Tag Archives: Travel literature

Porteño portrait.

Posted on February 6, 2019 by awtytravels

There’s only a way to define my desire to describe a community of 13 million people after visiting it for a mere handful of days: preposterous. Still, this is what I’ll attempt here. This is my final tribute to Buenos … Continue reading →

Posted in Americas, Argentina | Tagged America, Argentina, Buenos Aires, Evita Peron, Homelessness, Humanity, Kindness, Latin America, Lucha, Luchamos, Lucia Perez, Machismo, People, People watching, Peronismo, Peronismo militante, Photography, Politics, Porteño, Portrait, Poverty, Pueblo, Resistance, Riot, San Telmo, Santiago Maldonado, Street photography, Tourism, Travel, Travel literature, Urban photography, Violence | 19 Comments

There and away – Driving through the ‘Stans.

Posted on October 13, 2018 by awtytravels

As I sat scribbling this post on my notepad, on the plane back home, it occurred to me that the past two car journeys had been the first ones, in Central Asia, where we hadn’t been serenaded non-stop by some … Continue reading →

Posted in Central Asia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan | Tagged Ackbar, Asia, Bishkek, Border, Car, Central Asia, Charyn canyon, Cholpon Ata, Driving, Galaxy, horses, Karkara, Kazakhstan, Kegen, Kensu, Kyrgyzstan, Mountains, Pamir, People, Photography, Road, Road Trip, Steppe, Tien Shan, Travel, Travel literature, USSR, Valley of the Castle | 19 Comments

Confessions of a graphomaniac.

Posted on August 8, 2018 by awtytravels

Doctor, dear doctor, help me for I’m a graphomaniac. Yes doctor, I love paper. I adore the smell of the thing, the muffled noise of a pencil running on a smooth sheet. In a nutshell, doctor, I love writing. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Odd ones out, Random memories | Tagged Asia, Beirut, Central Asia, Drawing, Graphomania, Graphomaniac, Italia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Mapping, Maps, Memories, Middle East, Mitsubishi, Moleskine, Norris, Note, Pamir, Pen, Sri Lanka, Staedler, Travel, Travel literature, Travelling, Writing | 26 Comments

“Wild Coast. Travels on South America’s Untamed Edge”, by John Gimlette, Profile Books

Posted on March 1, 2018 by awtytravels

Guyana, Suriname, French Guiana: raise your hands if you can recite, by heart – and no Googling, I can see you – their capitals. Not a clue? Well, I honestly doubt there’ll be many, amongst the few who’ll stumble across … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review | Tagged At the Tomb of the Inflatable Pig, Barrister, Books, Cayenne, France, French Guiana, Georgetown, Guyana, Hmong, John Gimlette, Jonestown, Korou, Maroons, Massacre, Montagnard, Netherlands, Papillon, Paramaribo, Planters, Profile books, ravels on South America’s Untamed Edge, Surinam, Suriname, Theatre of Fish, Travel literature, Wild Coast | 13 Comments

“Out of Steppe” by Daniel Metcalfe, Arrow – Random House

Posted on January 6, 2018 by awtytravels

If the passion for travelling off the beaten path, exploring places that don’t make it on the top-shelf brochure at your local Trailfinders (but, let’s face it, they don’t even make it to the bottom one), was a genetic strand … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review | Tagged Afghanistan, Aral Sea, Arrow, Asia, Books review, Bukhara, Bukharan Jews, Byron, Central Asia, Colin Thubron, Daniel Metcalfe, Iran, Karakalpakstan, Kazakhstan, Moynaq, Pakistan, Random House, Tehran, The Economist, Thesiger, Travel literature, Travel writing, Uzbekistan, Volga Germans, Wilfred Thesiger, Yaghnobi | 12 Comments

“I have never encountered splendour of this kind before”. Visiting Isfahan with Robert Byron

Posted on September 25, 2016 by awtytravels

On paper it sounded like a good idea: visiting a country whilst reading about it, journeying through the physical space and the mental one concocted by a great travel writer, attempting to match my experiences to those of the author. … Continue reading →

Posted in Asia, Iran | Tagged Bruce Chatwin, Colin Thubron, Emam mosque, Friday Mosque, Imam Ali square, Iran, Isfahan, Jameh Mosque, Maidan, Middle East, Naqsh-e Jahan, Persia, Robert Byron, Shah Mosque, Sheikh Lutfullah Mosque, The Road to Oxiana, Travel literature, Travel writing | 21 Comments

“Arabian Sands”, by Wilfred Thesiger, Penguin Books.

Posted on August 19, 2016 by awtytravels

Italo Calvino once wrote that a ‘classic’ is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say. If this is the approved meter of judgement for the category, then I’ve no doubts that Arabian Sands belongs to … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review, Uncategorized | Tagged Africa, Arabia, Arabian Sands, Bedouin, Bedu, History, Middle East, Penguin books, Travel literature, Travelling, Travelogue, Wilfred Thesiger | 8 Comments

“Ninety Percent of Everything”, by Rose George, Picador

Posted on April 19, 2016 by awtytravels

I’m an intrinsically sceptical person, the sort of individual who’s the thorn in the side of marketers, focus group organisers or pollsters. Give an advert saying “The best book of the year” and I’ll immediately think ‘bullshit’. Make me read … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Books, Books review, Felixstowe, Maersk, Maersk Kendal, Merchant Navy, mission, Ninety percent of everything, Picador, Pirates, Rose George, Seafaring, Singapore, Slate, Somalia, Travel literature | 11 Comments

“Dark Star Safari” by Paul Theroux, Penguin Books

Posted on May 2, 2015 by awtytravels

Source http://www.paultheroux.com Paul Theroux and I go a long way. I originally picked up his book almost one year ago, in its podcast form, and then – almost immediately – dropped it. The reason? The voice of the reader: whereas … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review | Tagged Africa, Aid policy, Book, Book Review, Cairo, Cape town, Dark Star Safari, NGO, Overland, Paul Theroux, Penguin, Politics, Travel literature, Travelogue | 2 Comments

“The Lost Heart of Asia”, by Colin Thubron, Vintage

Posted on April 2, 2015 by awtytravels

Then I heard Pasha calling me to return. It was late and dark, he said, and this was not our country. It doesn’t happen often, for me, to arrive at the last word of a book and think Aw fuck, … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Asia, Book, Books review, Central Asia, Colin Thubron, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Silk Road, Soviet Union, Tajikistan, The Lost Heart of Asia, Travel literature, Travelogue, Turkmenistan, USSR, Uzbekistan, Vintage books | Leave a comment