Enigma of the Absolute

If the complete mystery of existence fascinates you more than partying, drinking, fucking, and working, my posts may interest you. My posts will include my personal introspective thoughts on existence, spirituality, philosophy, and whatever else fits.

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Just hugged my little stuffed dog for the first time in at least 15 years. Patches was my first little friend to confide in, all those years ago. Some things never change, and u love it.

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I don't get excited when friends are coming over... I get excited when I find a weeks worth of weird movies to download

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Staying with Scientists, and Volcanos! 

Somewhat hungover, we wandered out of Yerevan in the general direction of Mt. Aragats. It was hot, and we were sluggish, but the hitching was relatively easy. Soon we found ourselves in a small town on the long, winding road leading up to the top. Storm clouds rolled in, locals stared at us like aliens, and we ate lunch under a small canopy, in a slightly creepy children’s park while a man gave…

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Swimming in Sevan... And Strippers? 

Swimming in Sevan… And Strippers? 

We headed North to Lake Sevan. It was summer you see, so a massive lake seemed like the obvious place to head to. As usual, hitching went smoothly, and after a bit of touristy venturing around the only real touristy location on the lake (arhere’s a church on a little peninsula… That’s about it aside from the lame itself.), we went in search of… Money! We all needed to exchange some cash, so off…

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Travels with Czechs

Following a simple “come with us” from the two Czechs, I set off for Tbilisi yet again. I walked and metro’ed my way to the south edge of town where I met them on the highway out. Linda was a little sick, but managed to survive some hours in the sun, breathing in the lovely smell of vehicle fumes… At one point they convinced me to pay a little for a lift 200km or so into Armenia. Grudgingly I…

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Goin' to Gori 

Goin’ to Gori 

I had to say bye to fee mountain air and snow-capped peaks of Svaneti, as the adventure had to continue East. So reluctantly I hit the road. Hitching out was easier than I had thought and I was in Zugdidi in no time.  As I wandered through town, a police car stopped. This was the same town I got a lift from police before. Maybe the same guys saw me and radioed me in? Apparently the guy who picked…

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Mestia to Ushguli

I had just written a post about the trip between Kutaisi and Mestia. . . And I think WordPress decided it wasn’t worth saving. Damnit all. Screw it, then.  SO, settled in Mestia, having completed a few day hikes to a nearby glacier, and up to the top of a neighboring mountain, it was time to do the big trek (big for regular hikers/trekkers but likely amateur for you experienced folk). The route…

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although it was also beautiful. One knew nothing. One lived and ran about the earth and rode through forests, and certain things looked so challenging and promising and nostalgic: a star in the evening, a blue harebell, a reed-green pond, the eye of a person or a cow. And sometimes it seemed that something never seen yet long desired was about to happen, that a veil would drop from it all, but then it passed, nothing happened, the riddle remained unsolved, the secret spell unbroken, and in the end one grew old and looked cunning . . . or wise . . . and still one knew nothing perhaps, was still waiting and listening.

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Winding old roads and Farewell to Friends 

Bypassing cities is always my first choice, and this is what we did. Skirting around the North end of Chinti, we made our way East through the foothills, along gravel and dirt roads,  through villages only Georgians would find any interest in, to Tianeti. Here one of our drivers basically forced us to his home, where the entire family took us in for lunch. Grandma, mum and dad, some of the…

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Mining towns, Monasteries, and Hippie Happenings 

Our escape from unknown misfortune took us into the rolling hills of Central Georgia. Our destination was Chiatura, due to hearing people say it was worth seeing. Foreigners said this. Georgians wondered why the hell we wanted to go there.  It’s an old Soviet mining town. The images you think up are probably pretty accurate. The river is almost black, the buildings gray and haggard, the people…

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Strange People, Dangerous Drivers 

In Sarpi, the border town, I met my new travel partner for a couple of weeks. Katherina the Austrian, who had already soaked up some of Georgia’s interesting ways before I had arrived. We camped out on some beach chairs, falling asleep with the sounds of kms of passing Trucks overhead, and that horrible, overly electronic music that seems to infest this part of the world.  The next day it was up…

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Turkish Truckers, Long Days

My checklist for Turkey complete (not that I really have checklists), I hefted up my pack and aimed for Georgia.  I aimed for Sivas, with one ride handing me a handful of cigarettes as we parted ways in the middle of nowhere, while a group of students showed me their hometown of Kayseri before packing me on a tram out of the city center. Turkish rides are usually pretty eventful I’ve found,…

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Cappadocian Caves

Konya to Cappadocia was more or less flat and full of nothing. Besides one ride with a cocaine dealer (whose speed had my hands sweating a bit more than I’d like), I arrived in Cappadocia. The area looks like nothing special at first. Some hills, lots of nothing, but when the road turns down towards Goreme, the central town, a few small caves turn into a sprawling network of caves and “fairy…

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How it is 

For the other travelers out there, you know that feeling, the night before you leave, where the road is so close and everything is calm and quiet… When you’re just waiting to make distance and be in a completely new setting? Yea, in my last full moon swimming night at that touristy place called Kabak, I was feeling this mellowness. The road actually treated me quite well that day. Besides being…

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Coups and Supposedly Secret Beaches. 

How on earth did I forget to mention this: days before I left the campsite, an attempted military coup took place while I slept. A fair chunk of the armies’ upper ranks decided they wanted Erdogan out, using conscripts to block bridges and airports in Istanbul, under the guise of an exercise. Many other targets around Turkey were taken as well. Around 300 people were killed, but it ultimately…

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Dog Defending and Postponed Adventures 

From Bafa it was a relatively short trip down to the campsite I was to volunteer at… I can’t recall if I even mentioned that yet, but yea, through the website http://www.workaway.info (awesome website. Like wwoofing but a lot better for prices, website design, and volunteer opportunities) I found a campsite to spend a couple weeks at.  The place is located in Akbuk Bay, a little place with…

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Dog Defending and Postponed Adventures 

From Bafa it was a relatively short trip down to the campsite I was to volunteer at… I can’t recall if I even mentioned that yet, but yea, through the website http://www.workaway.info (awesome website. Like wwoofing but a lot better for prices, website design, and volunteer opportunities) I found a campsite to spend a couple weeks at.  The place is located in Akbuk Bay, a little place with…

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