Inspiring you on your own journey . . .
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 […]
Walking down Shanghai Street, you note the old red brick building that was once the engineer’s office of the Yau Ma Tei Pump Station. The building marks your transition into the neighbourhood that it once served. All around it, newer buildings rise up out of the concrete. Shops selling cooking equipment line both sides of […]
Since the dawn of civilization, humans have felt compelled to raise structures to their gods. Before this, they modified things in nature and worshipped Mother Earth. This chain of events explains the development of votive structures. Starting with simple offerings placed in nature, places of worship evolved into small shrines, then large stone structures and […]
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 […]
The bus full of tourists cruises along the Southern Vietnamese highway. You, along with the others, are being kept entertained by the hilarious antics of the tour guide from Saigon who is leading your journey. Two Hanoian ladies on the bus with no spoken English are the butt of his anti-communist jokes. They are rich […]
