The Prince of Siam's dog

I've gone blindly past this extraordinary monument on Mitcham's Corner (also known as Staples corner) probably 50 times: it's a forlorn patch of Cambridge, squashed up between 3 main roads with no obvious reason to visit (except Staples). But there is a hidden gem - a reason for anyone to visit. The Prince of Siam built a dog-trough there.

1934
In memory of Tony a dog who
gave him friendship and happiness
during his Cambridge years.
This trough is erected by his Royal
Highness Prince Chula of Siam

Wittgenstein's cat

Cambridge seems to be good at graveyards, but even so, this has to be one of the best: the Ascension Parish Burial Ground, up Huntingdon Road.


Not only does it have graves of famous people (James Frazer of the Golden Bough, a clutch of Darwins, and, of course, Wittgenstein), and inscriptions by Eric Gill...

...and a stone-masonry inside the (non-functioning) church:

It also has a beautiful Bengal cat...


...who's very fond of Wittgenstein:



And it's a perfect place for Wittgenstinian contemplation:

Palestine, Hampshire, UK

I've always wanted to go to Palestine, and then two come along at once. I'm on my way...

It's where Palestine and Zion meet, apparently:


An inspiration for coexistence, or has the conflict been playing itself out in this hood too? Now I'm looking for China Avenue intersecting Tibet Street, Devon, UK.

Back home

After a week of sleep and writing, I'm getting some distance, as they say, on the whole trip. I wish that I'd behaved differently in some ways; I wish I hadn't got so angry in Syria, as it coloured what I thought and said and wrote for the following ten days. I really wish that Detta hadn't taken things personally. Criticism sounds personal, simply because Follow the Women is Detta: it was her idea, and she runs the show - all speeches on behalf of Follow the Women are from Detta. So pointing out what went wrong is pointing out how she went wrong, which is an unfortunate situation when people just want the possibility of change.

It's horrible putting down people who mean well. The sentiment of Follow the Women is good, and it stems - I think, though others have disagreed - from genuine care for people Detta has met. But the naivety of the whole set-up leads to scenarios that I cannot possibly be positive about, and more - this is where insidious guilt asserts itself - I feel the need to be negative: the region means too much for me to allow such scenarios to go uncriticised.

Much of what there is to say about the trip itself can be easily incorporated into FtW. More communication before and during the ride; clearer aims from the beginning; workshops for everyone's questions and input - all this would instantly improve the atmosphere. People would be united, instead of feeling unrepresented. Of course, there are much deeper structural problems. Clarifying the aims sounds easy, given that the aims are there on the website, but there was so much disagreement, including fundamentally contradictory reasons for being there, that in practice this is difficult. For example, Detta stands firm with Sahar when the latter declares Israeli women are not welcome. But Detta has worked hard to bring Israelis on board; she is proud of this and in my opinion rightly so. Some people are there for the women, others say that this is irrelevant. And so on. It is not impossible to sort this out: Detta has to make some decisions and stick to them. But there are another level of problems for me.

No-one seems to know exactly what we are trying to do. Peace for Palestine, Detta said on the last night I was with FtW, in a workshop in Palestine; that's what it started with, that's what it's all about. Many people didn't know that, but even if that is stated as the only aim, there is still the problem that no-one can agree on what peace for Palestine would look like. And no-one seems to be thinking about what we are doing for this mysterious peace.

Taking the message home, is a common theme. What message? That Palestinians have tough lives and wait at checkpoints? This has been just a few days of the two weeks. What is the truth of life in the other three countries that we have seen? We have seen little of the real life of the countries - this is impossible with 250 women in tow, so where will the truth be found?

A view expressed by many was that it felt like a tour group; we were touring four countries in a novel way, cheaply. We were staying in nice hotels, doing tourist things, and on top of that cycling. Few people raised sponsorship so we were not taking money into Palestine.

"Everyone should pledge to do three things" said Detta. "Whether that's trying to get Israeli's on board, or writing an article, or writing letters to your MP, or giving a talk at your work, college, local club: if everyone did just a few things the aims of Follow the Women would be realised." But what would people say? Steph's point that no-one else takes any responsibility was born out by a completely silent response to Detta's request for help. But as I heard later, people didn't feel able to volunteer for something so undefined, something unknown. What I really don't understand is how people have worked so hard for results so unexamined. I want to know what we've achieved.

I have an inkling of some negative achievements, as I've already written about. We have given free publicity to politically dubious regimes and parties and also tourist boards. We have given support in word if not in deed to anyone we have passed along the way, often giving a false sense of what the rest of the world thinks: this takes cross-cultural understanding the wrong way.

