{"id":3988,"date":"2009-02-05T11:16:05","date_gmt":"2009-02-05T11:16:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp\/?p=3988"},"modified":"2021-11-15T13:41:33","modified_gmt":"2021-11-15T13:41:33","slug":"misadventure-in-the-middle-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/","title":{"rendered":"Misadventure in the Middle East by Henry Hemming &#8211; review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"text-element body\">Misadventure in the Middle East is a story of a journey around the Middle East or, as our two intrepid heros would prefer, The Heart of the Islamic World. They are painters who venture forth with no great political or religious ideals and so were open to everything that this adventure was to offer.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"image-4-3 image-review alignright\" src=\"http:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/img\/misadventure.jpg\" alt=\"Misadventure in the Middle East\" width=\"195\" height=\"315\" \/> Henry Hemming and his companion Al are presented with unexpected difficulties near the start of the trip. Not as you might expect from indoctrinated, religiously over-enthused border guards in Iran. No, the problem starts with Eastern European border guards in Slovakia who refuse entry to the two bohemians (in lifestyle not nationality). The grounds for that refusal? They are obviously Islamic extremists bent on riot or civil unrest. Well, one of the lads had a beard and the other had a dangerous tent pole but neither are Muslims.<\/p>\n<p>Henry and Al had recently met some young Muslims in the Czech Republic who had described the changes to their lives since 9\/11. They only fly, these days, as a last resort because fellow passengers are uneasy travelling with those who look so obviously Islamic.<\/p>\n<p>Misadventure in the Middle East isn\u2019t the usual holiday romp. These guys are artists who are youthful and naive. They are exposed to Iranian skiers who keep out the cold with slugs of alcohol and drugs. They are targeted by Hungarian criminals. They view torture chambers, secret beaches and artists studios, but most importantly they have the rare opportunity to interact with the locals.<\/p>\n<p>If you want a travel book about real people, current attitudes and hopes, then Misadventure in the Middle East is the volume for you. It isn\u2019t a book of romantic rug sellers, shopping opportunities and smart restaurants. Henry and Al don\u2019t point you in the direction of the best hotels. This is a book for those travellers who \u201cwant to know\u201d. It\u2019s gripping and thought-provoking and a thoroughly good read.<\/p>\n<p>Misadventure in the Middle East<br \/>\nAuthor: Henry Hemming<br \/>\nPublished by: Nicholas Brealey<br \/>\nPrice: \u00a310.99<br \/>\nISBN 1-85788-395-0<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Travel book review by Chrissie Walker \u00a9 2018<\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Misadventure in the Middle East is a story of a journey around the Middle East or, as our two intrepid heros would prefer, The Heart of the Islamic World. They [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,3485],"tags":[1467,145,52,1466,416],"class_list":["post-3988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-books","category-culture-and-art","tag-henry-hemming","tag-literature","tag-middle-eastern","tag-misadventure-in-the-middle-east","tag-travelogue"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Misadventure in the Middle East by Henry Hemming - review - Mostly Food and Cocktails<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Misadventure in the Middle East isn\u2019t the usual holiday romp. These guys are artists who are youthful and naive. They are exposed to Iranian skiers who keep out the cold with slugs of alcohol and drugs. They are targeted by Hungarian criminals. They view torture chambers, secret beaches and... Read my review here...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Misadventure in the Middle East by Henry Hemming - review - Mostly Food and Cocktails\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Misadventure in the Middle East isn\u2019t the usual holiday romp. These guys are artists who are youthful and naive. They are exposed to Iranian skiers who keep out the cold with slugs of alcohol and drugs. They are targeted by Hungarian criminals. They view torture chambers, secret beaches and... Read my review here...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mostly Food and Cocktails\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-02-05T11:16:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-15T13:41:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/img\/misadventure.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chrissie Walker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mostlyfood1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mostlyfood1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chrissie Walker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chrissie Walker\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d16aed8a57c37c1412a0fd0b6b71cc9b\"},\"headline\":\"Misadventure in the Middle East by Henry Hemming &#8211; review\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-02-05T11:16:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-15T13:41:33+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/\"},\"wordCount\":359,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d16aed8a57c37c1412a0fd0b6b71cc9b\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/misadventure.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Henry Hemming\",\"literature\",\"Middle-Eastern\",\"Misadventure in the Middle East\",\"travelogue\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Books\",\"Culture and Art\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/\",\"name\":\"Misadventure in the Middle East by Henry Hemming - review - Mostly Food and Cocktails\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/misadventure.