Have Blood. Will Travel Plans. They're more..... guidelines, really.

Trip: Wending '10

There are [58] stories from my trip: Wending '10

Photos: House of Bling

IRAN | Friday, 1 Oct 2010 | Photo Gallery

elaborate tombs in Shiraz
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Photos: Esfahan, Iran

IRAN | Monday, 27 Sep 2010 | Photo Gallery

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Photos: Kermanshah, Kurdish Iran

IRAN | Monday, 20 Sep 2010 | Photo Gallery

hangin with some locals in Kermanshah
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Photos: Kurdish Iran: Howramann valley

IRAN | Friday, 17 Sep 2010 | Photo Gallery

a few days hitching along the Howramann valley
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Tags: hitchhiking

trapped torpid in a seasonal clutch

IRAN | Friday, 17 Sep 2010 | Views [1794]

come with me to a place time has completely forgotten. where life moves and progresses in a surrogate fashion, out of phase with the surrounding world. where the land looks through the glass and steals glimpses, snatches a phrase here and there, and ... Read more >

Tags: hitchiking, villages

Photos: Kurdish Iran: Marivan

IRAN | Thursday, 16 Sep 2010 | Photo Gallery

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Pandora's Box never tasted so sweet

IRAN | Tuesday, 14 Sep 2010 | Views [1126] | Comments [1]

Qalyan in the park. an unexpected bunch. a burly wrestler, a Persian philosopher, an IT student. Welcome to Kurdish Iran. The Boys Light Up at the Qalyan cafe and drown me in a conversational cascade of open-mindedness and blazing curiosity. I have ... Read more >

Tags: meeting locals

Photos: Khevsureti to Tusheti 13 day trek

GEORGIA | Saturday, 11 Sep 2010 | Photo Gallery

trekking from Juta, via the villages of Akhieli, Amgha, then passing Mount Tanizi and onto the Khevsureti ridgeline and via Kistani to the head of the Chanchakhi valley. Back up to the ridgeline and over the Andaki pass, down into the Tushetis Alazani, ... Read more >
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The Universal Fart Joke

IRAN | Thursday, 9 Sep 2010 | Views [697] | Comments [1]

It crosses borders, language and cultural barriers. It opens the door to a new world, a place of laughter and harmony where everything is funny. It transcends that over-used desire for politeness in new company. It breaks the ice, the tension, that unsuredness ... Read more >

Tags: meeting locals

she wore a raaaaspberry beret

GEORGIA | Monday, 23 Aug 2010 | Views [498]

An eagle soars overhead, carefully scoping the landscape for a suitable feast. In parallel we scan the berry bushes for luscious red jewels that hang ever-so sweetly awaiting our pluck. we gorge on rasperries by the handful. they cover the slopes like ... Read more >

Tags: berries, trekking

Intruder alert

GEORGIA | Saturday, 21 Aug 2010 | Views [460]

we are voyeurs. we walk alone, stumbling upward on the troubled path, watching the horizon with deference, not knowing where the end lies. we are voyeurs. we chance upon an empty hut, fire recently cold, the still air an aroma of sheep and dog and sweaty ... Read more >

Tags: shepherds, trekking

The hands on this Chechnyan could swallow a cabbage

GEORGIA | Saturday, 21 Aug 2010 | Views [546]

In our first human contact for a week we find ourselves this morning in the company of a team, a troupe, a barrel of steamy shepherds. nearing the camp we contemplate which method to use to get past the dogs. Griet paws their ferocity with indifference, ... Read more >

Tags: shepherds, trekking

In a side-stepped world

GEORGIA | Thursday, 19 Aug 2010 | Views [606]

We struggle and strut through a steeplechase of descending slopes. Age-old Defensive Towers built of stone and labour dot the landscape like lonesome lovers, their pact unbroken yet crumbled through centuries of wear. We peer into Kistani village, revealing ... Read more >

Tags: trekking

Livin' on The Edge

GEORGIA | Monday, 16 Aug 2010 | Views [763]

The grey moisture-laden skies that gave way to a glistening pastel sunset the night before have blossomed and slice the morning silence with surgical precision. For the next two days we will walk on a knife's edge; a razor-sharp warping that has bludgeoned ... Read more >

Tags: khevsureti ridge, mt tanizi, trekking

don't you go out in the rain

GEORGIA | Saturday, 14 Aug 2010 | Views [466]

a map, holding promised trails and rising slopes that have long since swallowed the path. latent optimism at finding a way out amongst the hungry mountains. a fire, recently cold, crumbles under the dripping sky. walking in shepherds trails, following ... Read more >

Tags: trekking

whatever you do, don't mention the war

GEORGIA | Thursday, 12 Aug 2010 | Views [560]

the second day into our trek and the views over our first pass open to yield a panorama worthy of a Karate Kid prequel. i could sense my brain Waxing Off as we sat for an hour at the top, gazing out across blue skies where the mountains are bathed in ... Read more >

Tags: kazbegi, trekking

Born from an Egg on a Mountaintop

GEORGIA | Tuesday, 10 Aug 2010 | Views [1213]

and with thoughts flying across snow-capped peaks on a fluffy cloud still lingering, i'm back from another jaunt. like the adventures of TinTin, or Calvin and Hobbs, or even our beloved Monkey Magic, the next series of escapades would not be complete ... Read more >

Tags: trekking