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May 18, 2016
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Asia, Experiences
I spent two months in Central Asia, immersing myself in landscapes, history, culture and (mis)adventures. Since then I’ve told you 7 stories of serendipity; great empires; border guards hoping for porn; nomads; and elderly farmers under shady trees amidst a landscape scorched by environmental catastrophe.
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May 4, 2016
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Asia, Experiences, Photo Essays
Tajikistan has some hills. I already told you all about this. But now I want to show you some of these sky-touching scenes from two regions we visited: Kulikalon and the Pamirs. But not just yet! Because you ought to hear how we reached these areas. The first place, Kulikalon – well that won’t take long.
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April 13, 2016
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Asia, Experiences
It was sometime about an hour after my escape from the bureaucratic clutches of the Uzbeks. That’s when I realised Tajikistan may not have been the panacea it seemed. My shared taxi-driver, delivering me into the capital Dushanbe (affectionally known as ‘the big douche’) was ignoring lane markers and
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March 14, 2016
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Asia, Experiences
I was finally able to eat again. It had been a longer than usual bout of travel sickness. Thirty-six hours straight, either unconscious in bed or dragging myself to the bathroom. I hadn’t eaten a crumb in two days. A Danish doctor on a RTW motorbike trip had confirmed that my strategy – namely, “starving
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February 24, 2016
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Asia, Experiences, Photo Essays
During my world wandering I seem to have developed something of a knack for attracting interesting strangers. A conversation, kindled from nothing, can burn for hours. I have asked more than one of these folks: Why’d you speak to me? “You looked open.” Regardless of whether or not
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February 3, 2016
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Asia, Experiences, Photo Essays
IT WAS 40˚C IN THE SHADE. Luckily we had some. My Russiaustralian travel-mate Sasha and I sheltered beneath a short, wide tree. Around us, sun-baked fields struggled to grow. It’s like the plants were hesitating to grow any nearer to that scorching fireball in the sky. On one side of us was a single-speed bicycle
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January 7, 2016
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Asia, Experiences, Photo Essays
Borders. Delighting cartographers; thwarting travellers. In Stans #5 I gave you a glimpse of them from the ground-level. In Stans #2 I explained the source of these baffling boundaries, and their ridiculous results: A land minced into enclaves. Cultures cleaved. The Fergana Valley is one such place, a
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December 28, 2015
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Asia, Experiences
The first stage of the infamously frustrating Uzbekistan border-crossing experience is just getting to the customs officials. A dozen hands and nosy eyes examine my passport, inspecting each stamp as if one is going to read “ISIS Training School, Class of 2015”. Border guards, bored. When I eventually get waved
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December 3, 2015
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Asia, Experiences, Photo Essays
From the thousand-year old epic poem of Manas (the greatest hero in history, by volume), to the still common tradition of bride kidnapping, Kyrgyzstan is a place beyond imagination. In four photo-essays so far, I’ve tried my best to bottle-up some of this country and give you all a sip:
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November 14, 2015
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Asia, Experiences, Photo Essays
IN WESTERN KYRGYZSTAN, not far from the Uzbekistan border, you will find a bumpy dirt road. For hours that road will bounce you up and into a narrowing valley, where you’ll slowly approach a wall of mountains. There at the base of the mountains, the road ends. And you’ll find yourself in a remote but
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October 28, 2015
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Asia, Experiences
I arrived after dark at the road junction. Before I could even unload my backpack or say goodbye to my share-taxi family, the local taximen pounced. Fifteen dollars to take me the rest of the way? That’s (almost literally) highway robbery. The marshrutka (public bus) cost only $2 – but we both knew they
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October 15, 2015
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Asia, Experiences
IT ALL STARTED LIKE many travel stories. At an airport. But this time was different, not just because I was in Bishkek, but because my head was spinning. Ever wake up and not know where you are? Well, take that feeling of panicked confusion, and couple it with a mental fog of drunken proportions. That’s …
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