One Night In Almaty and The Myth of Staying Local
This is a confession. It’s a fifteen-hundred-word monument to a lapse, a moment of weakness that very little was done to counteract. It’s a journey which begins soon after I…
At The Mercies of the Kyrgyz Roadside
I knew things weren’t going brilliantly when I was within a few quick swigs of finishing my last bottle of water. Well, there were at least some pros and cons…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Kokand: Uzbekistan’s Forgotten Khanate
Samarkand has an almost hypnotic effect on people; even the mention of its name evokes images of far eastern merchants travelling from unknown cities in caravans of camels, mixing with…
Dust, Salt and Disappearing Seas – A Journey to Karakalpakstan
Thud-thud. The train drunkenly swayed from side to side as the wheels clacked over the joints in the railway tracks. Out the open window, I looked into the pitch black…
Into The Elsewhere 