Below is a list of all the articles which have been posted to Into The Elsewhere. Enjoy!
Trading Comfort for Experience in La Paz
Throughout my childhood, there was a feeling of invincibility. A feeling of cosy comfort; a careful shielding from the outside world which softened any rough edges that I may have perceived, as I watched them from a safe distance.
Shadows, Sand and Silence in Khiva
Khiva didn’t quite have the grandeur of other Silk Road cities. Mind you, this was hardly a surprise considering its remote location out in the wild west of Uzbekistan, deep within the Kyzylkum Desert. While it may not be home to as many impressively large and ornate monuments as the likes of Samarkand, I was…
Belgrade: Rakija, Ruins and the Weight of History
After an hour of walking, I plucked up the courage and said it. I asked the tour guide, “What’s your opinion on Slobodan Milošević?” I braced for verbal impact. My Serbian guide paused and smirked a little, before delivering an opinion that he had doubtless been asked for before by other overstepping and nosy Western…
Cultural Calm and Coastal Chaos in Montenegro
With the advent of budget airlines, followed by an ever-increasing number of flights across Europe to lesser-known and lesser-explored countries, the face of European tourism has changed completely. In the not-too-distant past, Italy would have been the peak of exotic. No longer. Now, with a couple of exceptions, no country is off limits.
Crossing the Canyon: Life in Jordan’s Jerash
Tourism changes places. Whether you’re talking about the recent backlash against the endless hordes which descend on the Spanish coastline each year or the steady evolution of Vietnam from war-torn to backpacker hotspot, it is clear that there are both positives and negatives to the change, development and, occasionally, disruption that foreign visitors can bring.
Scree, Sky, and Second Thoughts: Tian Shan Mountains Part 2
I have always hated waking up early. However, up in the Tian Shan Mountains, after a restless night in a claustrophobically small yurt shared with two other hikers, it was a necessary and unfortunate evil. Though the first day of my hike had been reasonably successful, I was still nervous on day two as I…
Growing Pains: Hiking in Kyrgyzstan’s Tian Shan Mountains
I took one look up at the sky out of the window and breathed a huge sigh of relief. The clouds had darkened, blocking out all sunlight and replacing it with a brooding, ominous gloom. It was going to rain. Hard. From the safety of my hostel common room, as the first droplets splashed against…
Exploring Wadi Rum: Desert Adventures and Night Skies
The stars were the reason why I travelled to the Wadi Rum Desert in Jordan. The pristine skies, devoid of light pollution, aside from the occasional plane flying across the Middle Eastern sky, lent themselves perfectly to an opportunity to stare endlessly up at the heavens, in wonder at the sheer, infinite vastness of the…
Stillness Below The Storm: Diving in Jordan’s Red Sea
I have often been told that we know more about the surface of the Moon than the depths of Earth’s oceans. For me, this is a great, unexplored frontier completely separate from the world above the surface even when a few metres below it.
Tallinn: Contrasts in Concrete and Colour
There aren’t many cities (outside of the USA at least) that would openly advertise the opportunity to fire an AK-47 to those attending a hostel bar. Thinking about it, and without the benefit of hindsight, my list would extend to Russia, maybe the odd Stan and just perhaps some of the rougher parts of the…
Surviving the Steppe: 24 Hours to Almaty
I knew the bus journey would be tough. Scheduled at 20 hours between Uzbekistan’s capital, Tashkent, and Kazakhstan’s biggest city, Almaty, it was going to be long, probably bumpy, include a border crossing and likely provide literally nothing but identikit steppe to see out the window (when it was light at least).
Petra: The World’s Empty Wonder
I’m not here to lecture you on Petra. I wouldn’t insult the intelligence of readers of this blog to the extent that I would make the assumption that they were unaware of one of the Seven Wonders of the World. Even less would it be in keeping with the purpose of much of my writing…
An Evening in Downtown Amman
All around me the pulsating streets of downtown Amman were thronged with people going about their lives. The evening had brought a slew of neon, pushy street sellers and some of the most unruly and noisy traffic I had ever witnessed. I was there for none of it.
Riots, Revolutions and Why You Should Backpack
Sometimes things go wrong when travelling. I’m not just talking about misjudging the slightly dodgy lunch stop a Kyrgyz marshrutka dumped you at, forcing you into a state of simultaneous regret and literal buttock-clenching as you aim to prevent soiling an already soiled seat even further, having eaten a questionable, mystery meat somsa.
