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Media Coverage of War is As Confusing as War Itself
August 14, 2008
I’ve been following the news media frenzy on the conflict in Georgia. There are many news media channels available on google.co.uk/news and I’ve been watching the news breaking on this story, which has snowballed over the last ten days. In one article in the Times, I saw the following story: “A Georgian interior ministry spokesman said that, Russian forces were destroying Gori, which is about 50 miles north west of Tbilisi.
Tags: VagabondWarMediaTravelNewsGeorgiaTbilisiRussiaConflictnewsreporting
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When War Comes Too Close for Comfort
August 9, 2008
Today Georgia declared a state of war with Russia. Luckily, I’d left on the 26th of July to come home to England and surprise my family. I travelled by bus and train. I’m planning to start to travel back towards Georgia on Monday. I hope that by the time I intend to get back to Tbilisi (around the beginning of September) - the situation will have quietened down. I have secured my visas for onward travel into Azerbaijan, Iran and Pakistan, but if I can’t get to my bike which is in the basement of my friend’s (the architect) house, then I will be stuck and delayed.
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Earn Money and Stay Longer in One Place to Deepen Your Travel Experience
June 30, 2008
I’m working on a website for a real estate company here in Georgia because I have run out of money for the round the world bicycle trip. I’m living with a Dutch architect and an English real estate company director called Richard. It’s a nice novelty to live with an English (as my French girlfriend Fanny would call us), but we’re just so bloody English… The architect has a dream to cycle round the world, so it’s nice to have something in common.
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Travel Twists Space and Time And You Need To Experience It
March 31, 2008
I’m in Tbilisi and hopefully this blog will fill in what has been happening with me. As you may know I arrived in Yerevan for the first time, by bicycle, on the 24th January. I met up with Tom in the city, after we had cycled alone from near the Georgian border. Fanny came out to visit me in Yerevan and we stayed with friends, Max and Irene. We had wonderful times which passed too quickly.
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The Marshrutka Experience Will Stay With Me For Life
March 19, 2008
The driver’s wearing a leather jacket, thick material. I think, “that’s too hot inside this cramped vehicle, it must be for the look”. The driver’s visual appearance is like a gangster out of a Guy Ritchie film. Somehow I convinced myself to put my trust in this gold-teeth-laden man with ring and bracelet to match. He’s wearing his savings. Across his weathered-looking face is pair of dirty, gold-tinted sunglasses, so I can’t quite see the colour of his eyes in the rear view mirror.
Tags: Creative writingVanMarshrutkaMinibusPublic transportArmeniaTravelGeorgia
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Discovering Armenia - A Gem in the Caucasus
March 15, 2008
I arrived in Yerevan last Wednesday. I have been staying with some wonderful new friends who work at the French Embassy. From the first village after crossing the border into Armenia from Georgia, Tom and I decided to cycle alone to Yerevan. Cycling alone gives one more freedom. I decide when to move, stop, eat, or continue. The decisions are my own without excuses. There is no one else to blame but myself if things don’t go according to plan.
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My First Impressions of the Georgian Language
February 1, 2008
The women I work with at the Georgian school chirp away in the interesting-sounding language that is Georgian. The unusual bold combinations of sounds evoke in me the characteristics of delight, a child complaining about not getting what they want and highly social chitchat. It sounds, to me, sweet at times, ugly at others and has a bouncing rhythm with a very distinct pattern of intonation. Most Georgians I met seemed to be the loveliest, happiest and helpful people I’d ever met.
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Why Was Tbilisi Such a Beautiful City in Deep Winter?
January 23, 2008
When Sylvester, the Polish cyclist we met on Christmas Day in Batumi was explaining that conditions were difficult for local people in Georgia, coping with the cold midwinter, I thought: people in places with extreme weather conditions are obviously tough, live and learn to deal with it. I also remember thinking, is what we are doing, trying to cycle round the world equally difficult. In hindsight I suppose I was comparing the life of staying in one place to a life on the road which seemed a much more abstract concept.
Tags: WinterSnowVagabondTbilisiTravelEnvironmentGeorgiaclimate-changeWWF
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Cold Nights and Notes from Sinop
November 16, 2007
I smell pretty terrible but I’ve got a fishing boat to sleep on tonight and I have just bought a new blanket which I hope will keep me warm. The nights have been uncomfortably chilly recently. Normally camping is a perfectly fine option for our sleeping arrangements but I’ve been dubious recently. I’ve been cold in my thin sleeping bag, no matter what combination of clothing and headwear that I adorn.
Tags: HospitalityTrampingVagabondFishing boatSinopTurkeyCycle touringTravelCycling
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Cycling the Black Sea Coastline of Turkey in the Dark
November 15, 2007
The other day I was cycling towards Trabzon. We cycled in a number of dark, ominous looking tunnels. I’m cycling along, and then there it is, another black hole. My blood pressure rises, the hard shoulder thins and squeezes me off onto the road to share it with the multi-tonne trucks flying past, spraying me with muddy water. I check over my shoulder, hopefully I will make it through, before being chased by the next vehicle.
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How I Ending Up Staying on the Turkish National Skin-Diving Instructors Fishing Boat
November 13, 2007
Although people are helpful and friendly, we often get looked at like we have three heads. I find it funny, and it’s completely harmless and utterly understandable. Two bearded English men turn up. One is wearing a fluorescent sock on his head and looks like a traffic cone; the other is wearing a ridiculous helmet with go-faster-stripes, and Klingon-esque air vents. Why would someone on a bicycle want to wear a helmet anyway?
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Looking East and West in Istanbul
October 24, 2007
I am in Kadikoy on the Anatolian side of Istanbul. We have reached Asia by bike! Today commences our third week in Istanbul. It is a multi-layered and vibrant place; enough to make one consider staying longer. However, the open road and adventure beckons once again. Crossing a whole continent is a significant milestone in the journey. Reflecting back, the feat seems equally absurd as it does real. I feel like I have lived a lifetime in the last 4 months.