CaucasTalk

Would you like insider advice on traveling the North Caucasus from an insider with 20 years of experience guiding throughout the region? Today we welcome Rashid to the studio! We heard of Rashid from British explorer Levison Wood’s’ recent BBC documentary “From Russia to Iran.” He personally guided Wood and his crew for three weeks through every republic. Today he shares with us some of his insight into the North Caucasus!

Links for Episode 23

Levison Wood – “From Russia to Iran”

Rashid’s Top Five:

*

Arkhyz (Karachay-Cherkessia)

*

Lake Hurla Kel (Karachay-Cherkessia)

*

Djilisoo (Karachay-Cherkessia)

*

Ingush towers (Ingushetia)

*

Derbent (Dagestan)

Timestamps

0:36 – “I believe in fairies”

1:48 – Shout out to Bjorn!

2:25 – Shout out to… you know who you are!

4:08 – The six month-old chimes in

6:27 – Culture Shock Couch

12:44 – Rashid’s interview!

35:37 – Stories of hospitality

38:30 – Rashid’s Top Five!

40:57 – Lake of Love

Jeff, the founder of Experience It Tours, closes out “Tourism Month” with a bang. A veteran of many years running private tours in Morocco and beyond, Jeff casts a fresh light on the value of tourism around the world and how to do it well. We think you’ll agree when you hear him that his holistic view of doing tourism right makes a lot of sense. Experience It Tours is the parent company of Beyond Red Square making Jeff something like Andrew’s boss! . . . we think. Regardless, all our listeners will benefit from Jeff’s wonderful stories and strong encouragement to “choose to travel!”

Links for Episode 22

Experience It Tours

Morocco Tours

Experience It Oman

Beyond Red Square

Timestamps

2:10 – Quizzing Eli: Top Visited Countries

4:52 – Countries most reliant on tourism

6:26 – Eli & Andrew butchering facts and pronunciation

8:34 – Introducing the Interview

20:44 – Doing tourism the “right way”

21:14 – Not mass tourism (preaching it!)

22:36 – Buses pulling three-point turns.

23:01 – Be a cultural learner!

23:48 – STORY of cultural awareness

26:42 – Jeff on Experience It Tours

30:50 – Oman

31:45 – Like a Farmer’s Market: “It’s organic.”

33:18 – Choose to travel!

It’s finally here—Beyond Red Square, your very own English-speaking tourism company geared entirely for adventures in the North Caucasus! Our very  own Andrew and his colleague Josh, the company’s founders and directors, walk us through its unique features. This is no mere ad; rather it’s the fruit of many years of passion and hard work from two American guys who are committed to the North Caucasus. Eli pulls no punches in this direct, very practical interview introducing Russia’s newest tourism firm.

Links for Episode 21

BeyondRedSquare.com

ExperienceItTours.com

Timestamps

12:41 – What’s so wrong with Red Square?

15:21 – What is different about Beyond Red Square?

17:56 – Why not just use Booking.com?

22:26 – Learn the Lezginka!

23:30 – Funny travel story

24:40 – Shout out to Aeroflot

24:55 – About Beyond Red Square tours!

28:47 – Beyond Red Square — it is operational!

29:35 – How to sign up

33:42 – Are you a shady business?

34:34 – Experience It Tours

37:06 – Is it safe?

39:40 – Stories from the Kavkaz #1

45:11 – Stories from the Kavkaz #2

47:17 – How to get in touch!

The founts of wisdom (or at least suggestions) burst forth today as we give you travelers some down-to-earth advice about your upcoming visit to the North Caucasus. We invite you to take some notes as we share our favorite places to visit, things to do, and our own Caucasus wish lists. Plus we bring to light misconceptions of the Russian banya and even define “dingle” for you.

Links for Episode 20

Our North Caucasus Travel Wish List

* Vladikavkaz & Dargavs, City of the Dead (N. Ossetia)

– Vladikavkaz

– Dargavs/City of the Dead

Chegem Valley Overpass

* Dagestan mountains

– Gunib

– Khunzakh plateau Avar Dagestan North Caucasus

* Kezenoi-Am Lake in Chechnya (largest/deepest lake in Caucasus)

* Bermamit

* Sulak River Gorge

* Caspian Sea/Izberbash

Timestamps

2:28 – Top Places to Visit in the NC!

4:11 – Bunny Slope: KMV Region

5:50 – Intermediate: Mt. Elbrus & Baksan Valley

7:13 – Black Diamond: Ingushetia Towers

9:52 – One more Intermediate: The Caspian Sea

10:21 – Prince Caspian, by C.S. Lewis

12:12 – The popularity of the Republics based on TripAdvisor

15:52 – Top Things To Do!

18:19 – Nudity not required

20:10 – The “Banya Bond”

21:57 – Geographical feature: dingle

23:29 – The largest market in…

24:09 – The Honey People

24:40 – Top Wish list Destinations

There are some folks doing romantic jobs in the world, and today we talk with one of them. We are joined by the talented Instagram photographer, Josiah William Gordon. What is an “Instagram photographer?” We’re so glad you asked. Josiah is flown all over the world to promote and advertise beautiful locations with his photography. In this interview, Josiah visits the North Caucasus and gives us his (very lovely) first impressions. We also hear about some of his various adventures, monkey selfies, and the like.