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-02-05T11:16:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-11-15T13:41:33+00:00\",\"description\":\"Misadventure in the Middle East isn\u2019t the usual holiday romp. These guys are artists who are youthful and naive. They are exposed to Iranian skiers who keep out the cold with slugs of alcohol and drugs. They are targeted by Hungarian criminals. They view torture chambers, secret beaches and... Read my review here...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/misadventure.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/misadventure.jpg\",\"width\":363,\"height\":586},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Misadventure in the Middle East by Henry Hemming &#8211; review\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Mostly Food and Cocktails\",\"description\":\"It\u2019s all about delicious food and cocktails, along with spirits, wines, restaurant reviews, hotels, cruises and resorts. Please look elsewhere for negative reviews.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d16aed8a57c37c1412a0fd0b6b71cc9b\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":[\"Person\",\"Organization\"],\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d16aed8a57c37c1412a0fd0b6b71cc9b\",\"name\":\"Chrissie Walker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MFC-logo-ee0077-bl-shadow-cropped.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MFC-logo-ee0077-bl-shadow-cropped.gif\",\"width\":1145,\"height\":571,\"caption\":\"Chrissie Walker\"},\"logo\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Misadventure in the Middle East by Henry Hemming - review - Mostly Food and Cocktails","description":"Misadventure in the Middle East isn\u2019t the usual holiday romp. These guys are artists who are youthful and naive. They are exposed to Iranian skiers who keep out the cold with slugs of alcohol and drugs. They are targeted by Hungarian criminals. They view torture chambers, secret beaches and... Read my review here...","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Misadventure in the Middle East by Henry Hemming - review - Mostly Food and Cocktails","og_description":"Misadventure in the Middle East isn\u2019t the usual holiday romp. These guys are artists who are youthful and naive. They are exposed to Iranian skiers who keep out the cold with slugs of alcohol and drugs. They are targeted by Hungarian criminals. They view torture chambers, secret beaches and... Read my review here...","og_url":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/","og_site_name":"Mostly Food and Cocktails","article_published_time":"2009-02-05T11:16:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-11-15T13:41:33+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.mostlyfood.co.uk\/img\/misadventure.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Chrissie Walker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@mostlyfood1","twitter_site":"@mostlyfood1","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chrissie Walker","Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/"},"author":{"name":"Chrissie Walker","@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d16aed8a57c37c1412a0fd0b6b71cc9b"},"headline":"Misadventure in the Middle East by Henry Hemming &#8211; review","datePublished":"2009-02-05T11:16:05+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-15T13:41:33+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/"},"wordCount":359,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d16aed8a57c37c1412a0fd0b6b71cc9b"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/misadventure.jpg","keywords":["Henry Hemming","literature","Middle-Eastern","Misadventure in the Middle East","travelogue"],"articleSection":["Books","Culture and Art"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/","url":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/","name":"Misadventure in the Middle East by Henry Hemming - review - Mostly Food and Cocktails","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/misadventure.jpg","datePublished":"2009-02-05T11:16:05+00:00","dateModified":"2021-11-15T13:41:33+00:00","description":"Misadventure in the Middle East isn\u2019t the usual holiday romp. These guys are artists who are youthful and naive. They are exposed to Iranian skiers who keep out the cold with slugs of alcohol and drugs. They are targeted by Hungarian criminals. They view torture chambers, secret beaches and... Read my review here...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/misadventure.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/02\/misadventure.jpg","width":363,"height":586},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/misadventure-in-the-middle-east\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Misadventure in the Middle East by Henry Hemming &#8211; review"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/","name":"Mostly Food and Cocktails","description":"It\u2019s all about delicious food and cocktails, along with spirits, wines, restaurant reviews, hotels, cruises and resorts. Please look elsewhere for negative reviews.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d16aed8a57c37c1412a0fd0b6b71cc9b"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/d16aed8a57c37c1412a0fd0b6b71cc9b","name":"Chrissie Walker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MFC-logo-ee0077-bl-shadow-cropped.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/MFC-logo-ee0077-bl-shadow-cropped.gif","width":1145,"height":571,"caption":"Chrissie Walker"},"logo":{"@id":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/"}}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3988"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9674,"href":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3988\/revisions\/9674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing22.mostlyfood.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}