Tahir Shah

When I was in a Pakistani torture jail, I got very very very sick of being interrogated each night. And, in my one moment of sheer bravery, I reached over the blinding lights (ie when my blindfiold and handcuffs had been removed) and I sunk my fingernails into the interrogator's face. I said, 'You're a totally crap interrogator, and I'm giving you my best bloody material, you bastard!' Which i was.

Under your bed.

What a great question!

I am pleased to have

1. lived a decade in a Jinn-infested home in a Moroccan shantytown.
2. Been able to write books i want to write (a rarity).
3. Watched the sun rise at Machu Picchu

And, on my wish-list:

1. go into a vast Chinese cave system that goes deeper than any other (can't remmeber the name).
2. Cross Africa East to West
3. Spend a month living on an Indian pavement.

The whole Pakistani torture prison for 16 days and horrible nights experience has shaped every day I have lived since. The worst moment was being taken out for a mock execution. It was the fear. the raw fear. I wrote about it once, and said that my sweat smelled like cat pee. It was the adrenalin... and that kind of fear isn't something I have experiecned before.

They took me out, blindfolded and chained, in the middle of the night. It was very calm. A gun was put to my head... well, it was pretty much like the movies. Except I didn't wriggle. I just kept still, hoping that it it was the end, that it would be fast. It was like a rabbit caught in headlights.

Two years ago I went to Angkor Wat in Cambodia... and I am going there next month with my kids... it's a real 'Indiana Jones' destination. I loved the Madre de Dios jungle in Peru as well for the magnificence of nature.

A place never to return? Hmmm... good question. can't really think of one. Really thinking here about that... No... I can't think of anywhere, although there are places in Europe that I wish let their hair down... as opposed to blow your hair back.

Hi there... thank you. What a wonderful question. Wow, I feel like taking my time to imagine a perfect answer... I think i'd want to be transformed as a man on a journey with a magic ring on his finger. The ring can't create wealth of any kind, but can lead to fabulous adventure.

That travel -- raw, on-the-cheap travel, can be an education like nothing else, and that it change change the way they see the world. My favourite saying is this Moroccan one: MUCH TRAVEL IS NEEDED BEFORE THE RAW MAN IS RIPENED.

Such a great question... The Classics are the core that fuels media online, as they have fuelled all new media for centuries. Cyberspace is new, yes, but printed books, newspapers etc were all new once as well. I think the net is amazing because it expands the horizons of storytelling... we have to celebrate that fact.

Pakistani torture jail. I was doing recon for a documentary. It was truly terrifying.