Guest Post from Writer & Photographer Laurence Mitchell

I have a poster on my wall that advertises an exhibition by the British walking artist Hamish Fulton and bears the legend: An object cannot compete with an experience. I find it hard to argue with that sentiment and it serves as a useful reminder of my true values whenever I question the validity of the travel experience.

I reported here back in November on the day of the US presidential election – a day when the world held its breath and hoped for a good outcome. They were quietly interested in Iran too but did not let on. I was in Esfahan then, enjoying its splendid architecture and searching for authentic teahouses. After a few days there, I left to head west towards Turkey, travelling on local buses through the Kurdish hinterland where I did not see another European for a whole week. Not that it mattered: in quiet, unsung towns like Hamadan, Sanandaj and Orumiyeh I met some wonderful, welcoming people and got an insight into Kurdish culture that I would not have experienced if I had stuck to the more obvious tourist destinations. I eventually arrived in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus a week later, having flown there from Erzerum in eastern Turkey where it was, quite literally, freezing.

I returned to a cold, dark, credit-crunch obsessed UK just before Christmas (although, in commercial terms, even the end of October seems to count as ‘just before Christmas’ these days). I had bought no souvenirs whatsoever and the only mementoes of my trip were a dog-eared notebook filled with undecipherable scribbling, several gigabytes of digital images, a bag of dirty clothes, a blackened thumbnail (from an argument with an Armenian taxi door) and a nasty stomach bug (origin unknown). I also had some marvellous indelible memories etched into the hard drive of my cranium. Not bad going really.

Laurence Mitchell      

Norwich, UK, 5 January 2009

(Laurence Mitchell is author of the Bradt Guide to Kyrgyzstan. Top Photo: The Si-o Seh bridge in Esfahan, Iran. Bottom Photo: Hamadan, Iran. Both photos courtesy Laurence Mitchell. See more of Laurence Mitchell's photography at LaurenceMitchell.com.)

Comments

[freelance writer]

oh my god this is amazing, an art as i believe!