The Caucasus

Oil Rocks in the Caspian Sea

After the Dogu Express I arrived in Kars, a regular sized town in eastern Turkey. Beyond Kars, at the extreme edge of the country, lies the ruined medieval city of Ani. Once one of the largest cities in the world, it was left for ruin and has been disintegrating for the last 500 years. Despite regular plundering, vandalism and the Turkish Military using it for target practice, there still remains several giant stone churches that were the most advanced of their age.

A 12-hour bus journey through more of Turkey was followed by a quick stop off at the Black sea resort town of Batumi and then an 8 hour train journey took me to the Georgian Capital of Tbilisi. Whilst still bearing the hallmarks of its Soviet past such as the deep level metro system, the city has recovered from the various conflicts it has experienced in the last 2 decades. The maze of courtyards and narrow winding streets in the old town is by far the most unique aspect of the city, along with Georgian spicy meat dumplings and grilled cheese pies.

The overnight train into Azerbaijan, made up of old soviet carriages, rolls into the capital city Baku. This is the largest city of the Caucasus and is centred around a perfectly preserved old city of recently cleaned sand stone minarets and palaces. The city is developing rapidly as the Azeri GDP skyrockets. The source of all this wealth can be discovered in the somewhat barren landscape surrounding the city. Populated by forests of oil derricks and pump jacks as well as colossal oil platforms out in the Caspian. From here I will take the ferry, or cargo ship, towards Turkmenistan and Central Asia. Hopefully I will catch a glimpse of Oil Rocks, the legendary oil rig city 50km off-shore built on the wrecks of tankers.

 

 

Borders

Following 3 days, 5 trains and 8 countries, the final leg of the journey into Istanbul is by coach. Arriving at around 6.00 in the morning I have an opportunity to explore the city in the absence of the swarms of tourists. Bigger than London, Istanbul has a distinctly local feel to it, with the residents lining up in single file along the Galata Bridge to cast their fishing rods into the Bosphourous at first light.

From the narrow lanes that climb up the hills it is easy to make out the geography of the city, the 3 major spreads of land laid across 2 continents. The local feel of the city is reflected in being able to comfortably visit most places by foot, ambling around the surprisingly un-pushy restaurant and shop owners. Along with ample amounts of kebab, the fresh fish sandwiches and plenty of Efes made Istanbul a city that is all too easy to enjoy, at night we struggled to venture far from the hostel bar and saw little reason to, all of them being so similar.

After 4 days it was time to leave and head east, towards the Caucasus. The train line between Istanbul and Ankara is closed and a coach replacement was necessary. From the rather hum-drum looking city of Ankara I took the Dogu “Express” train service towards Kars in the very East of Turkey, about 900 miles from Istanbul. The term “express’ appears to have been applied fairly loosely as it seems to meander lazily across the landscape at around 40mph, occasionally stopping and taking about 27 hours to reach its destination. I had considered taking the faster bus but a meal in the restaurant car along with a beer reminded me why I’m on a rail trip.

 

 

 

Rail Trip 2012

So I've decided to do a rail trip this summer, from London to Beijing via the Caucasus, Central Asia and Mongolia. I'll try and update this blog when I get chances, I'm currently in Istanbul for a few days. I've made a map of my route which I'll show images of here as I go along. Here a few things I've seen so far.

The Hanging Cities of Kowloon

Of course, like most people, you've probably spent some time fantasising about what could have happened if the Hong Kong City council hadn't demolished the Kowloon Walled City but rather preserved it as a testament to the more extreme urban exploits of city dwellers. It's probably one of the most fascinating and enduring anomalies that I have come across, second only to the Pink Sparkle Odeon ident. 

But what if they had strapped a load of over sized F1 Rocket Engine to the base and fired them into lower orbit where they could ominously hang in the air in exactly the way bricks don't...

No Lomography

Elephant

I went to Elephant and Castle yesterday to see some friends and on the way I did a bit of documenting the shopping centre and surrounding area before it's all demolished next year. I thought I'd post them on here...

Blackpool

I’ve wanted to visit Blackpool for about a year but had struggled to find anyone willing to come with me and, not being a lone wolf kind of guy, it wasn’t until my big brother agreed to go that I was finally able to see Fabulous Las Blackpool. It’s difficult to pinpoint exactly why I wanted to go, it stems from the notion of wanting to visit somewhere completely off the “alternative” radar, unlike Brighton or Brick Lane. I mean how cool do you sound if a friend rings you and you can say; “yeah, sorry I can’t, I’m in… Blackpool??”

My head was filled with romantic images of a desolate seaside town complete with fading ballrooms, peeling shop fronts and empty amusement arcades, all swathing in the smell of stale batter. In a perpetual cloud of drizzly gloom, a relic of the great British Summer, dissolving into the Irish Sea. Unfortunately my visions were severely hampered, as they so often are, by a lack or proper research. It turns out millions still visit Blackpool and, according to an unreliable source, has more hotel beds than the whole of Portugal. So with the combination of it being the hottest October on record, a big football match taking place and the illuminations kicking off, it was actually rather hard to find somewhere to stay.

We eventually managed to check into the Fairway Lodge, a typical Blackpool hotel nestled in the warren of B&Bs that run behind the promenade and only a saveloy’s throw from the tower. The hotel has a bit of Tardis thing going on, from the outside it only looks like a double fronted end of terrace, but inside there are staircases flying in every direction with bars and breakfast rooms and small corridors winding their way to even more suites. After dropping our bags off in our room somewhere deep in the bowels of the hotel, we headed down to the esplanade.

Walking down the high street we were flanked by platoons of uniformed stag nighters and hen partiers. The centre of the town was overrun with arguing families packed into cafes whilst rude staff shovelled cold tea and musty battered cod at them. However, it wasn’t until sunset that the magic truly began to happen. The illuminations, billed as the “Greatest Free Light Show on Earth”, manages to hit an offbeat lameness that I don’t think I’ve ever seen anywhere else. Despite being tacky, at least things like the Bellagio fountains or the Hong Kong laser show are technically challenging to compose. The illuminations are just millions of 70s Christmas decorations taped together. They’re not really a spectacle at all but a thinly veiled excuse so people can justify a trip to Blackpool to get pissed.

Not feeling 100% and with the seaside air not really helping I spent most of the evening being mesmerised by those 2p sliding arcade machines inside an amusement arcade perched on the end of a pier. The next morning I was well enough to partake in the ritual of the full English breakfast, flung at us across the dining room. Walking around the town on a damp Sunday morning I was able to grab a glimpse of the idealised Blackpool I had formed in my head. In retrospect, I think the future for the town is promising. Despite falling visitor numbers, it has an eccentricity that won’t fade and a hidden quirkiness that more and more people will start to notice, so in about 10 years Blackpool will also be too mainstream to be seen in, so it’s off to Skegness next!