Apoorva Prasad

writer / photographer

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Armenia

 The Roman-era Garni Temple, just outside Yerevan

Shepherds heading home block the main road from Garni to YerevanMt. Ararat, Armenia's holy mountain but now in Turkey; as seen from the Khor Virap churchNoravanq -

A baptism in Echmiadzin, holy see of the Armenian Church Soviet-era Ladas run as taxis in the busy streets of YerevanA shopkeeper convinces us to buy his sausages by plying us with shots upon shots of homemade vodka

 

 

 

Armenia is Hayastan, land of the Hayk tribe, which claims descent from Noah. It's on the border of the fertile crescent, appears to contain more Indo-European sites than India; has a cave where scientists discovered the world's oldest shoe, and incredibly enough, has almost no non-Armenian tourists. 

A small state in the southern Caucasus, bordering Turkey (border closed), Azerbaijan (border closed) and Georgia (phew, open), Armenia bills itself as the world's oldest Christian nation. For most tourists, it's important to underline the fact that it's also a post-Soviet CIS state. I recently wandered over to check out the capital Yerevan and the country's southern bits. While I was there, I also had a chance to crimp on the country's very nascent rock climbing scene.

If you're planning to travel there to talk business with the many oligarchs now driving their custom paint-job Hummers all over this ancient land, then check out my Yerevan city guide and hotels review at Smart Travel Asia.

If you're interested in travelling there to visit an ancient land, check out my travel article and photographs in this month's issue of Outlook Traveller.

Armenia: Old World - Charm and Antiquity in an Unexplored Land. Outlook Traveller, Nov 2010

 

Armenia, pages 3 and 4 - Outlook Traveller, Nov 2010

 

 

And finally, here are a few images of rock climbing with travelling climbers and the local hardman Mkhitar Mkhitaryan:

 Mkhik making his way up a project in Noravanq canyon

Mkhik climbing fantastic rock in Noravanq Canyon. Richter Scale, 7a+/b, a route by Alex Chabot.

 Agata climbing in Noravanq Canyon, Armenia

 Agata on Kaytsak, 6a.

 

Kiteboarding

Learning to Kiteboard

George, Fuat, their girlfriends and I all went down to Dewey Beach in Delaware. They're into kiteboarding, and wanted to show me what it's about. It promised to be a brand new experience for me, since all I know are climbing, snowboarding and a bunch of other, mostly non-beach things. Click the title above or here to check out the photo essay. 

 

Bio


 
Apoorva Prasad
Apoorva Prasad is a 28-year old Paris-based freelance multimedia journalist, writer and photographer.
 
 
He works on current affairs for the English internet desk of France 24, a French international 24/7 news channel, broadcasting in English, French and Arabic to countries around the world. Links to some of his work are here. 
 
 Apoorva straddles a fine line between news and lifestyle journalism. His credits - articles, photographs and video - include national and consumer publications around the world, including The Australian, international editions of Maxim and Men's Health, Climbing, and travel 'zines such as Smart Travel Asia and others. 
  
He's also long-time contributor to India's award-winning magazine Outlook Traveller; and has clips in The Economic Times, Men's Health, Indian Mountaineer, India Today Travel Plus and other publications. 
 
From 2005 to 2006 Apoorva was Staff Writer, and part of the launch team for Maxim magazine's third English language edition, in India. 
 
 
In 2007 he worked with the director Shekhar Kapur and producer Gotham Chopra on a script for Virgin Comics. 
 
 

 
Apoorva Prasad: Photograph by Torsten Klotsche
A member of the Himalayan Club, he's possibly the only Indian journalist specializing in extreme and adventure sports; having climbed technical routes in the Rockies and Yosemite in the United States, to peaks in the Alps and the Himalayas. He's also a snowboarder, novice paragliding pilot and scuba diver. 

 

Apoorva also consults for mountaineering equipment manufacturers and distributors (Wild Ventures working with Omega Pacific; and Outdoor School / Adventure 18, working with Millet, Lafuma and others) to test and procure the mountaineering and other equipment for the Indian military. He's also a member of the Foreign Correspondents Club of India.
 
 
In 2001, Apoorva and Anuj Bhatia started Xeye Design, a new media production studio. Today, Xeye Design's clients include Pepsi, Maxim, HP and others. You can visit its website here. 
 

Milipol Paris 2009


Milipol is an annual professionals-only exhibition of military and security technology, all vying for a piece of the $350 billion market. I covered the 2009 Paris event for Gizmodo.com. You can check out my articles here. 
 
I spotted some pretty interesting products. There was a new version of the reactive body armour d3o (called "Flow" - lighter, stronger and more reactive), which the company is trying to move into military clothing. 
 
  
 
"Reactive armor" in this case means that it is a foam insert that is soft, light and flexible when manipulated, but instantly stiffens and absorbs shocks when a struck with force. How cool is that?! D3o supplies the foam to clothing and gear manufacturers, who create products for the end user. If you ski, snowboard, ice climb or ride motorcycles, you might have used some of their gear.
As of today it can't stop bullets or stand up to shrapnel, but their marketing manager told me that something along those lines is in the works. 
 
 
More fun stuff included FN Herstal's new Armatronics suits, which adds some serious electronics to the gun's hardware. It incorporates an electronic "kind-of bluetooth" networked black box inside the handgrip that logs ammo, bullets fired and so on, as well as a "moving red dot' fire control unit for a grenade launcher. The latter is really cool - a laser rangefinder in front of the weapon calculates the distance to target, finds the firing solution, and then moves the red dot to aim the tube grenades. Here it is, held by a funny looking Japanese tourist, or maybe he was a journalist.
 
  
 
Other fun stuff ranged from Star Trek style tricorder sensors, to ruggedized notebooks that I'd love to test out.
 
 
 
  
You can read my posts on Gizmodo here, here, and here.