World Press Photography 2012

The World Press Photography competition photos are displayed each year at the Southbank Centre. The photographs featuring this year focused on events that took place in 2011 with the tsunami in Japan, the conflict in Libya and protests in Egypt all featuring prominently.

 Japan after the Tsunami, photograph by Paolo Pellegrin from Italy

 Japan after the Tsunami, photograph by Koichiro Tezuka from Japan

Demonstrators kneeling for prayer near Tahir Square in Egypt, photograph by Jan Dago from Denmark

 Dakar Fashion Week, photograph by Vincent Boiset from France

Moscow, photograph by Alexander Gronsky from Russia

 Traditional dress worn by a tribal elder in Papua New Guinea, photograph by Brent Stirton

Ritual cleansing in Kazakhstan, photograph by Pavel Prokopchik from the Netherlands

A journey through Central Asia

No, not the Ibizan superclub, Pasha is a restaurant/hotel/hamam in Camberwell. It serves a range of reasonably priced food from lots of different Central Asian countries.

The restaurant itself is at the back of the building, past a tantalizing glimpse of the hamam, down a long carpeted corridor and past two slighly eerie mannequins. 

The dining area is divided in two by a small bridge over a pond, with chairs and tables on one side and low tables and cushions on the other. This was another of Bibby's great dining events and since she was the only person there I recognized I got chatting to the people around me. In fact the comfortable cushions and good company meant that not only did I not notice the slightly slow service but that when the food did finally arrive it was a pleasant interruption.


I had Funchoza as a starter, which is rice noodles mixed with fried diced lamb and vegetables according to the menu.

For my main course I had Besh Barmak - dumplings with beef and onion, cooked in broth.

As we left we were given a voucher for a 60 minute session in the hamam so hopefully I'll be back at some point to take advantage of the offer.  My photos really don't do the whole experience justice and I finally rolled back home, sleepy and content at about midnight.

http://www.hotelpasha.com/