Perhaps all of this is irrelevant compared to the feeling of support we give to the Palestinians; also, the message that the Palestinians have a hard life is certainly worth taking home: as Detta put it, "The Palestinians are the ones without a voice". But I wish I'd known that it was all about Palestine before I went, and I can't help thinking that if it was only about Palestine, we should have spent more time in Palestine and less enjoying the hospitality of the region.

5 Star Hotels

"The best thing about Follow the Women was the hotels."

Spoken by Mette, agreed with by many.

What are the ethics of staying in 5 star hotels when on a peace ride? I realise that some luxury abodes have been sponsorship in kind (and the problems with that is an entirely separate issue), so it's not as if we're depriving the needy - even if we slept on the street the Palestinians wouldn't get any more money. But sometimes they have been chosen by the organisers, despite being paid for out of the FtW pot. Some people think that putting money into the non-existent tourist industry in Jericho is a good thing (who does stay in that resort when we're not there, anyway?). This is an old economic argument, used to justify servants and other luxuries, but is it really true that the money gets to locals in Jericho? Does a Palestinian own the hotel? How much are the service staff paid? If we stayed in a hostel would the poor locals get more than the waiters at the hotel?

What's really strange are the juxtapositions. We go home from visiting refugee camps to hot baths and room service. A day spent in passing borders and checkpoints is finished with sheesha on a terrace overlooking the pool complete with palms and a multitude of waiters. Many are bridling with the money and time wasted on luxury, which doesn't add much to an understanding of the country.

"And don't even get me started on the carbon footprint of 250 women in 5-star hotels" says American journalist in Jordan. An environmentally disastrous bike-ride...how very original...

Follow the Bush (Mrs)

Mette and I blag our way into the "Western Wall Tunnels" (488 metres of tunnel running alongside the buried Wailing Wall): apparently, you’re supposed to book a place by email two days in advance so be warned. It's an incredible museum; the result of over a hundred years of archaeological work containing many thousands of years of rich Holy Land history.

One of the miracles of the wall is a huge stone which has cracked to produce a perfect map of Israel. “Oh, including the occupied territories” said Mette when she saw. A giggle from a Brit, silence from the rest.

We watch a short film about how to excavate a site, and when we are leaving our Stepford wife of a tour guide points to a chair and said “that’s where Mrs Bush sat this morning”. We left one group obsessed by a first lady to follow another.

Safe bathing - with an armed guard

Mette, Jutta and I have lunch together in Nablus after a morning with the Women, and go into town by ourselves. It's lucky I didn't get my only tourist impression from Bethlehem...Nablus was aggressive, explicitly.

"Is your grandfather Jewish?" I was asked (in Arabic, nobody here spoke English), after asking the way to the Tomb of Joseph (in the Danish guidebook). Erm, no. Admitting to Danish nationality didn't go down at all well, and Mette and Jutta retired to play volleyball with the children (all boys) around. "I'm Hamas" said another man (no women to be seen; men appearing from nowhere). "What do you think about that?". I explain we're tourists. "Jewish?" Erm, no, again. "Why do you want to see Joseph?" We've just been to Jacob's Well, and the guidebook says we're near to the tomb.

Eventually they point the way, and the posse of boys accompanies us, jostling and generally harassing us. We try to go into the bombed out shell of a tomb, but shouts from police and soldiers stop us. We are met by the same suspicion though reined in: "Why do you want to go in?". They radio for permission ("Just say British" says the superior after hearing "British and Danish") and then lead the way. "Israel did all this damage" they tell us, fairly needlessly. I ask how old the tomb is. "Old, old, 200 years at least". I look very baffled indeed. "Surely not", I say, wondering how bad my Arabic is. "Thousands, right?" They look baffled. "The son of Jacob died min zaman [ages ago]." "But this isn't the son of Jacob".

Light dawns.
- There are two Josephs?
- Of course.
- This isn't the Prophet Joseph?
- No no no!
- Where's the Prophet Joseph?
- In Egypt.

We laugh.

They laugh a lot, and explain that this is a very famous Muslim Sheikh from the 18th century, targeted by the Israelis on account of his importance to the locals. No wonder they were suspicious.



Soon after we bump into an official from the tourist board who is horrified that we are by ourselves, and gives us an armed guard, who then waits for an hour while we bathe - in a lovely Turkish bath with all trimmings - steam, scrub, massage, soak, shower and lying/dozing on a huge heated marble table. A waste of Palestinian police time? Almost certainly, but almost certainly nicer for him too: sitting drinking tea waiting for bathing Western beauties to appear.

We return to the Women restored, though of course everyone is jealous again, and we are being majorly disapproved of - not without cause. Looking back, I should have left days ago.