Leaving to go Home
I had just stepped into Malaysia. Thailand was behind me. The customs officer beamed and nodded, recognising immediately that I was a fellow Malaysian. “Hello, dari mana? ” he asked. Where had I come...
Category: stories
Somewhere in Scotland-2
Into the Highlands, and arriving at the end After spending an extra day at Crianlarich exploring some local trails, I walk to Inveroran, a tiny settlement along the West Highland Way. There are no...
Somewhere in Scotland-1
THE first few drops of rain take me by surprise even when they shouldn’t. It was as though I never saw them coming and yet I had seen the darkening sky and the...
Walking the Ridgeway
There is something about the winter that makes it different from other times of the year, but it is not the cold. It is not the cold breath that escapes whenever you exhale,...
A short walk in the Alpujarras: Pórtugos to Bérchules
I looked up and saw an empty path in front of me. The trees that had stood nearby were no longer there- all I could see now were their silhouettes, covered in a thin...
A Short Walk in the Alpujarras: Capileira to Portugos
“Are we lost?” “I’m not sure. Hang on”. I walked a little farther and climbed up a slope, turned a short corner and went past a large tree with roots that clung to the...
Somewhere on the Cleveland Way
The sun was right above me; it was four in the afternoon. I wasn’t particularly late- sunset is around 7.30 this time of year in England- but when I set out that morning, I imagined that...
France, early morning
In the French village of Bossey, not far from the Swiss border, the days pass by pretty slowly. So slowly that on a walk one morning, a slug I had chanced upon on a...
Bukit Kutu- just another hill
Step. Swish. Skid. How many times will I need to slip on this stupid hill? I asked myself angrily. It ended up being a game. I would count the number of times I skidded...
At home in Bo-Kaap
On March 2, 1653, after a long journey at sea, a slave called Abraham arrived as a stowaway on the shores of what is now Cape Town, South Africa. Abraham had escaped from his...
