A Letter to My Travelling Partner(s)
Travelling alone is peaceful. Moments where you are free to think, to soak it in and digest it with a space all to yourself. People are more likely to approach the lone traveller, less intimidating in their vulnerability, alone in a foreign place. You may meet more people, experience kindness and return knowing more about […]
The Fish Mongers of Mandalay
First you feel it in your toes. A slime of seawater, molten ice, soil and fish guts invade your flip-flops turning them a dull murky grey. Then it hits your nose, raw and metallic, the oxidising flesh of fish simmering in the sun’s heat. We have arrived at the wholesale fish market of Mandalay. Along […]
Set Our Hearts Alight in KyaingTong
Another border, a new country. From Mae Sae into Tachileik, from Thailand into Myanmar. I remember the bead of sweat trickling down my spine, further plastering my t-shirt to my backpack. Our excitement at crossing the bridge. Stories of a region which had just opened, previously banned to the outside world. And we were going […]
China…Through The Funnel
China is the fourth in our series – “…Through the Funnel”. You can read our previous one on Uzbekistan here. It is a way for us to share 12 aspects that stood out to us in our experience of the country and its people. Did we miss something that stood out to you in China? #1 Spitting is the […]
Along the Tea Horse Trade Route in Shaxi 沙溪
“冬日暖阳 – winter days with warm sun.” – Chinese saying The white sun burns my skin against the brisk air. It is early morning in Shaxi. All is quiet save for the sound of a set of old wooden wheels rolling over lose stones. It smells clean in that winter weather kind of way. I […]
Lunch at a Tibetan “Castle” in Daocheng 稻城
The autumn leaves crackle as they are crushed under the wheels of our bicycles. The rest of them hold onto their tall trees for as long as possible, not willing to let go and fall into their long winter graves. We let out short puffs of breath, cycling the 10 km to the red grasslands […]
Taking Stock: 200 Days on the Road
We have made it. 200 days on the road. 4800 hours of travelling, exploring and living in 16 countries. More than 12000 km of rocky roads, smooths highways, dirt paths and wooden bridges. We have slept in about 97 different beds, some soft, some hard, some bedbug-free, others outside under the stars. We have ridden […]
Village Retreat in Jiaju 甲居
The driver drops us off at the entrance to the village. We are on foot from here on. The dust puffs out from under our steps as we walk towards the sloping hills, terrace upon terrace of fields descend steeply towards the deep canyon below. The Tibetan architecture pops out from the green background, little […]
What lies behind the gorge in Langmusi
Nature, always inartistic, takes pleasure in creating the impossible. – Jerome K. Jerome I can no longer tell if the white smoke is from my own breath or the million chimneys that surround us. Billowing fumes fight against the frosty air and warm patches of wet grass seem to be steaming from the ground up. […]
In the Footsteps of Tibetan Pilgrims at Labrang
It smells like Tibet. Of yak butter melting in candle flames and dark-pine branches smoking through layers of heated stones. The scent jolts me back to my time in Lhasa, a combination of ingredients that is uniquely Tibetan. Prayer beads, small and large, sombre and bright, adorn the wrists and necks of passersby. Colourful sashes, […]
