August 2010
11 posts
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Dubai - دبيّ
We hear about Dubai every week or so. Well if you’re an architect that is. How high does it really reaches ? How far it tries to steal from the sea, and fill it with desert sand. Selling illusions (or mirages?) of prosperity and megalomaniac démesure !
First. It’s a freakin’ desert ! Who the hell would think it’s a good idea to live in a desert ? Some...
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Kabul - کابل
I’m on a taxi to the bright side now. Really, nothing gets as dark as an Afghani airport. Logistics are spent on military check-ups. Not check-in services. Wait in a tent and your body and bags will be hand-checked 12 times. Not less. Barbwired. We’ll print your ticket and you will wait in lines against the wall. They don’t care about knives or harmless shampoo bottles. Only...
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4th border
Today I crossed the friendship bridge. Walking. Well, still floating i guess. As I’m used to do, over the Amu-Daria. That Oxus river. The spine of Central Asia. Played the usual games with these costums soldiers, feels like dancing on one foot with a passport gently balancing on my nose. Nothing to declare. Uzbek soldiers: trying to make me regret leaving their home, heavy papers, with...
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Khiva - Хива - خیوه + Bukhara - Bukhara - Buxoro -...
I remember starting this trip in a mist of civilisations. Blurred. Crossroads and transits. Asia’s gone russian, and now the russians are gone, too. I’ve spent the last week on a greater road. Samarkand, Khiva, Bukhara. 3 jewels built on layers of cities: destroyed, stacked, built again, burned, stolen, built again, restored, dusted, built again. Layers of history. Shoveled up. That...
July 2010
46 posts
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