2011

My Pic of the Day is a shot everyone is familiar with. Next week our blog takes you to the Taj Mahal so in anticipation I thought I’d post up this classic image given some HDR treatment (a photography technique where three different exposures of the same shot are overlaid to pull out the detail in the shadow and hightlights).

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Somalia frees UK, American ransom couriers

June 27, 2011

Somalia frees UK, American ransom couriers MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somalia has pardoned six foreigners convicted of illegally carrying millions of dollars into the country with the intention of paying pirate ransoms, a government spokesman and presidency officials said.

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My life as a pirate

June 27, 2011

My life as a pirate The fisherman who went rogue and ended up in a Somali jail

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Telegraph Publishes Liz’s Winning Piece Tomorrow

June 24, 2011

I’m really pleased to announce that Liz has won a travel writing piece, which will feature in tomorrow’s Daily Telegraph in the UK. If you happen to be near a news agent then please do buy a copy. If you can’t get to one, don’t worry, we’ll be publishing it on followtheboat in due course, but not before her well-deserved moment of glory. Well done, Liz. Here’s an excerpt…

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Giggling And Haggling Amongst The Monkeys And Elephants

June 23, 2011

When we last left you we’d taken advantage of some holy Jaipurian urinals. Now we cross the street and go check out the rather ornate Jaipur City Palace, the Hawa Mahal (where women could see but not be seen) and mingle with monkeys and elephants. In amongst more wee spots we sample a refreshing beetroot drink and then round the day off with some good old fashioned police brutality.

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Final Sailing Today Six-Parter Published

June 21, 2011

The last instalment of our six-part story of our trip from Turkey to India has been published in Sailing Today. Over the last year our story of the Vasco Da Gama rally, including our passage through Pirate Alley and across the Arabian Sea to India, has been serialised in British sailing magazine, Sailing Today. In this story we make our way down from Goa to Kochi with friends Emma and Katie straight through some nasty storms, signalling the beginning of monsoon. Sailing Today Issue 171 is out now and is also available online.

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Somalia: Britons jailed and fined over £2m piracy ransom

June 20, 2011

Somalia: Britons jailed and fined over £2m piracy ransom Three men handed 10-15 year terms for flying in with cash allegedly intended to secure release of two hijacked ships Three Britons accused of smuggling more than £2m into Somalia to

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Somali PM resigns after Kampala agreement

June 20, 2011

Somali PM resigns after Kampala agreement MOGADISHU (Reuters) – Somalia’s prime minister said he had resigned on Sunday, paving the way for the formation of a new government whose priority will be quashing an Islamist rebellion ahead of elections due

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Somalia’s prime minister resigns

June 20, 2011

Somalia’s prime minister resigns Somalia’s Prime Minister Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo resigns ‘in the interests of the people’, following a UN-backed deal to oust him.

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Somalia jails Britons, American over pirate ransom

June 20, 2011

Somalia jails Britons, American over pirate ransom MOGADISHU (Reuters) – A Somali court has jailed three Britons and an American for illegally bringing in millions of dollars in ransom for pirates, but the judge suggested the convicts could buy their

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Somalia jails ‘ransom’ couriers

June 20, 2011

Somalia jails ‘ransom’ couriers Somalia jails six foreigners for bringing $3m (£2m) in cash illegally into the country, allegedly to pay ransoms to pirates.

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‘Mogadishu music’

June 20, 2011

‘Mogadishu music’ The daily fight for life amid Somalia’s gun battles

‘Mogadishu music’ Read Post »

Brazil creating anti-pirate force after spate of attacks on Amazon riverboats

June 20, 2011

Brazil creating anti-pirate force after spate of attacks on Amazon riverboats 50 police and eight vessels will tackle armed thieves who are terrorising boat crew and passengers in northern state of Pará Authorities in the Brazilian Amazon are to create

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VIDEO: The daily fight for life in Somalia

June 20, 2011

VIDEO: The daily fight for life in Somalia Panorama hears from the refugees of Mogadishu in Somalia about the daily struggle for life in a country racked by a bloody civil war between a failing government and Islamist extremists.

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June 2011