This is a book about the images and thoughts of my travels to a distant land so many of us know so little about. In setting out on a trip to accompany a good friend, I quickly found myself trying to capture a fleeting glimpse of the tortured beauty of this country and in doing so present some of the images and thoughts that are so often left shrouded by a veil of ignorance. What I came away with was a sense of bewilderment that such a beautiful country with such promise can have been left in the shadows for so many years.