The anarchic, difficult writer of 'The Good Soldier Svelk'. Relates some of his drunken exploits.

The best, most up-beat, easy-to-read, funny Czech writer serves up a plateful of delightful dishes from Prague restaurants and bars and further a field.

Argh! Paris, city of light, city of love, blah blah blah. There IS something about Paris that gets inside you, though. The pavement cafes are better here than anywhere, the food is wonderful; back-street bistros, the early morning bread shops, the late night chocolate croissants. The best meal I ever had (sure? Ed) was here, in St Paul. I bought the chef a drink, (always a good idea, before you order. You'll get better food! And why should the lousy, stuck up waiter get a tip when the guy doing all the work gets nothing? He's hot, so send him a beer!) and he served us, cooked for us, drank all night with us, and what food! Couscous, Racks of lamb, Tarts. Plate after plate, after cognac. But is the Paris I remember gone? No, not really it's just moved on, as have I. Therefore when I return to places I have this annoying habit of saying stuff like ' Yeah, but it's not the same anymore!' Like Barcelona, I lived there before they did up the dodgy areas and drove out the pimps, prostitutes and drug addicts! It's not the same now! (but I didn't think it was so cool when I was lying in a pool of blood at 4 in the morning).
So, has my Paris gone? Well, some of it has. Bastille, used to be cheap, a few scrawny bistros, a cool bar where we could smoke and they played The Doors (The Doors? I must have been stoned!). Now? Wall to wall bars, hordes of wildebeest from beyond the Peripherique dancing to shit music. How dare they! Bastille is still ok actually (lots of cheap hostels and hotels), as is St Paul (quality, cheap bistros and the bar where Trotsky drank) and La Marais (ok so it's very trendy now, but it's still a great place and the Polish bar is still there where I got drunk with Solidarnosc supporters many moons ago.) But cities, like travellers move on and Oberkampf is now like the Paris I remember; cool student bars, wondeful, cheap bistros, but me and the other chefs will always have the small jazz bars; drug dealer, prostitute, artist, writer-packed nights of the cafes of the Rue Saint Denis; two of us having dinner with the Crazy Horse dancers (Oh yes! All twelve of 'em!) waiting for the metro to take us home from work and play. Ah, Paris...

A Great Rift

So where now after Live 8?
Cancel the debt? Great idea.
Trade justice? Doubtful. Capitalism won't like that.
More and better aid? Now, we're getting somewhere.

"It's vital that this aid focuses more on poor people's needs. This means more aid being spent on areas such as basic health care and education. Aid should support countries' and ommunities' own plans and paths out of poverty." - www.live8list.com Lovely sentiments, but reading through the examples of misused and misguided aid programmes in 'The Great Rift', you wonder if it's even worth it. It is, and the answers the book comes up with will hopefully arm some future aid workers, volunteers or just travellers who get stuck when trying to argue with the 'you'll never change Africa' brigade.

The Great Rift is a personal account of the experiences of the two authors who have lived and worked in Malawi for 30 years and the way in which there eyes were opened, by the people with whom they worked, to the many hardships that beset the country. It isalso an attempt to analyse some of the problems and to suggest how they might be remedied. These are solid, day-to-day solutions by people who have been working on the ground in hospitals and communities and their book chronicles how poverty, disease and the degradation of the environment, all compounded by the growth of the Aids pandemic, is becoming increasingly critical.

According to the authors diagnosis, the root of Malawi's problems is over-population, which they blame on a combination of traditional customs and beliefs (articularly witchcraft and polygamy) and misguided donor policies which put an emphasis on what the Kings call 'child survivalism' without sufficient thought as to how these survivors are to be sustained.

This is a book which deserves to be taken seriously for the many insights it gives into health, education, politics and society in Malawi, and Africa as a whole. It will also be enjoyed by travellers who have spent time in Africa or are planning to. Elspeth King's descriptions of her daily life, the haunting beauty of the land and the many quotes from her students' balance out what are sometimes harrowing accounts of the day to day struggle between life and death in the hospitals. Proceeds from the sale of the book go towards the running of the couple's modest car. Although retired from full-time medicine, they still travel around, helping out at clinics and are setting up a library at Nykata Bay. Order a copy at order@dauntbooks.com, help a little bit of Africa, and learn something while you're doing it.

An old, personal guidebook, but still relevant and wonderfully written. The writer's own account of Lisbon life and character, and loads about food too.

A journey by car that avoids the usual sights as Saramago seeks the heartbeat of the country he loves.

Now, if you haven't read Driving Over Lemons, the trend-setting and best of the 'doing up an old farm and living with the locals' travel books, and are planning a trip to Spain, get with the programme! The book is set in Las Alpujarras near Granada and it is a wonderful area to explore, on foot or by horse. What I loved more than the pretty little villages and spectacular scenery though, was the grub. Now, the Tapas in Seville are world famous and rightly so, but they cost a bit. So for eating majestically, whist on a budget, the Alpuharras are king. Find a working mans cafe (The Yellow Bar near the end of the main street in Lanjaron, for example), buy loads of drinks and eat tapas as they should be eaten, for free! Every drink bought brings huge amounts of different dishes, fish, prawns, chick peas and spinach, meatballs, Serrano ham?I could go on, but I now have to go out and pay a fortune at my local La Tasca! The follow up to '?span class="black-d">Lemons', 'Parrot in the Pepper Tree' is good too!

The first book is a classic travelogue of a young dreamer who sets off with his violin to discover new and exciting places and people; and finds them. The second is a return 15 years later after fighting in the civil war and doing a bit of writing and stuff and the changes he finds in the people and the land he once thought he knew well. He also wrote loads of other travel books and novels connected with Andalucia.

