... From the bottom of the valley you can reach the bigger part of Alaverdi perched on a slightly sloping ledge by means of an old cableway that travels exasperatingly slow because of security concerns after ...
... myself at the best spot to hitchhike for a ride.
A first van took me to Shatin. There I was refreshing myself at a fountain when up comes another traveller with a badly sunburnt forehead, carrying ...
... all frozen in time.
It may all seem spooky, but that experience just thrilled me. How I had been able to ferret out this gem of a place? I learned of its existence thanks to the tip of another traveller, ...
... me in this shrine of massive stone.
That woman's motive for travelling was probably not visiting, I observed, but rather ticking places off her mental list. It was funny how she'd given this inspiring ...
... conversations with other travellers or hostel staff. I am solitary at heart, and had enjoyed my independence, but sometimes I had missed my family and friends. On the other hand, taking a step back from ...
...
Things would be very different in Saint Petersburg, 35 hours by train and 1,500 km away.
The Russian trains I had used until then were not a paragon of high-speed travel – not the faster elektrichka, ...
... but I was also rather chuffed. Murad drove me to the station and entrusted me to one of the attendants as if I had not been able to travel in Russia by myself until then. Like that I couldn't possibly ...
... Volga swelling to the dimensions of a lake at the confluence with the river Kazanka. It would be another faithful companion in my next week of travels towards the south. Implicitly I had set myself a goal ...
... I left the three girls on the threshold of Kazan station where they would find their train ready to travel the night's ride to Rossosh. I walked back to my hostel crossing the centre of Moscow, starting ...
... for a dead sparrow and a live cockerel with tied paws. I had to hold fast to the edge if I didn't want to go bashing against the sides. My travel companion was gasping for air, the red hot metal sheet ...
... the upper part of town.
Nechisar National Park is at a stone's throw, but there is no competition among the travel agents. There may well just be one, and they ask for a monopolist's price. I didn't ...
... needed on this accident prone road. I saw three vehicles lying on their side completely smashed, one of which a mid-sized Isuzu passenger bus. I was left wondering what may have become of those travelling ...
... sees a considerable passage of travellers and has earned a terrible reputation for being the den of crooks, pickpockets and swindlers from the whole country. All the people I met there however were kind ...
From Butajira to the south it's the Silté's land. I took a van going to Kibet, the first of their towns, with the intention of reaching the weird crater lake called Are Shetan. On the minibus everybody ...
... travellers in wait for an early morning flight, and even foreigners who had just arrived or were waiting for their departure. I too didn't go out in the middle of the night in search of a hotel I had failed ...
... the reservation of tickets for the various attractions – hardly my style of travelling. They suggested I should stay with them, but I rejected the idea of being a wheel in the cogs of their arrangements ...
... juxtaposition of natural beauty and man-made prowess.
But to remind the traveller of everyman’s living conditions, even the tiniest patches of terraced land were sown with numbered plants of maize, ...
... country where travelling by train is as complicated as taking the plane. However, I was ready to put up with any inconvenience rather that go to the bus station again. Anshun looked like a friendly town. ...
... of the town.
Foreign tourism is practically non-existent in these parts. I only saw another traveller waiting for the bus, but I was too tired to strike up a conversation. Was I not jealous of sharing ...