Types of wall
It is always so incredible, no matter how well you think that you have researched something or covered all of your bases, you always miss something. We had spent two weeks along the wall prior to our trip and we were convinced the knowledge of our journey
A dream without the isolation of sleep
Years and then months of intense planning, and finally I have not only taken the first steps of our journey, but a week has already passed, over 200km of intense desert terrain. It would be difficult to ever encapsulate what has been going through my mind, the
The Great Wall
The word “Chang Cheng” Became one of my most used in China, as well as one of the first that I learned to say. This was the Chinese word for the wall, which if translated literary means endless structure of some 10 000 Li in length (1
Departure from Cape Town
The flat was filled with the drone of busy excited voices, the door buzzer had not stopped for the past hour. No one was really talking about the reason for our gathering, but the body language was there. Every time I would make eye contact with Lizelle
To persevere
When do you call it a day? What does it take to finally break your spirit and you decide to just sit back and let things go by? Fall back into your rut and be satisfied with what is going on around you, that your effort, was
Start
What lies ahead of me, my journey through the middle kingdom, the 3rd biggest country, a civilisation shroud in mystic and secrecy? For hundreds of years being surrounded by the hoards of barbarians all trying to get into their land. A civilisation going back for thousands of
Into the sea
Friday, 17 October 2008 After 100 days on the road the final sunrise of the journey was slowly edging its way across the sky, splashing colour into the drab dusk, burning away the morning chill in the sea air. I remember standing in front of the estuary at
Zululand and on
Tuesday, 07 October 2008 Since Durban we have had a mental battle trying to keep focused and dragging our bodies day after day along the north coast freeways, zig-zagging between busy roads all heading up north to the border, dodging flying pieces of sugar cane, taxis and fighting
Hope in Thyme
Monday, 06 October 2008 The ancient Greeks used it in their baths and burnt it as incense in their temples, believing that thyme was a source of courage. I can now count the days on one hand, the end of this journey is so close, but still far to
Children of the soil
Tuesday, 30 September 2008 I can distinctly remember as a child the special feeling that one got playing in the soil, digging into it until your finger nails were caked with the black soil. Eating handfuls of the sand and loving each brain shattering crunch as your teeth
