The collected writings of a Renegade Tourist

Category Frozen Moments

Road no 1, afternoon

The black sand eventually gives way to some sparse yellow grass spreading out over the fields, the snowy mountains looming closer, masses of ice blocks from the glacier spilling out onto the grass. The road curves away from the mountains, running through fields of greenish yellow, the glaciers tumbling down in the distance. The road curves back and the mountains grow higher but less steep, slopes of sand running down towards the sea. The grass grows higher and the mountains become darker again and more rocky, tendrils of broken black cliffs crawling out on the plane, the road snaking between … Read the rest

Road number 1, noon

The landscape is ever changing as we go along, from brooding cliffs just off to the right as we set off, passing by green pastures dotted with grazing sheep, driving through moon landscapes strewn with dark boulders covered in sickly yellow grass. Out again onto open fields where green shrubs mix with the barren soil and dead grass, off in the distance, fields and lonely farm houses hugging the base of steeply rising mountains, topped with ragged black cliffs; little ponds and lakes on both sides all along the way. We finally cross a river on a narrow bridge and … Read the rest

Main road near Vik, 10:15 am

This car has far more problems than I care to list, the gear lever has to be manhandled into position with force and precision, if I let go of the wheel, the car skews off to the right, the windscreen wipers work none too well, and only the driver side speakers function. In short, it really is just as sad a car as the rental company’s name suggests, but it’s getting us where we want to go, zooming along, with verdant fields on the right and stupendous cliffs looming up on the left so close you could almost reach out … Read the rest

Thingvallavegur 10:48 am

It’s only been a few minutes since we turned off the main road but the landscape is already vastly different. The road snakes through a broken expanse of hillocks and gullies, covered in pale yellow grass with blotches of Brown earh and gray rock here and there. It’s barren, bleak and completely desolate, not a single soul in sight and utterly, incomparably alien. Like nothing I’ve ever seen before, we might as well be on another planet. The expression “in the middle of nowhere” has never been more suitable.… Read the rest

Over keflavik 9:14 pm

We have just turned in over land, only a few minutes from touching down. At this point you will normally see the outskirts of the city down below, trees rivers and highways. To my surprise there is nothing here, just a grey brown plain of broken rock and earth stretching uninterrupted out to the sea. Not a single sign of civilization. What kind of strange land is this we are coming to?… Read the rest

Jing guo/ Min quan cross, 5:08 pm

I’ve only been outside for a couple of minutes but I’m already utterly and completely drenched. My shirt clings to my back like a wet dish cloth, my jeans are heavy with water, sticking to my thighs. Every time I brake or change gear, a torrent of cold water runs down my legs and sloshes around in my shoes. When I speed up the heavy drops pound my chest like a fistful of marbles, I’m suffering unmatched levels of discomfort. I see the light turn green and the riders preceding me hit a giant puddle on the opposite side of … Read the rest

Newgrange 1:08 pm

We are in the central chamber of a stone age tomb, a vault of crudely cut megalith blocks above us and outside that, a great mound of earth covered in grass. The guide turns off the tourist friendly electric lights and the chamber goes completely dark except for some dim light spilling in through the passageway. She turns on the light simulating the equinox sun and a golden ray shoots along the floor, filling the passage with brilliant golden light and grows in luminescence until it culminates in a thin point on a spot precisely calculated by ancient astronomers. Though … Read the rest

Road around Baoshan Reservoir 5:37 pm

We have stumbled upon this place more or less at random. We only stopped at the reservoir for a quick rest before going home, but impulsively decided to circumnavigate the lake, just for fun. And here, on the small road around it, we found this place, a Christian graveyard. The steep hillside is terraced in numerous levels, kind of like the spectator gallery at a sports arena but instead of seats, there are walkways lined with graves; rows and rows of what looks like sarcophagi with slab headstones at one end. Then only difference between them is the color of … Read the rest

Nangang technology park, 12:32 pm

I’m standing in a garden on a kind of a raised dais looking out over the street. Or, I say street but it’s more like a long stretched park of meticulously planted greenery, slate rimmed ponds, and plenty of fountains. Both sides of the park come pedestrian boulevard are lined with futuristic looking office blocks, with facades of brushed aluminum and glass. It’s like something out of a sci-fi movie; an off world paradise for the rich full of luxury and high-tech gadgets, with the rest of humanity stuck on the burnt out wasteland that the earth has become. However, … Read the rest

Air over Amsterdam 8:46 am

We have just passed through the clouds, and so too, apparently, has the sun. For when you leave the colorful sunrise behind and come down beneath the cloud cover, you kind of expect the day to be dreary and grey. What a surprise then to be greeted, as you leave the layer of mist behind, by a brilliant, dazzling golden light that fills up the otherwise dismal world with warmth and brightness. A fleeting moment of bliss that dissipates as the golden glow fades.… Read the rest

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