https://www.scmp.com/rss/33768/feed en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com It is natural to feel some fear during a global pandemic. Fears about health, jobs, personal finances, geopolitical conflict. And beneath all these is the great fuel of fear: uncertainty. Who knows how long this pandemic will last or what the fallout will be. I have always been a fearful person and spent much of my life trying to come to terms with it. The reason why I have been on expeditions through places like Siberia, the Taklamakan Desert and Afghanistan is because, deep down, I wanted to... https://www.scmp.com/sport/outdoor/extreme-sports/article/3083096/coronavirus-how-make-fear-your-servant-uncertainty?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/sport/outdoor/extreme-sports/article/3083096/coronavirus-how-make-fear-your-servant-uncertainty?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 06 May 2020 06:05:21 +0000 It’s over! On Saturday October 22, just before sunset, I finally completed my expedition across China’s most fearsome desert, the Taklamakan. In my memory, the final few weeks are a blur of desperate struggle. The first challenge was walking along the Mazartag line, a range of mountains whose rock walls rise out of the sands like a prehistoric beast. As the area around it is a closed oil drilling region, I had to do much of my walking at night to reduce my chance of being spotted by the giant,... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-beauty/article/2042614/harder-siberia-winter-hong-kong-adventurer-conquers-china?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-beauty/article/2042614/harder-siberia-winter-hong-kong-adventurer-conquers-china?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 04 Nov 2016 22:32:38 +0000 The desert is watching me. It is hard to find words for the place. Ancient, vast, timeless, epic, still, spiritual, menacing, consuming, other worldly ... Mars-like? As I attempt to walk solo across the Taklamakan desert in China’s wild west Xinjiang region, I have been almost perpetually out of my comfort zone. I’ve had to carry up to 35kg across the edge of the desert in my rucksack in the intense heat, swim 12 times across a fast-flowing river to get my gear across, haul a cart with beach... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-beauty/article/2028149/hong-kong-adventurer-crossing-china-desert-pushes-despite?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-beauty/article/2028149/hong-kong-adventurer-crossing-china-desert-pushes-despite?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 14 Oct 2016 23:03:57 +0000 Life in the desert is hard. For my first week I was walking with a rucksack through the southeast edges. A mixture of scorching gravel plains, pioneer Han Chinese settler farms and the beginnings of the desert’s famously huge sand dunes. After a week I reached the Qarqan River, which I knew I needed to cross to enter the desert’s heart. But when I reached its banks, it was flowing considerably faster and fuller than I had hoped. It was mud brown and about 200 metres wide, with a large mud island... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-beauty/article/2019964/rob-lilwalls-china-desert-trek-loneliness-long-distance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health-beauty/article/2019964/rob-lilwalls-china-desert-trek-loneliness-long-distance?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 17 Sep 2016 23:00:30 +0000 Ahead of me lies a tough challenge. Perhaps it will be the toughest thing I will ever do, or attempt to do. My plan is to walk east to west across the Taklamakan desert in Xinjiang province, China’s wild west. The Taklamakan is sometimes translated as “he who goes in, never comes out”, and sometimes just called “the desert of death”. The reason for this reputation is that it is a 1,000-kilometre wasteland of sand dunes and not a lot else. Temperatures range from 45 degrees Celsius in the summer... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/2009433/hong-kong-adventurer-takes-chinas-desert-death?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/travel-leisure/article/2009433/hong-kong-adventurer-takes-chinas-desert-death?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 28 Aug 2016 09:15:30 +0000 Ice cream doesn't stand a chance against me - I have been known to polish off entire two-litre tubs in one sitting. In my resolve to eat less of the sweet treat, I find the battle is usually won or lost long before I dip my spoon in the tub. It takes place in the supermarket, when I decide whether to put the tub in my trolley. I find it quite easy to resist buying the ice cream, really. But once in my freezer, it's hard to overcome the temptation to have a nice big bowl of it after dinner almost... https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health/article/1086162/how-boost-your-willpower?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health/article/1086162/how-boost-your-willpower?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Nov 2012 16:00:00 +0000 We were in Oxford the day the Olympic flame came through last month, so my wife and I joined the crowd lining the roads to watch. Policemen on motorcycles zoomed by, and suddenly the torch appeared, borne by a smiling, middle-aged woman having the moment of her life, cheered on by the people of her city. In the days before the London Games started, even in austerity-wracked Britain, the atmosphere was buzzing. The daily news kept us updated on the latest heroes carrying the Olympic flame through... https://www.scmp.com/article/1014192/virtuous-circles?