Author: mark steadman

Epicurian-backslash-pUNk rOcK-adventurer

Mowing the Lawn…

Divide and rule is as unlikely to succeed here as regime change from 30 000 feet is.  Iranians will not let thousands of years of rich history and culture turn to rubble at their own hands.  During the June attacks people in rural areas opened doors to those fleeing the bombardment of their cities, shopkeepers undercharged basic goods and neighbours knocked each other's doors to ask if they needed anything.  The ancient Zoroastrian mantra ‘Good Words, Good Thoughts and Good Deeds’ transcends time, religion and ethnicity. 

Attacking Iran

From the Zagros Mountains in the west where Alexander’s army squeezed through a small passage to avoid the Persians though the ingenious desert architecture of Yazd to the Heart of the nation (Esfahan) and the Soul (Shiraz) to the Caspian Sea in the north and the Straits of Hormuz in the south, Iranians are proud of their poets, sufis, writers and ancient cultures.

Papua New Guinea – (Still) a place unlike any other…(2013)

On paper – it’s a shocking place.  But juxtaposed against this picture of a dysfunctional society is the gentle, kind nature of the people we met.  University students, spirit house elders, boatmen and barflies; we were greeted with the same warmth, smiles and courtesy. Quietly spoken people who wanted to tell you about their country, about their lives.

Locked Down in Laos (March 2020)

In Laos, Social Distancing is imposed by nature; Laos can claim to be the most socially distanced country in South East Asia.  This geography may have helped save Laos from a Covid-19 disaster.  Laotians are not strangers to suffering either.   Older Laotians endured the hardships of living in caves during nine years of continual bombing.   Lao people - and their government - understood how to respond to this new threat.