Author Archives: awtytravels
I was looking back to see if you were looking back at me to see me looking back at you.
Grounded. I guess you can say this is my status at the moment. A new job with no duty travel means not many occasions to fly the nest. All there is left to do, then, is to polish up your … Continue reading
Posted in Europe, UK
Tagged 3D, Avocado, Book, Canal, Cyclists, Dal Naja, Dirt, Dog, East London, Edgy, Editor, Europe, Evening Standard, Fixie, Grand Union, Grounded, Hackney, Hipster, Islam, Literary agent, London, Massive Attack, Murales, New Job, Niqab, Old street, People, People watching, Photography, Represent, Restaurant, Safe from Harm, seagull, Shoreditch, Silicon Roundabout, Software, Spray paint, Street photography, Tech, Tech boys, Tourism, Tricky, UK, Urban photography
28 Comments
There were…
…a rhino, a wedding, a few horses and a running llama. They all were here, in the same region. It’ll all make sense. Hopefully.
Monochrome Kashgar.
I had plans for more stories from Xinjiang; however, the more I try to put pen to paper the more I realise I don’t want to add words to what I’ve already said. What I do have are some photos. … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, China
Tagged Army, Arrests, Asia, Border, Border patrol, Brainwashing, CCTV, Central Asia, Chairman, Chen, Chen Quanguo, China, Concentration camps, Foreigners, Id Kah, Irkeshtam, Irkeshtam border, Islam, Islamist, Jiefang, Kashgar, Kashgar old town, Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan - Xinjiang, Land crossing, Mao, Mosque, Mountains, Music, People, Peter Robb, Photography, Police, Qomuz, Re-education camps, Religion, Repression, Soldiers, Street photography, Surveillance, Terrorism, Tourism, Travel, Truck, Turkestan, Turkic, Urban photography, Urumqi, Uyghur, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, Zedong
15 Comments
Nobody speak. A Xinjiang journal.
Why coming here? I loathe the term dark tourism. Yet why am I here? I’m not an activist, a journalist, somebody with a higher sense of purpose. My only answer is because it’s there. Because I want to see it with my own eyes. … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, China, Kyrgyzstan
Tagged Army, Arrests, Asia, Border, Border patrol, Brainwashing, CCTV, Central Asia, Chairman, Chen, Chen Quanguo, China, Concentration camps, Foreigners, Id Kah, Irkeshtam, Irkeshtam border, Islam, Islamist, Jiefang, Kashgar, Kashgar old town, Kyrgyzstan, Kyrgyzstan - Xinjiang, Land crossing, Mao, Mosque, Mountains, Music, People, Peter Robb, Photography, Police, Qomuz, Re-education camps, Religion, Repression, Soldiers, Street photography, Surveillance, Terrorism, Tourism, Travel, Truck, Turkestan, Turkic, Urban photography, Urumqi, Uyghur, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang, Zedong
43 Comments
From dusk till dawn. Life in the Pamirs.
In my teens and early twenties this place would’ve been hell. Life in a tiny village where farm animals outnumber men by a wide margin. Where the main past-time is to sit down and watch the clouds move around Pyk … Continue reading
Posted in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Tagged Alpine, Asia, Central Asia, Children, Clouds, Cow, Cube, Goat, Grass, Hitchhike, Hitchhiker, Hitchhiking, Huckleberry, Izba, Kids, Kyrgyz, Kyrgyzstan, M41, Mountain pass, Pamir, Pamir Highway, Pamirextreme, Pass, People, Photography, Sary Tash, Snow, Summer, Switchback, Travel, USSR, Village
19 Comments
A Huck Finn state of mind.
What does it feel like to be floating on the mighty Mississippi with no worries but where to moor for the night? How does it feel to be absolutely unconstrained by timescales, worries or need-to? In a nutshell, what does it … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Tagged Aeroflot, Airplane graveyard, Airport, Alpine, Antonov, Asia, Basmachi, Breakdown, Central Asia, Clouds, Container, Cube, Daewoo, Finn, Fuel, Gagarin, Gulcha, Hitchhike, Hitchhiker, Hitchhiking, Huck Finn, Huckleberry, Ilyushin, Kamaz, Kyrgyz, Kyrgyzstan, M41, Mark Twain, Marshrutka, Matiz, Mountain, Mountain pass, Osh, Osh airplane cemetery, Osh airport, Osh Bazaar, Pamir, Pamir Highway, Pass, People, Photography, Rubik's, Sary Tash, Shared Taxi, Statue, Summer, Switchback, Taldok, Taxi, Travel, Truck, USSR, Village
24 Comments
Mountains, alleys and oppression. A taste of what’s to come.
It’s been my hardest trip. It’s the one I’ve been the sickest, the loneliest, the most confused and bewildered. But it’s also been a source of endless grins, of unexpected solutions to sudden problems, of sweeping views and of deep, … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan
Tagged Alley, Almaty, Central Asia, Kashgar, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Mao, Mao Zedong, Mountains, Old town, Oppression, Osh, Pamir, People's Republic of China, Sary Tash, Summer, Turkestan, Xinjiang, Zedong
10 Comments
High and dry – Atacama Travelogue, Part III.
Laguna Chaxa lies at the end of more off-road fun, a few kilometres of track dug into the soft sand and salt of the salar. Here there are no bathing tourists, only pathways scraped in the blinding whiteness of the … Continue reading
Posted in Americas, Chile
Tagged America Latina, Andes, Antofagasta, Argentina, Atacama, Atacamenos, Bolivia, Calama, Camion, Carabineros, Cejar, Chaxa, Chile, Clint Eastwood, Copper, Cordillera de la Sal, David Gilmour, Desert, Desierto, Enel, Flamenco, Flamingo, Lagoon, Laguna, Latin America, Licancabur, Lithium, Minerary, Mines, Monjes, Monjes de pacana, Moon Valley, Mountains, Nissan, Norte, Norte Grande, NP300, Piedra de Coyote, Plaza, Pueblo, Ruta, Salar de Atacama, San Pedro, San pedro de Atacama, Sky, Sun, Truck, Valle de la Luna, Volcano
14 Comments
