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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