Our journey to the Galapagos Islands was a bombardment of wildlife and education. This was my first time photographing wildlife and what a place to do it – you can get right up close and personal, although of course a zoom lens helps.
Annapurna Base Camp (ABC) Trek in Nepal (post 1/2)
After contemplating about travelling, I quickly locked in a date, consulted a few websites and booked my ticket to Kathmandu. Hiking is one of my favourite outdoor activities and Nepal is the ultimate trekking destination.
Insight into Tibetan culture and everyday struggles
I came to Pokhara for the stunning Annapurna mountain range but what stole my heart was The Tibetan Encounter, a tour highlighting Tibetan culture, their struggles as refugees in Nepal and an introduction to Buddhist philosophy.
Note: the cover photo is of a Tibetan woman spinning wool. It is an arduous process and pays little but the elderly women in the community do it to keep themselves busy and socialise whilst doing so.
Salt flats and driving through Bolivia
After a tortuous 10hr bus ride on unpaved road from La Paz, we arrived in Uyuni, a small town in the middle of nowhere. Uyuni was our starting base to Salar de Uyuni, the largest salt flat in the world.
Striding Edge, Helvellyn Day Hike in Lake District
We landed in Heathrow, jetlagged and sweaty from an 11 hr flight from Beijing. We picked up our hired car and drove to central London. We became nostalgic as we passed familiar boroughs, black cabs and red double decker buses. London felt like a million years ago and I didn’t realise how much I missed it until I came back.
There really was no time for rest (or sentiment) as we picked up our friends, grabbed a Sainsbury’s meal deal (sandwich, chips and drink for £3) for dinner and drove 5 hours to the Lake District in North West England. It was the summer solstice and when we arrived at our accommodation around midnight, the sun had just dipped below the horizon. The next day we were to hike Striding Edge, which is the highest point of the Helvellyn mountain range.
Photographing Chicago at dawn
Jetlagged and weary, I hauled myself out of bed. As I splashed water on my face, my eyes stung from the cool water and lack of sleep. Although exhausted, I wanted to explore the city of Chicago in the early morning light.
Orkhon Valley, Mongolia
Continuation from the first South Gobi, Mongolia post.
We continued driving from South Gobi to Orkhon Valley and then to Mongolia’s capital, Ulaanbaatar. As we travelled north, the landscape changed to lush green fields with rolling hills and blue sky. It looked like the default Windows XP wallpaper.
Touring South Gobi, Mongolia
With only about five hours sleep, we flew to Dalanzadgad airport, it was about the size of a house. We were greeted by a tall Mongolian woman in her early twenties with porcelain skin, adorning exercise tights, sparkly pink top and Gucci sunglasses. Her name was Zaya and she was to be our guide for the next week.
Jiankou to Mutianyu Hike
Right at the top of my bucket list was The Great Wall of China. So when we visited Beijing in June 2014, this was the only thing that I really wanted to do. We made a last minute decision to hike from Jiankou to Mutianyu section of the Great Wall of China. We did some quick research and found a hiking tour. Fortunately Joe was able to fit us in for this one day hike.
Kyoto through the lens
Japan was the first stop on our almost 4 month round the world tour. It has always been one of our favourite countries to visit and an excellent way to start our travels. It was the first time I visited Kyoto. Donned by many of my friends as one of the most beautiful parts of Japan, and I have to agree.
The cover photo was taken at Kiyomizu-dera. We had been wandering through the Higashiyama District, getting lost through the many beautiful alleyways before rain started to pour. We had been ducking and weaving from shop to shop and somehow ended up here. It was the beginning of spring when I took this photo and the vegetation was green and lush. The bright red shrine was outstanding against the forested backdrop.