Category Archives: Central Asia
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
20 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
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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
Uzbek football, Korean streets and the Games. A 2018 wrap-up.
The last trip of the year ended today. I crossed the crucial threshold somewhere between the Brazilian rainforest and the Atlantic, blissfully unaware of it as I slept in my airplane seat wrapped in one of those duvets that are … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan, South Korea, Uzbekistan
Tagged 2018, 2018 retrospective, 2018 World Nomad Games, Beirut, Bukhara, Buxoro, Cholpon Ata, End of year, Football, Incheon, Korea, Kyrchyn, Kyrchyn Jailoo, Kyrgyzstan, Night, Seoul, South Korea, Sport, Uzbekistan, World Nomad Games
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The devil’s horsemen.
For the Parthians shot as they fled, being, indeed, more adept at this than anyone except the Scythians, and it is certainly a very clever manoeuvre – to fight and to look after one’s own safety at the same time. … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Tagged Ammianus, Asia, Carrhae, Central Asia, Cholpon Ata, Crassus, Genghis, Giovanni da pian del carmine, Hungary, Issyk Kul, Jailoo, Kazakhstan, Kyrchyn, Kyrgyzstan, Magyar, Marcellinus, Mongol, Nomad, Parthians, Photography, Plutarch, Res Gestae, Scythians, Travel, WNG, World Nomad Games, Ystoria
14 Comments
Genghis’ Camp.
This didn’t feel like Central Asia. The road was smooth, the ride quiet, the old Mercedes van that did the honours as our marshrutka, or collective taxi, wasn’t packed to the gunwales. Our driver, a faded Denver Broncos hat planted on … Continue reading
Posted in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Tagged Ala tau, Central Asia, Cholpon Ata, Ethno Park, Felt tent, Food, Gorge, Issyk Kul, Jailoo, Jew's Harp, Kyrchyn, Kyrchyn Jailoo, Kyrgyzstan, Lake, Lenin, Lenin statue, Mountains, Music, Nomad, Throat singing, Tien Shan, WNG, World Nomad Game, Yurt
19 Comments
Throwing wolves by the lake shore.
Generalisations are often prone to error and misrepresentation, but – sometimes – they do hit the mark. I, for instance, always attached an aura of upper class, or in other words a certain whiff of snobbery, with all activities performed … Continue reading
Posted in Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Tagged 2018 WNG, 2018 World Nomad Games, Altai, Buzkash, Cholpon Ata, gögbörü, Grey Wolf, Hippodrome, Horse, Horse riding, horsemanship, Ippodrom, Issyk Kul, Jailoo, Kazan, Kok Boru, kokpar, Kyrchyn, Kyrchyn Jailoo, Kyrgyzstan, Lake, Mongolia, Nauryzkhan Khajnabi, Nomadic sports, Polo, Russia, Sand, Sport, Wolfpack, World Nomad Games
15 Comments
Be Right Back.
I’ve been in a place where Hungarians dress up like they used to do a millenium ago, speed to a full gallop and then throw arrows into a padded target, whilst Kyrgyz flags flutter in the wind, yurts are everywhere … Continue reading
Posted in Asia, Central Asia, Kyrgyzstan
Tagged Archery, Asia, Central Asia, Cholpon Ata, Issyk Kul, Kyrchyn, Kyrchyn Jailoo, Kyrgyzstan, World Nomad Games
12 Comments
