Istanbul’s Golden Horn: A Tourists’s Guide Aside from having a lovely name, Istanbul’s Golden Horn is also a great area to explore a bit off the tourist trail. Eyup Mosque and Pierre Loti Cafe both get their share of visitors, of course, but even these numbers pale in comparison to […]
Tag: Thoughts
Kumkapi Waterfront – Istanbul
Kumkapi Waterfront Memory has a strange way of attaching a feeling to a place when traveling. I remember Indonesia’s tiny island of Raha, for example, as one of the loneliest places in the world. This has nothing to do with the island itself, really, but everything to do with my […]
Gezi Protests: A Moment Fleeting As A Feeling
Last time I was here in Istanbul, the streets were alive with people protesting their government. Though the issue was superficially the planned redevelopment of a small park in the center of town, protestors I chatted with named everything from increasing government authoritarianism and Islamicization to a potentially offensive historical […]
Starting the Crete E4 Hike
Starting the Crete E4 Hike So I’ve mentioned this in just about every conversation I’ve had over the last month or so, but I’m leaving today for a hike of mildly epic proportions. The E4 trail actually runs all the way across Europe, from Spain east to the Balkans and […]
Afghanistan Tourism: An Introduction
Of all the Central Asian Republics, the easiest by far to get a tourist visa for is (surprisingly?) Afghanistan. I’d never planned to visit Afghanistan on this round of Central Asia (and indeed remember assurring several people that I wouldn’t… sorry guys), but after visiting the Wakhan Valley’s border market […]
Introducing: Mongolia
I expected Mongolia to be awesome, and it was even better than I’d imagined. I expected to spend a ton of money on getting awesome experiences out of the place, and accomplished the latter without having to spend much more than a trip through South East Asia. Most surprisingly, even […]
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.