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Exploring the world one step at a time

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Makan time in Langkawi! Nasi Goreng Kampung with s

Makan time in Langkawi! Nasi Goreng Kampung with super crunchy ikan bilis at the Marble Jetty in Kuah, and Laksa Utara, Mihun Soup and ABC at Warung Kak Imah (10am-7pm daily), on the main road and just a few steps away from the Sunday night market at Padang Matsirat. Kak Imah has had her stall for 15 years, so that's got to mean something. It's all good stuff 💖😋

See you tomorrow, sun.

See you tomorrow, sun.

Good morning, people. How are we today?

Good morning, people. How are we today?

Another memory from Laos, this time of the Mekong

Another memory from Laos, this time of the Mekong River while on a hike in the north. Vegetable plots on the riverbanks are a common sight here, even in a city like Luang Prabang. When I visited in 2006 Laos was one of the greenest countries I'd ever set foot in.

There is something quite amazing about rivers that traverse countries and cross borders just like *that*, and the Mekong is no different: its source is the Tibetan Plateau in China and from there, it flows through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

Most of the time I wander around by myself but som

Most of the time I wander around by myself but sometimes I have company. I bumped into these two Lao boys while on a hike in northern Laos in 2006. After I took this photo they ran and shouted with glee and jumped into the river behind them, and now I find myself wondering: what happened to them, where are they now?

So many people flit in and out of our lives, so briefly, never truly aware of how they affect us, but we remember.

I didn’t begin searching for walks immediately a

I didn’t begin searching for walks immediately after Kaikoura (see yesterday’s post), not deliberately, but I began looking for trips where I could ‘do things’ and more often than not, those ‘things’ ended up being hikes and walks. My subconscious was telling me –after New Zealand- that I could walk, and that it was a great way to explore.

When I got back, I began reading Paul Theroux’s book 'Riding the Iron Rooster', which was about the train journeys he took in China over the course of a year. So in 2004, I bought a ticket to Beijing – they were INCREDIBLY cheap then: my MAS return ticket was only RM835 (US$195), I kid you not. That might have been because it was winter.

So where did I walk in China? The first photo should give you a hint: early one frosty morning in Beijing in February 2004, I joined a group and hopped on a van that took us 130km northeast of Beijing. We got down at a village close to the Great Wall, climbed up, and began walking.

The section that we walked was from Jinshanling to Simatai, a distance of about 10km. Despite the manageable distance, I found it to be a tough hike. This was one of those “What the heck am I doing here” moments when I began to question my sanity. What’s tricky about walking on the Wall is that naturally, it traces the rise and fall of the landscape...as all walls do. If the hills are particularly steep, well then, you’ve got a steep wall.

The Jinshanling-Simatai section is regarded as one of most remote and unpreserved parts of the Wall- you can see how crumbly the edges are. If you zoom into the second photo you’ll see how far the Wall stretches into the distance: that was our route, that was where we had to walk to get to our van in Simatai.

When we got back to Beijing all the pain disappeared. I remember climbing the stairs to my room after dinner, my thighs in agony but my heart racing with joy, totally convinced that travelling on foot was the *only* way to go.

This was where the whole Walking Thing began for

This was where the whole Walking Thing began for me. June 2003- it was winter in New Zealand and I had just done a whale watching tour in Kaikoura. I ordered a late lunch, sent off a few postcards, and headed back to my hostel.

I had walked from the hostel to the jetty that morning so it was only natural that I should walk back, only this time my head was buzzing with excitement. I had seen not one, but three sperm whales earlier that day. I had heard the whales clicking and whistling through a hydrophone, seen their massive tails sticking out of the water before they disappeared, felt the spray of sea water on my face.

I was so preoccupied with my thoughts of that amazing day that I walked *right past* my hostel- it was only when the wind picked up, one hour after I set out that I realised I was walking along the coast, in the company of seals and seagulls. I also realised something else: that walking felt really, really good.

Contrails- something we don't see as often anymore

Contrails- something we don't see as often anymore. Seen above Loch Lomond, September 2016.

If it isn't frogs and tree shrews following me aro

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Matador Network
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Nomadic Chick
Ramble and Wander
Runaway Juno
World Hum
Travel Chameleon
Travel This
1Dad,1Kid, 1 Crazy Adventure
Uncornered Market
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