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    About us

    Daniel Noll and Audrey Scott are the husband-and-wife storytelling and photography team behind Uncornered Market. They travel deep and off-beat, aiming to connect the world through people, food and adventure. Six years and 75 countries later, they are still going...and still married. Read more…

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  • Suggested Reading

    How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization

    How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization
    Author: Franklin Foer
    Who knew you could learn so much about globalization, economics and politics from soccer? Great read.

    Artist\'s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

    Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
    Author: Julia Cameron
    One possible path to re-discovering the creativity you never knew you had.

    Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, New Edition

    Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies, New Edition
    Author: Jared Diamond
    An admirable crack at explaining why the world is the way it is by way of an anthropological macro-history. This book probably comes up the most in conversation as we travel.

    The Cathedral Within: Transforming Your Life by Giving Something Back

    The Cathedral Within: Transforming Your Life by Giving Something Back
    Author: Bill Shore
    Inspiring profiles of social entrepreneurs and projects we all can learn from and hopefully replicate to give back to community.

    Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation

    Playing the Enemy: Nelson Mandela and the Game That Made a Nation
    Author: John Carlin
    Although the storyline is built around the South African rugby team and the 1995 World Cup, this book is more about Nelson Mandela and how he was able to unite a divided country. Inspiring.

    Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown

    Dark Star Safari: Overland from Cairo to Capetown
    Author: Paul Theroux
    The author re-visits Africa and re-assesses the place he once knew... and judges it once and for all. Well written, poignant observations of the thumbprints left by career politicians, aid workers, and everyday people.

    Outliers: The Story of Success

    Outliers: The Story of Success
    Author: Malcolm Gladwell
    A look at the internal and external factors of how extraordinary people got to be, well, extraordinary. One of those books that challenges assumptions and makes you think differently.

    Shantaram: A Novel

    Shantaram: A Novel
    Author: Gregory David Roberts
    Administering first aid in a Bombay slum, selling fake passports and running guns to the Mujahideen in Afghanistan. Technically a novel, but closely linked to the Author's own experiences. Fantastic read.

Category Archive: Caucasus

When Georgians and Beer Mix

Toasting with Beer in Georgia When you toast someone or something in Georgia with a beer, it’s more like a curse than a traditional toast for good health and prosperity.

I wonder, How many Georgians are drinking beers and clinking to Russia, Putin, and Medvedev right now?

Find out what happens when Vladimir Putin’s nickname sounds like the English word for a part of the female anatomy… Continue Reading »

Where is Leila Now? (As South Ossetia Melts Down and Zugdidi Evacuates)

Friendly Vendors at Zugdidi Market We met Leila (center) in Zugdidi, Georgia over a year ago. Like so many others, she and her friends at the market have probably been evacuated recently. Continue Reading »

Golden Camel Awards, Part 3: Sights, People and Scenery

From mosques and mountains to hats and limousines, the often unusual sights and scenery of the Caucasus and Central Asia always kept us guessing. If you check out the categories and keep reading, you’ll see why. Continue Reading »



Article Series - The Golden Camel Awards

  1. Golden Camel Awards, Part 1: Food and Markets
  2. Golden Camel Awards, Part 2: Logistics
  3. Golden Camel Awards, Part 3: Sights, People and Scenery

Golden Camel Awards, Part 2: Logistics

No place takes the logic out of logistics, from pillar to post, like the former Soviet Union. Inspired by our own experiences, the following entries are in no logical order. Let’s dig in.

Worst Toilet: Svaneti Region of Georgia
Competition in this category was exceptionally fierce, but the nod goes to Svaneti. Although we highly recommend a visit to the region, we suggest you pack your hip waders for visits to the outhouse. Continue Reading »



Article Series - The Golden Camel Awards

  1. Golden Camel Awards, Part 1: Food and Markets
  2. Golden Camel Awards, Part 2: Logistics
  3. Golden Camel Awards, Part 3: Sights, People and Scenery

Staying Connected on the Road: The Caucasus and Central Asia

Maintaining and updating a website while on the road in the Caucasus and Central Asia proved rather challenging. Internet availability and reliability in the region unfortunately has not yet begun to approach Southeast Asian standards. Continue Reading »



Article Series - Wi-fi on the Road

  1. Staying Connected on the Road: Southeast Asia
  2. Staying Connected on the Road: The Caucasus and Central Asia
  3. Staying Connected on the Road: Wi-Fi Hotspots and How to Hop the Great Firewall of China

Marshrutka Monologues (or, Why We Travel the Way We Do)

I thought Americans liked to travel in comfort. I don’t know why you take a marshrutka.

You should take the marshrutka. There you will meet the real people.

– Two competing local views on whether or not we should subject ourselves to long-distance rides on marshrutka minivans, the dominant form of public transport in the Caucasus and Central Asia. Continue Reading »

Golden Camel Awards, Part 1: Food and Markets

Welcome to the first and only Golden Camel Awards, a camel’s eye view of the best and worst that Central Asia and the Caucasus have to offer!

While most people don’t travel to the Caucasus and Central Asia solely to explore the cuisine, we had our share of pleasant eating experiences there. We also occasionally felt the wrath of a post-Soviet culinary hangover. If you are interested to know what constitutes a good eating experience (heavenly bread, drinkable vodka, and elusive vegetables) or what continues to haunt our food dreams, read on. Continue Reading »



Article Series - The Golden Camel Awards

  1. Golden Camel Awards, Part 1: Food and Markets
  2. Golden Camel Awards, Part 2: Logistics
  3. Golden Camel Awards, Part 3: Sights, People and Scenery

Reflections: Crossing the Caspian Sea

Your trip across the Caspian may provide some of the scariest and most fulfilling moments of your entire journey.

– A veteran journalist we met in Tbilisi, Georgia who had seen it all in the former Soviet Union.

Although we are posting this from Pingyao, China, we dial back a few clicks to the beginning of our journey in Central Asia in an attempt to adequately address the images in our mind and the notes in our journals.

Oddly shaped like a damaged index finger or a distressed plume of smoke, the Caspian Sea pumps out oil and caviar in the midst of the surrounding desert and extreme landscape. Continue Reading »

This Land Is Not Your Land

Before this journey, our experience with the disputed regions in the Caucasus – Abkhazia, South Ossetia, and Nagorno-Karabakh – amounted to a few news articles and flashpoint body-count news tickers drifting across the bottom of our television screens.

Something bad had happened, people had died, but we never truly appreciated or understood the details. Continue Reading »

Kutabs and Kebabs: Azerbaijani Food

Given that Azerbaijani culture and language is Turkic in origin, it’s not surprising that its cuisine also carries a strong Turkish influence. Doner kebabs are so prevalent on Baku’s streets that you’d swear they were Azerbaijani by origin.

Colorful KebabsOne thing is certain though. Azerbaijanis like their meat, with shashlik (barbecue) as the style of choice. One meal took us on the tour of the animal kingdom with seven different types of shashlik Continue Reading »



Article Series - Food in the Caucasus

  1. “Georgian Food…such as nice…very tasty”
  2. The Lost Table: Armenian Food
  3. Kutabs and Kebabs: Azerbaijani Food
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