Travels With My Daughter
With special thanks to my dear friends:
The Laytons, Cedric Smith and Rosy & Andrew Gibb
for being part of my life and my story.
Travels With My Daughter
Niema Ash
THE DUNDURN GROUP
TORONTO · OXFORD
Copyright © Niema Ash, 2001
First published in the United Kingdom by TravellersEye Ltd., 2001
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise (except for brief passages for purposes of review) without the prior permission of Dundurn Press. Permission to photocopy should be requested from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency.
Design: Jennifer Scott
Printer: Transcontinental
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication Data
Ash, Niema
Travels with my daughter
ISBN 1-55002-372-1
1. Ash, Niema —Journeys. 2. Mothers and daughters.
3. Travelers′ writing, Canadian (English) I. Title.
G490.A84 2001 910′.92 C2001-902251-4
1 2 3 4 5 05 04 03 02 01
We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council for our publishing program. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program and The Association for the Export of Canadian Books, and the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishers Tax Credit program.
Care has been taken to trace the ownership of copyright material used in this book. The author and the publisher welcome any information enabling them to rectify any references or credit in subsequent editions.
J. Kirk Howard, President
Printed and bound in Canada.
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For my daughter Ronit and mother Rose
In tribute to Victoria Bates
Table of Contents
Three: The Finjan and Bob Dylan: Travel Substitutes
Four: The Healing of Leonard Cohen
Five: The Man Who Wouldn’t Talk
Eight: Ketama Where Even the Files are Stoned
Thirteen: The Marrakesh Express
Fourteen: Marrakesh — The Red City
Twenty: A Gift from the Prince
Twenty-three: The Enticing Beyond
Introduction
Travel was always a driving passion. The initiation ceremony marking my coming of age was a journey into the world. Most of the major events of my life happened on the road. I was married on the road, conceived my daughter on the road, turned from girl to woman on the road. I acted, interacted, taught and learned on the road. I was introduced to Buddhism in Tibet, to Islam in Morocco, to Hinduism in India, to apartheid in South Africa. The road was my university, my church, my true love.
How alarming then, while travelling in Africa, to discover I was pregnant. I panicked. Now I would have to choose between travel and motherhood. But I soon discovered that in the heart of Africa I didn’t have that choice. I would have to stay pregnant. In desperation I vowed to myself that motherhood would not limit my love of exploration, of experience with people and places, would not curb the adventure. Somehow I would find a way. And so it was.
This book is the story of how I found that way, how my love of travel and adventure was shared with my daughter, Ronit. How she participated in my journey, how that journey became her journey; how we grew to better know and understand each other, how Ronit became my best travel companion.
The