Chris Pratt Photography
Chittagong, or in Bangla, Chattogram; home to the ship breaking yards, celebrated or exposed by Sebastiao Salgado in 1989 and later reviled for environmental and human rights abuses. The industrial beaching and dismantling of giant tankers, ferries and container ships; dismantled on a human scale, by hand. Workers wearing flip-flops and using oxyacetylene cutting tools […]
Barishal, nestled deep in Bangladesh’s delta, sits amongst a network of canals and rivers seeping into the Bay of Bengal. To the north lies Dhaka, the world’s second most populous city, reached overnight by ferries along the internal waterways. Used for commerce and transportation the rivers are alive with the carriage of goods – from […]
Sandwiched between the flower market and the Hooghly River by the iconic Howrah Bridge is Kolkata’s akhara, founded in 1961 and one of the few remaining in India. The pahalwans (a Persian-derived term for wrestler) practice every day at dawn until it’s time for work, not just for sport but for spirituality. This is Suraj […]
Howrah Bridge, arguably the landmark of Kolkata. Not many years ago these yellow Ambassador taxis were the sight most synonymous with the city. Now, with the rise of Uber, car ownership and the citizen taxi driver, they are easily outnumbered by the white, modern, imported cars you can see anywhere. Uber is amazing though, I […]
It’s not the usual sun-kissed sky of a typical Maldives travel brochure, but with an unseasonable tropical cyclone sitting over Sri Lanka, this is the sort of drama you should expect. Bodu Hithi Island, sitting in the North Malé Atoll, boasts just one hotel, so most people prefix the name with Coco. Well, what’s to […]
It’s another festival and I appear to be in the middle of it (better timing at last). It’s something to do with Lord Rama’s victory over the demon king Ravana – good triumphs over evil, so it’s an easy excuse for a party. The music is very loud, trucks and tuk-tuks overladen with speakers, plus […]
All this way to see the Taj Mahal and the main dome has grown a nasty dose of scaffolding. So rather than generative AI, I looked for ways to hide it. There’s a leak apparently and it’ll take six months to fix (my timing hasn’t been good at all this trip). At least the scaffolding […]
That’s the name that became widely used in colonial times; and is still used by the locals and on the railways for this ancient city – Varanasi – continually inhabited, they say, for at least 5,000 years. Then it would have been known as Kashi, from the Sanskrit word to shine. And at dawn, shine […]
“Let’s walk to the pub”, he said. “Fine, I’ll bring my dog”, I replied. Well it’s 16 miles’ walk from the nearest road, add another four if they’re digging up the last stretch to re-tarmac it (and add another 52 miles if you get a taxi from Fort William). And bring a tent just in […]
It’s at the seaside, on the North Kent coast and the furthest reaches of the Thames Estuary, which makes it easy from London – one of the things it’s famous for. The pebble beaches are never going to be the best for making sandcastles but there’s a great bar & restaurant scene and a thriving […]
