“For me, a journey to Damascus is an amazing hunt from beginning to end, a slice through layers of history in search of treasure” – Tahir Shah | Travel Quote of the Day

“Where does one go in a tremendous city like Calcutta to find insider information? I recalled India’s golden rule: do the opposite of what would be normal anywhere else” – Tahir Shah | Travel Quote of the Day

“One senses that, in these conditions, no amount of wet-wiping could bring true hygiene” – Tahir Shah

“Real travel is not about the highlights with which you dazzle your friends once you’re home. It’s about the loneliness, the solitude, the evenings spent by yourself, pining to be somewhere else. Those are the moments of true value. You feel half proud of them and half ashamed and you hold them to your heart” […]

“Usually, there is nothing more pleasing that returning to a place where you have endured hardship” – Tahir Shah

“On a harsh expedition, there’s no space for anyone who does not intend to finish” – Tahir Shah

“The very fact that a Frenchman was prepared, after two minutes of conversation, to be so friendly towards anyone, especially one who had come from England, made me restless” – Tahir Shah

“Money spent on good-quality gear is always money well spent” – Tahir Shah

“In some peculiar way, indeed, the rules were now beginning to seem quite logical. It was then I knew that I had been in India long enough” – Tahir Shah

“I was becoming addicted to Bombay. There was squalor and poverty, but I had begun to realise my good fortune and would never again forget it” – Tahir Shah