My friend Mike Eggers had been Living in Turkey for five years. Mike had been living in Istanbul for 5 years and was moving on to Korea. He was sad to leave, and I foolishly suggested a "hello and goodbye" tour of the interesting places he might not have seen. Much to my surprise he had readily agreed, and so we traipsed up from Tanzania, to explore some of the less well known, and arguably far more interesting parts of this great Nation. Turkey. My Swiss airbus banged down onto the runway and turned off to the new terminal. I wandered [View Full Entry]

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Turk Hava Yollari Mehmet as he was known in Dogubeyazit, nudged his ford transit through the crowds, other parked transit vans and sheep to leave the town. We passed by the local tank battalion. In February 1993 I had stayed in a hotel opposite this camp. Every morning we were awakend, not by the muezzin, but by 250 battle tanks having a pre dawn “stand to”. This involved the crews getting inside their tanks and starting them up. On all subsequent occasions I have chosen a different hotel. As we walked past this camp all those years ago, Matt Golledge, my [View Full Entry]

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My first memories of Van were being there in 1992 when the PKK campaign was reaching its high point. The government had lost control of large sections of the country and all travel at night was banned. Towns were effectively cut off after sunset, they became Islands. Today people talk of the dangers of travel in the east, but in 1992 the danger was infinite. I was 21 and perhaps stupid and I wanted adventure. So I flew into Van in an old but well maintained DC9. The plane came in between the mountains, banked over the large expanse of lake [View Full Entry]

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In the fifteen years since I first visited Ani I have noticed that the weather has had a negative effect on the ruins of Ani. The department of culture and antiquities has, where possible, added discreet metal supports. The steel shafts are painted a similar colour to the stone, but there is no mistaking the force of the elements. We were free to wander around and take photographs. But Ani was not deserted, a large group of Turkish university students being expertly guided around the site. The security guard at the entrance told us to go through and pay when leaving. [View Full Entry]

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This is a funny Blog spot. I have interrupted my usual deadline of stories to inclde something that is close to my heart. As an inveterate traveller and indeed part time explorer, I am a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. A proud fellow who seeks to give information and the results of observations made, I now find myself, like many members shut out from the society. The society that was the home of explorers such as wilfred thesiger, has now become nothing more than a corrupt arm of a geography collecge. Moral corruption, mismanagement, and disgrace are now at the [View Full Entry]

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Our journey to Europe started in Jersey to celebrate the 40th birthday of a friend of ours. Of course Jersey is not in Europe, not only is it 11 nautical miles off the European continent, it is not part of the EU’s political process. Jersey makes its money on finance, but it should re assess this immediately. The southernmost of the British Isles has long white beaches fringed by dramatic cliffs. The water is clear if brisk. With the current weak pound, its friendly people, and a unique sense of Britishness, the Island of Jersey is the hidden jewel of European [View Full Entry]

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We boarded our old airbus A320 at Delhi’s Palam Airport. (They like to call it Indira Ghandi International, but I prefer the old name). Indian Airlines has been operating this type since 1990. I suspected that our aircraft was one of the first batch. My seat was worn, but soft, and the leg room sufficient for a man of 6’2”. The main benefit of these airbuses is that the Indians ordered many of them with double bogie undercarriage, so rather than breaking with four wheels, we braked with 8. A major bonus at some of India’s shorter and less easy [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Bandhavgar showed us how remote the park was. We opted to drive to Kati Junction and take the train to Delhi. After changing our tickets using Indian Railways electronic ticketing system, we embarked on what we were told would be a one and a half hour ride. This turned out to be a two and half hour drive over some very bouncy, badly maintained roads. Having budgeted two hours for the journey, we had to harangue our poor driver into making the train time. With only a few minutes to spare, we arrived at a filth pit of a level [View Full Entry]

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Leaving Hyderabad proved to be much more difficult than arriving. We had been waitlisted on the Jabalpur train for a month, and promised that within a month, the confirmation would be issued. On the day of departure, nothing happened. No confirmation was forthcoming. The problem was that this train only operated twice a week between Hyderabad and Patna. A sort of cross country intercity express, that stopped at the heartland stations of India, ending in Bihar. None of its stations were linked with Hyderabad by air, and not of the cities were particularly large. This train was the fastest, most [View Full Entry]

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Hyderabad is this multi ethnic multi religious mix of bad 1980’s concrete, ultra modern euro hotels and business parks, and an ancient dusty dirty Islamic heart. We visited chowmahella palace, the residence of the 5th Nizam. This palace was a series of low bungalows that caught the breeze. Each was laid out with understated finery. This was not the gaudy palace of the vassal state of Mysore, this was a series of small buildings with large lawns, designed to house people, and get on with the business of the state. The audience chamber had a pure marble floor, and a series [View Full Entry]

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