Chengde, as the seat of the Summer Retreat of the Manchu emperors, has a lot of history going for it. There are Buddhist temples around town in each of the styles that was prevalent at the time the Emperors there ruled, to show their unity with and understanding of their […]
Travel Words
Road Trip: Tajikistan and the Tunnel of Death (R)
I’ve been on any number of dodgy jeep/van/bus rides in my life, but nowhere in the world have these trips made me fear for my life twice in as many weeks. Tajikistan, then, deserves some sort of medal for the accomplishment. The mountain road from Istaravshan to Penjikent starts out […]
Rockin’ the Inaka. (R)
My JET-set fraternity-brother Matt lived for a while in what could perhaps best be described as the outskirts of the fringes of the suburbs of a city (Sendai) you had never heard of until the recent environmental disasters. The name of Matt’s town, as far as I can remember, was […]
Kulikalon Camping (R)
You know that feeling when sometimes you just need to get away? Leave cities and civilizations behind and jsut get out into nature? I was having one of those days about a week into Tajikistan. So I stayed here, for three nights. Climbing unfortunately snowy mountain passes during the day […]
Modern Tokyo (R)
Landing in Tokyo, part of me expected some mash-up of BladeRunner and Fast and the Furious with tricked-out Hondas flashing though hyper-neon streets in some absurd chase with police. Part of Tokyo does indeed play to that image, with crowded shopping streets in Harajuku and electronics markets in Akihabara delivering […]
A Cult of Personality (R)
Part of what makes Turkmenistan feel like such a strange place is that Turkmenbashi is EVERYWHERE. Born Saparmurat Niyazov and orphaned as a young boy by an earthquake that leveled much of Ashgabat, when he took power as leader of Turkmenistan he styled himself Turkmenbashi (“Leader of all Turkmen”) and […]
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.