Inspiring you on your own journey . . .
The rain comes down in a light, but penetrating drizzle as you wander through the streets of Taiwan’s capital city. Taipei feels a little run down and as you enter a covered market street, the dank walls do little to challenge that perception. Weaving through small vegetable stands, you break out back into the rain. […]
The ferry from Hong Kong to Macau has been an uneventful affair. The hour trip passed without incident and you easily crossed through immigration. As the hordes of Chinese visitors clamour to get aboard buses provided by the casinos, you side-step them and head to the deserted taxi rank. From the ferry terminal at the […]
The steady drizzle has been slowly soaking you to the bone for the last few hours of meandering through the streets of Taipei. The crumbling concrete blocks provide little shelter as you pass small dark shops that are filled with dusty merchandise. The smell of guā bāo drifts out from a street-side restaurant. The clam […]
The feeling of festival is in the mid-autumn air. Flags and banners adorn the streets in the small neighbourhood of Tai Hang on Hong Kong Island in preparation of the imminent event. Once a village, Tai Hang retains much of its old nature. Despite the towering apartment blocks, it is still laid out on a […]
The peninsula of Macau is a confusing and paradoxical place. Wandering through its streets you feel as if you are in Europe. The Portuguese street names add a dimension of colonial charm to your drifting, but are almost incomprehensible to many locals who only speak and read Cantonese. At ground level, the buildings remind you […]
The dry summer heat of Beijing is sapping. Walking on hard surfaces of the concrete streets is a bone-pounding, strength stripping feat. The modern city is not designed to be traversed on foot and after a few hours, you are feeling the effects. Thankfully, a shaded pavement area east of the Forbidden City gives you […]
Sitting in an immaculate wooden booth, you nurse your traditional Japanese breakfast of soba noodles in a smokey dashi broth. The restorative kake soba noodle soup and the accompanying sencha tea wake you from your early morning drowsiness and give you the vigour you need to begin your day’s traipsing in Kyoto. The restaurant, Honke […]
Strolling along what could be mistaken for a seafront, were it not for the bank on the other side, you move away from the centre of the sleepy capital city. Vientiane doesn’t seem like the major city of any country, but here in Laos, it is what passes for the height of cosmopolitan. It’s a […]
Your xe ôm (motorbike taxi) flies through the ancient streets of the Old Quarter passing hawkers trying to pass off nylon as silk. The narrow streets are disorienting and you feel like you have been taken up in a whirlwind. Breaking through to a more open space you approach a large body of water. To […]
Your stomach is filled to bursting as you get on the Nankai line train at Namba station. You ooze takoyaki and okonomiyaki through your pores. Osaka is a city of feasting excess. Everywhere you look there is food. Having ruined yourself on the food, you need to gain some spiritual fodder. The immaculately spotless train […]
