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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

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Tahir Shah
Age: 58
Born: 1966
Born: November 16
Author
Comedian
Explorer
Journalist
Novelist
Writer
London
England
Travel
Damascus
Beginning
Slice
Journey
Hunt
History
Hunts
Ends
Layers
Search
Treasure
Amazing

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If hot food is they key to maintaining an expedition's stamina, then low grade gut-rot alcohol is the key to sustaining its sense of pleasure.
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Any man who has ever led an army, an expedition, or a group of Boy Scouts has sadism in his bones.
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Buy a house in a foreign country and, it seems, that anything which can go wrong usually does.
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On a hard jungle journey nothing is so important as having a team you can trust.
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One senses that, in these conditions, no amount of wet-wiping could bring true hygiene.
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There’s nothing quite like a good quest for getting your blood pumping.
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There is nothing quite as unpleasant as wearing a pair of briefs which have been trailed through a Calcutta courtyard. Nothing, that is, except having one's elbows and knees lacerated by unseen slivers of glass and discarded razor blades.
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Previous journeys had taught me the danger of taking too much stuff.
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There can be few situations more fearful than breaking down in darkness on the highway leading to Casablanca. I have rarely felt quite so vulnerable or alone.
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I was no longer troubled when he pulled out a machete in a crowded bar, tried to pick up schoolgirls, or threatened to scalp us, then rip off our heads and scoop out our brains.
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The Occident has never found it easy to grasp the strange netherworld of spirits that followers of Islam universally believe exist in a realm overlaid our own.
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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.
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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.
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In Morocco, before you even get to the matter of the sale, you have to coax the owner to sell.
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I believe that Marrakech ought to be earned as a destination. The journey is the preparation for the experience. Reaching it too fast derides it, makes it a little less easy to understand.
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Contemplation is a luxury, requiring time and alternatives.
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I felt sure we could gain the upper hand by putting ourselves in the mindset of the Incas.
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For my father there was no sharper way to understand a country than by listening to its stories.
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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.
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To be selfless, you would give charity anonymously, walj softly on the earth, and look out for others-even total strangers-before you look out for yourself. For the Arab mind, the self is an obstacle, an impediment, in humanity's quest foe real progress.
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