Between Mountains and Myths: A Journey Into Berat, Albania
The setting sun set the town ablaze, an orange glow ricocheting off windows and onto whitewashed plaster walls. As the heat of the day faded away, I sipped a cold beer and gently appreciated how the Albanian town of Berat had managed to maintain all of its charm despite the wider tourism boom engulfing the…
Discovering Tbilisi: Georgia’s Food, Culture, and Soviet Legacy
Few tourists visiting Georgia know about the war. In 2008, Russian troops marched across the mountainous border and occupied the regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. A ceasefire was agreed but no formal treaty has ever ended what quickly became one of the world’s many frozen wars.
Peru’s Colca Canyon: The Hike Which Defied Logic
The path was steep and loose. The sandy gravel, smoothed by countless pairs of walking boots trampling over the same path made the descent treacherous. Despite the not insignificant difficulty in getting there without the help of a guide or tour group, I had made it to the Colca Canyon, one of the world’s deepest.
How Not To Get To The Colca Canyon
Often the best adventures are when you set out with no plan, no notion of any consequences and no idea of the many pitfalls you may just squeak past. Watching condors soar over the canyon dropping precipitously below me, I was content, proud even, that this plan was going excellently, though, unknown to me, that…
A Love-Hate Letter to New Delhi
“Where are you going?” “Come with me, I’ll take you to a hotel.” “Come this way, the exit is this way.” I was overwhelmed as I stepped off the train at New Delhi’s main station only to be swamped instantly with an onslaught of colour, noise and hassle.
Skopje: Remodelling A City, North Macedonian Style
North Macedonia’s capital city was crazy. As dusk set across the main square, crowds milled around the giant statue of Alexander the Great, proudly claimed by the country’s citizens as one of their own. The vast paved expanse was peaceful, perfectly obscuring the almost complete revolution in their surroundings over the last two decades.
The Edge of Europe: Hiking Georgia’s Svaneti Trail
Knee deep in glacial melt water as it rushed beneath me and down the valley, I wondered whether this was a sensible decision to be wading across a river, carrying my worldly belongings on my back.
History and Contradiction in the Centre of the World: Samarkand
Anyone visiting Uzbekistan will head to Samarkand and the Uzbek government knows it. The city, home to truly monumental medrasas, historic mausoleums and, at one point, some of the world’s most cutting-edge scientific discoveries, was, as I visited, a Mecca for anyone seeking the fabled Silk Road and its mysterious and ancient trading posts grown…
Into the Heart of Lake Titicaca: the Isla del Sol
Standing on the cold concrete beside all the buses parked outside Puno bus station, I was glad I had made the decision only to pass through one of Peru’s most visited cities. Grey-brown, non-descript structures rose around me, mainly thrown together using concrete columns and floors with the gaps then packed with bricks to form…
The Resilience of Ushguli: Preserving Svaneti’s Heritage
Just occasionally, a place can act as a time capsule. In a world of smart devices, instant connectivity and endless possibility, they can serve a reminder that things were not always this way, be it 50, 200 or nearly 1000 years ago.
The Blue Eye and Gjirokastër: A Tale of Two Albanias
Sometimes, despite my best instincts, I feel I should go to a tourist spot regardless of whether I think it’ll be worthwhile or, more likely, a complete waste of time.
Pilgrimage and Peace in Kyrgyzstan – Exploring Osh
The sun beat down on my back as I steadily made my way up the mountain, following in the footsteps of countless others before me. The difference was that I wasn’t in Osh for the reason so many others visited.
Twisting Roads and Tunnels – Bishkek to Osh Overland
There are some routes that, by many accounts, should be flown rather than taken by bus. As my alarm urged me to get up at 5am I first began to understand why the journey between Kyrgyzstan’s two biggest cities, Bishkek and Osh, fell firmly into that category.
Lima: on the Trail of Peru’s Culinary Identity
For those not in the know who consider the world’s culinary capitals, South America would often be brushed over with an assumption made that the meat, rice and potato-based diet of the continent wasn’t even worth exploring.
Brutalism and Beauty – Bucharest’s Concrete Jungle
Nowhere is the term “concrete jungle” more applicable than Bucharest. At first, only the imposingly wide boulevards provided some respite from the endless and identical communist-era blocks adorned with oversized advertisements and air conditioning units clumsily stuck to their walls.
The Salar de Uyuni: Unforgettable Adventure or Instagram Fake?
“Yeeeeaaahhhh!”, Roger Daltry’s voice screamed out over the Land Cruiser’s stereo, “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss”, followed by Pete Townshend’s closing guitar segment to the Who’s rock anthem Won’t Get Fooled Again.
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