We're home. Finally. In the past six months, myself and my cameraman Leon McCarron have walked 5,000 kilometres from Mongolia to Hong Kong.
Last Saturday, we arrived at my home in Mui Wo, joined by my wife Christine and friends who walked the last seven kilometres with us.
With all the talk of foreign investment in China, I had expected that we would see quite a few Westerners during the adventure. However, aside from the tourist hot spots of Xian, home of the terracotta warriors, and Guilin/Yangshuo, we have seen a mere three: two in Datong city (Shanxi) and one in Enshi city (Hubei).
There must have also been a few intrepid entrepreneurs and English teachers kicking around, but we never saw them in the mountains, valleys, towns and cities we passed. And so it seems the interior regions of China are still quite sheltered from the outside world.
But this changed two weekends ago when we finally arrived in Guangzhou, a city I had never visited before. I was pleased to discover it had a heart and soul, criss-crossed as it was by the Pearl River Delta.
Our first stop in town was the American International School, where we had been invited to give a talk. The children were happy to see us arriving drenched in rain and carrying huge rucksacks, and with heavy beards.
As a former geography teacher, I enjoy giving talks to schools when in the middle of a giant expedition. It's a fun chance to introduce children to the lands, places and people of the world, and to encourage them to take life by the horns.