But before getting to this very enjoyable (and funny) interview, we return to our long latent Tourism Tips (or Tidbits). This one is muey practical: how to get to Russia. Sound simple? Think again. But fear not—you’re in good hands. Enjoy!

Episode Links

Josiah on Instagram – @josiahwg

Josiah’s Elbrus Photo

Timestamps

1:15 – Bonus episode: True confessions

1:49 – Introducing our interviewee

3:22 – TOURISM TIDBIT: Practical tips for coming to Russia

3:48 – Three pieces of paper needed to get here

6:05 – 1. Passport. In celebration of the US Passport!

6:22 – 2. The visa

8:57 – 3. Ticket

11:12 – The four US cities with direct flights to Moscow

12:31 – Dangers of self-made itineraries

14:34 – THE INTERVIEW

16:02 – What is “Instagram photography”

18:03 – Faroe Islands

20:57 – Madlibs & Monkey face-bite

26:56 – Monkey selfie

27:23 – Josiah on the North Caucasus

28:05 – Arhiz like the Appalachians

35:00 – Lighting and photography – Free photography advice!

40:17 – “The Mecca of Good Looking People”

Tourism is getting a fresh new ‘doo as we kick off our very own Tourism Month! Summer is fast approaching so we decided to make certain our listeners are equipped with everything they need to launch out into the Caucasus on their own. Be sure to listen in over the next month as we share insights, experiences, and advice to improve your travels.

We also introduce a colorful new segment in the form of a recent sound bite Eli made from his travels in the mountains: we proudly present, Field Notes. We are then joined by our friend, and first British guest, Maddie from London as she gives us her warm-hearted take on Pyatigorsk and the North Caucasus.

Brew a cuppa something hot and kick back on the couch for a relaxed conversation with Eli and Andrew today about the State of the Podcast! We announce some changes coming up which we think will definitely interest you! Thanks for listening.

As Andrew calls it, this episode is truly the “icing on the cake” to our mini-series on Elbrus. Born  at the base of Elbrus, raised on its slopes, and now literally living of the mountain itself—folks, it doesn’t get more local than this! Today’s guest is Takhir, a  professional year-round guide on Mount Elbrus. But that’s just the beginning. Takhir counts his ancestors back (by heart) seven generations, all of them from the village in which he now lives at the foot of the mountain. In fact, it was his tribe who several generations ago actually bought Elbrus from a neighboring people. Today’s interview will dazzle your imagination and warm your heart. Welcome!

Timestamps

0:23 – International studio audience!

7:50 – A word for Millennials

10:18 – The best mountaineers are from…

13:30 – Buying Mount Elbrus

17:28 – 100 year-old climbing Elbrus

18:35 – What it’s like to summit

23:40 – HUGE announcement

25:25 – News Minute!

30:22 – Discovery about iTunes Reviews!

PS . . .

The actual purchase price of Alaska by the United States from the Russian Empire in 1867 was $7.2 million, equivalent to $4.74/km2 in 2016 values. [source]

The first big news is that we’re upping the ante here at CaucasTalk. As threatened back in January, we’re moving to three releases per month. That’s right—3 (three) (III) (trés) (три). This will allow us to get you more of the juicy content we’re creating and that you’re craving. Look for releases on the 1st, 10th, and 20th of each month.

Also as threatened, we’re injecting more interviews into our program. We’ve had some so far, but we’re now aiming for one or two each month. After all, there are a lot of fascinating people out there doing pretty dang cool stuff in the North Caucasus (besides us of course 😉

So enjoy our chat with our good friend today, Milo the Mountaineer, who describes his recent venture up to the summit of Elbrus in fascinating detail.

Links for Episode 16

The 3 Types of Fun

For those wondering, Tyrnyauz, the city near the base of Elbrus Milo mentioned, sits at 1,307 m. / 4,272 ft. elevation.

Timestamps

9:09 – Milo’s Description of the climb begins

18:33 – What is acclimatization?

40:48 – 3 Types of Fun

All right, enough with the facts and geology—Andrew takes us on a colorful tour of the zanier side of Europe’s highest peak, Mount Elbrus. Today we learn about the world’s worst outhouse, and attempt to drive to the summit, extreme sports on the mountain, chances to “glamp” at altitude, and even a poem by Pushkin. We had a lot of fun recording this one, and hope you’ll enjoy listening to it. Onward and upward!

Episode 15B Links

World’s worst outhouse

Glamping on Elbrus!

Glamping.com

Red Fox Elbrus Race (May 2018)

Elbrus World Race (September 2018)

Timestamps

3:28 – “What Happens On Top of the Mountain Stays On Top of the Mountain”

7:11 – 1. Home to the world’s worst…

11:40 – 2. Driving to the Peak

15:18 – 3. The Elbrus Race

20:32 – 4. Glamping!

30:06 – Pushkin poem on Elbrus, read by Andrew

38:59 – “Thank goodness for me!” —Andrew S.

40:16 – Big news

Errata

Eli’s glaring usage blunder (3:40) must be addressed. He attempted to say that he had not been “appraised” of Andrew’s title for that part of the podcast, but instead said “appraised.” The first means informed of (what he meant), the second means assigned a monetary value (not what he meant). This is obviously much more painful or even relevant to him than to anyone else at all, but if you are reading, we beg your judicious lenience and conciliatory silence on the matter.

Also, despite something Andrew said, Georgia has several mountains over 16,000 feet. Sorry Georgia!