On the ride from Sarp, the Turkey/Georgia frontier, to Batumi, the first major city in Georgia, the word 'Ramshackle' kept springing to mind. I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to mean - I've often heard it in reference to a football team, i.e. "Despite their ramshackle defence, Cyprus still managed to stuff Ireland 5-2". Surveying the Georgian countryside from the marshrutka window, it struck me that many of the buildings appeared less steady than the Cyprus defence. 'Ramshackle' for me meant 'thrown together before moving on to the better stuff', or 'should have been abandoned year [View Full Entry]

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In the 1960's and 70's, a generation of Western travellers crossed the Middle East from Europe to India in search of adventure, cheap drugs, and often, spirituality. In the Mysterious East, many of them believed, they could escape the daily grind of the rat race for a simpler, less material world. Today, many continue the search, heading for places like Pune and Auroville to 'find themselves'. However, like the Beatles, many return disappointed, finding that perhaps the 'East' ain't what it's cracked up to be..... What these people missed - and I suppose it's unfair to expect a bunch of smo [View Full Entry]

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First full day back in Turkey. After settling into the hotel, I head to the Post Office to send off a couple of post-cards. I join a queue, when the old man behind the counter screams at me "HAVE A SEAT!!!" 'Shit' I think, Erzurum is not gonna be a friendly place. When my turn comes, I go up to the counter and buy two stamps. The old guy screams "WHERE FROM?" After replying, and sticking the stamps to the post-cards, the guy screams again, only louder...."DRINKING TEA?" "Eh, ok thank you".... "HAVE A SEAT!!!" He sends a young guy off [View Full Entry]

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I was walking around the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul when I got the idea to come to Syria. The bazaar gave me memories of Tabriz in Iran, not because of any similarities, but because of the glaring differences - the mass of tourists, the relatively dour Turks, and the hard-sell. My original plan had been to potter gradually along Turkey's Black Sea coast and on to Georgia. However, leaving the bazaar that morning, it's fair to say the prospect didn't really fill me with excitement. I remembered hearing from various people about the bazaars, or souks, of Aleppo and Damascus, and [View Full Entry]

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August 2003 On my first trip interailing around Europe, I wound up in Barcelona with a friend, wondering where to head next. Why not Morocco? We made our way south via Madrid, and landed in Algerciros early in the morning for the ferry to Tangier. On the ferry, we met two English guys, sent by God or Jesus or both to Africa. For how long, they didn't know. What did they have? A bicycle frame, a front wheel carried seperately, a shoulder bag each, a wooden staff, and a cowboy hat. I have no doubt that they ended up dying of [View Full Entry]

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Here's some pictures of the big occassion....... [View Full Entry]

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I flew from Port Blair to Calcutta, thus ending 8 and a half months of solid over-landing. Arrival was a bit of a shock at first - after the peace of the Andamans, the chaos of Sudder Street was overwhelming. With my flight home booked for 17 days, I had no intention of hanging around Calcutta, and had bought my train ticket to Varanasi already, set to leave that night. So, I dropped my camera in to be repaired, and spent the day in the parks watching, trying, and failing to understand cricket. I guess after 6 months in Pakistan [View Full Entry]

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In the Bay of Bengal, around 1000km east of the subcontinent, there lies a chain of islands, an archipelago if you will, which is currently being inhabited by a group of people who look out of place in this part of the world. These strange beings have been seen running virtually naked along tropical beaches, floating face down in the water while sporting some curious head wear, and inhaling large quantities of flavoured smoke out of clay pipes...... These people are referred to as 'Westerners', and if you go to the Andaman Islands in the next few years, you're going [View Full Entry]

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Indians love to dance. It was the third time it had happened on this trip - a van by the side of the road, pumping out the Hindi pop music, with about 50 Indians beside it, dancing away.......the first two times, I had to be dragged into the crowd, but here in Hampi, I knew better, and with Niall, went straight into the circle and gave them 2 minutes of our best moves, before strolling away as legends. My girlfriend got a picture that captured the moment perfectly - me and Niall, limbs pointed out in all directions, surrounded by about [View Full Entry]

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Having spent a strange Christmas alone in Mumbai, I met my girlfriend at the airport after a break of 4 months - strange that she could jump on a plane and get here in 8 hours, after it had taken me 6 months to get this far. Naturally, the beard and long(ish) hair had to go, which was fine by me. We planned a quiet New Year's further down the west coast, and got a night train south........ When we woke up the next morning, we were in a different India to the one I had spent the previous 2 [View Full Entry]

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