Tag Archives: Travel literature

Read Chapter 1 of “Turn Left at Lenin’s Statue” for free!

Posted on 10/10/2020 by awtytravels

Turn Left at Lenin’s Statue is my first travel book. It’s the story of a journey through Central Asia, past frontiers and across seasons; a journey whose aim was to understand this region, to go beyond the (scarce) headlines and, … Continue reading →

Posted in The Book | Tagged Almaty, Amazon, Amazon self publish, Book, Central Asia, Chapter 1, free chapter 1, Free reading, Kazakhstan, Lenin, Nur Sultan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, Statue, Travel, Travel Book, Travel literature, Travel writing, Travelogue, Turn Left | 16 Comments

“Shark Drunk” by Morten Strøksnes, Vintage.

Posted on 04/01/2020 by awtytravels

Norwegians are an inscrutable bunch. I’ve got colleagues from up there and, let me tell you, they are a constant source of wonder. Amongst many things, they’ll think nothing of saying things such as “Because you haven’t asked for this … Continue reading →

Posted in Books review | Tagged Aasjord, Book, Book Review, Books, Critique, Greenland, Greenland Shark, Havbuka, Hemingway, Lofoten, Morten, Morten Strøksnes, Nordic, North, Norway, Ocean, Sea, Shark Drunk, The Art of Catching a Large Shark from a Tiny Rubber Dinghy in a Big Ocean, Travel literature, Vestfjord, Vintage | 18 Comments

Porteño portrait.

Posted on 06/02/2019 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 13/10/2018 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 08/08/2018 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 01/03/2018 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 06/01/2018 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 25/09/2016 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 19/08/2016 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 19/04/2016 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