Jyrgalan Tourism Festival – Community, Culture, and Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan is a small landlocked country in Central Asia. Try again. Manas nomad culture of Kyrgyzstan yurt 天山 vodka. No, not quite. Hiking In Heavenly Mountain, Land Of The Snow Leopards. Lovely, still no. Community. Culture. Collaboration. We’ll start there. A small village, […]
#VisitJyrgalan – Backcountry Skiing in the Tien Shan There’s something special, I daresay sacred, in the quiet of a bright winter morning. A silence that seems to stretch for miles, disturbed only by the faraway call of a lone bird or melting ice crashing to the ground. It’s a […]
Victory! Celebrating Victory Day in Bishkek. I’m currently out of the country, missing this year’s Victory Day celebrations in Kyrgyzstan. This is a big year, though, the 70th anniversary of the end of the Second World War and likely the last big anniversary that will see a significant number of […]
Snow Leopard Conservation in Kyrgyzstan: Snow Leopard Enterprises Note: this article originally (apart from some minor changes) appeared in the Winter 2015 issue of AUCA Magazine, of which I’m the Editor-in-Chief. See the full version on the AUCA website. If you’re looking for gratuitous pictures of snow leopards, check out […]
Defenders of the Fatherland Day: Holidays in Bishkek, Soviet-style (This article originally posted on Defenders of the Fatherland Day in 2014. To follow updates from 2015’s holiday in Bishkek, follow my Facebook Page and Instagram feed.) Once ‘Red Army Day’, then ‘Soviet Army and Navy Day’, and now finally ‘Defenders of the […]
Winter in Kyrgyzstan: Snow Camping at Ala-Archa The long frozen Bishkek winter takes it toll on my traditional pastimes. Growing up in Louisiana, deep in the US south, my love for the outdoors has always extended to camping and hiking and multi-day backpacking but given the locale usually only the warm-weather […]
Hey there! I'm Stephen, this is my travel blog, and that's me in the poofy hat.
I'm a photographer / writer traveling since 2008, and I've been doing my best to visit amazing places.
My current focus is Central Asia, because for a hiking and camping enthusiast it's as good as it gets.