Two cooks, the two Sams, bought a camper van and set off on a journey to discover and cook the food of Spain and North Africa. Then they opened a top restaurant in London and published a crap first recipe book. The second is much better. It has easy to do recipes that they produce in their home in the Las Alpujarras rather than in the restaurant.

Magnolia Bakery

When you, or your wallet, finally get tired of traipsing about Bleeker Street, I thoroughly recommend you rejuvenate yourself with the most yummy cakes in town from Magnolia Bakery, a tiny but bustling New York cafe. You can either perch at a tiny table whilst you devour your heaven sent New-Yorker cheesecake or take some of the goodness home with you.

You may be mistakenly thinking that Prague these days is just full of erotic clubs for the English stag-do monsters and Americans pretending to be Jack Karouac sitting in Tex-Mex blues bars. Well, it is like that, but there are still a few places where you can escape all that stuff. One of the only really Czech areas left in the centre (and hurry, the developers are already buying everything up), Zizkov is a run-down old communist workers/student/gypsy area. One of my favourite places is the cheap Akropolis restaurant and bar serving good local fayre. Here arty Czech types mix with local families and heavy drinking workers. Next door is the theatre cum venue Palace Acropolis where you can get to see a good selection of bands/singers from the Czech underground and international acts. Tickets and beer are cheap. While you're there, try to catch a game at Zizkov's wonderful, tiny, tenement enclosed, footy stadium. For an authentic Prague beer, sausages and local characters experience, in a back-in-time setting, Zizkov beats sitting in U Fleku with the Germans, hands down. Check out the Prague Post, a weekly English language newspaper with a good nightlife guide. Available at kiosks in the centre.

I Served the King of England by Bohumil Hrabal

Take the funicular up from Avenida Liberdade, turn left at the top and cross the road and you will find, hopefully, what looks like a shuttered shop that if you didn't know you wouldn't bother with at first sight but that would be a mistake. The whole area is full of hidden bars, clubs and restaurants and is a much better night out than the new soul-less 'could be anywhere' docklands area. More of a cafe than a bar though very little coffee is drunk there. Cool and interesting Lisboetas and young ex-pats huddle together in a heaving mass of chat and music. Once the two Joses stop being irate with you and know your poison you'll know you've arrived in Lisbon. To find out about underground gigs and cool bars that aren't in the guidebooks, sit, mingle, look cool, drink and make friends, mannn!

Manhattan Records

Open: 12.00-21.00 (Sat&Sun 11.00-21.00)

1st Floor, Mokusen Building, 10-1 Udagawa-cho, Tokyo

Tel: 03 3477 7166

Tokyo is the ideal place to spot genuine Japanese B-boys, perfectly groomed in baggy pants and backward caps. Heavy beats greet you as you step into this fairly small store, laid out on two floors. The ground floor is an open space displaying new and old 12" releases on either wall. Here you'll find mostly mainstream commercial American hip-hop such as Snoop Dog intermingled with the usual R'n'B artists. At the back, under the stairs hides a Dj booth from which the sounds are spun. Climbing the stairs leads you to the second floor that houses the alphabetised crates of vinyl, where more diverse hip-hop from US, UK and Japan can be found, along with a small selection of funk and soul. All the albums that were newly released could be found, along with handy store recommendations. Not much used or second hand vinyl was on sale and only a limited number of CDs. On the street side of the second floor is a long sales counter, staffed by 2 or 3 very, very trendy Japanese youths.

Arch Records

Another place I recommend if you're in the area is Arch Records in Nagoya. These guys deal mostly in Indie, but appear to have a great selection of Brazilian beats, bossa, jazz and electronica. It is little known that Nagoya boasts a strong Brazilian connection, with many Brazilians living and working in the Aichi prefecture, so often good club nights can be found. Arch Records is a good place to ask for info on what's on. It's located not far from Oasis 21 where you'll also find tourist info, and there is a great cafe round the corner called Tiger Cafe.

Bleeker Street Records

Bleeker Street is a long street that bisects the famous Greenwich Village of New York and is riddled with intriguing shops and boutiques to while away an afternoon. Here you will find a smattering of record shops, including Bleecker Street Records. This store obviously has an established reputation and although they stock some quality records and CDs, the man at the till was rude and unhelpful on our unfortunate visit, and some of the smaller (tiny and dusty) record stores just around the corner were far more friendly. You might think that being in New York and finding a decent independent hip-hop store would be as easy as taking a walk in central park. Unfortunately I didn't find this the case, and would need some serious advice before my next visit.

Elizabeth Street is top on my list for retail therapy. If you're looking for that "sex in the city" fashionista fix then you've found it. I've found a good link that reviews the shops quite comprehensively. You'll also find thrift shops and other interesting windows to browse on adjoining side streets. Depending on which way you are walking you'll end up in the heart of Chinatown on Canal Street, where the weary shopper can get a full back massage for around $40.

100 Smith St (Corner of Atlantic), Brooklyn, NY 11201

Whilst wandering the Brooklyn Heights, I found this great independent clothes store called Brooklyn Industries. They design and sell casual/urban styles for both sexes. I particularly like the use of the water tower as their logo, their ubiquitous city landmark. They also had a table of excellent fliers by the door, which give you a starting point for a night on the tiles. I also found a discount flier for the internet cafe round the corner which was handy. Taking a walk south from this store along Smith Street will also lead you to some excellent bars, cafes and restaurants. Be warned: it's all a bit trendy.