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1014192/virtuous-circles?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Aug 2012 16:00:00 +0000 It's been about two weeks since we arrived home in Hong Kong after walking 5,000 kilometres back from Mongolia. In our final week, my cameraman Leon McCarron and I were in Guangzhou, walking through the heavily industrialised region of Dongguan. Manufacturing towns were piled so thickly on top of one another that our route consisted of one seemingly unending muddle of twisted roads and sprawling factory complexes. Our smartphone map struggled to keep up with this rapidly changing layout. It... https://www.scmp.com/article/1003677/back-arms-love?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1003677/back-arms-love?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 11 Jun 2012 16:00:00 +0000 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... https://www.scmp.com/article/1002302/shave-best-last?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1002302/shave-best-last?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000 My cameraman, Leon McCarron, and I are now nearing the final stages of our long walk from Mongolia to my home in Hong Kong. Today, we have at last reached the outer edges of Guangzhou, and from here it is just a few days' hike to Lo Wu, so the end is really in sight. One of the highlights of this expedition has been to see the incredibly changing landscapes of China, which can be roughly divided into the drainage basins of the three great rivers of the mainland. The first was the Yellow River,... https://www.scmp.com/article/1001606/going-flow?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1001606/going-flow?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 21 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Last week, my cameraman Leon McCarron and I entered the legendary karst landscapes of the Li River, near Guilin. We have now walked about 4,000 kilometres, and have fewer than 1,000 to go. It's the beginning of the end. Over these six months of walking, surviving and slogging, a big part of each day has been finding food. These are the top three meals we've had. Mongolian noodles in a magical ger A week after departing Mongolia, we were walking through the frozen hills of the Gobi. There had... https://www.scmp.com/article/1001005/forks-road?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1001005/forks-road?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 14 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000 I am now entering the final month of my 61/2-month long Walking Home From Mongolia expedition. Along the way, my cameraman Leon McCarron and I have crossed the Gobi Desert and northern China in winter, and progressed into the beautiful springtime of the central and southern Chinese mountains. We have taken a dip in the Yellow River and the Yangtze. The Pearl awaits us this week. There have been many magical moments on the trip so far - sunrise in the frozen Gobi, being invited into a Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/article/1000365/changing-lives-step-step?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/1000365/changing-lives-step-step?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 May 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Is it better to go on an adventurous journey alone, or in a team? There are pros and cons to both. On my current 5,000 kilometre Walking Home From Mongolia expedition, I have been with my cameraman and friend, Leon McCarron, the entire way - until very recently. Besides the obvious advantage of Leon being able to film our adventures professionally, we have also had the peace of mind of knowing we are not alone and have had a companion to talk to in English. However, after five months of walking... https://www.scmp.com/article/999691/divide-and-concur?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/999691/divide-and-concur?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000 My cameraman, Leon McCarron, and I have now spent more than five months walking south from Mongolia towards Hong Kong. Before setting off, I wrote in this column about how I had prepared physically for the journey (through training hikes, and learning the best stretching exercises). All this preparation certainly helped. But now, more than 3,000 kilometres later, how have our bodies coped with the day-in, day-out pounding which we have been giving them? First, it should be explained what kind of... https://www.scmp.com/article/999043/tortured-soles?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/999043/tortured-soles?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 23 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000 One of the real privileges of journeying through less travelled parts of the world is the extraordinary hospitality that one encounters. These are among my favourite memories: the Tibetan goat herder who invited me to stay in his 'Hobbit house' on a cold and icy Himalayan pass; the Bedouin nomad who killed and cooked a chicken for me in his portable home while I was walking across the Judean Desert; and the policemen who bought me breakfast in Iran. On my current expedition - a 5,000-kilometre... https://www.scmp.com/article/998374/love-labourers?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/998374/love-labourers?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000 For the past five months, I have been walking home from Hong Kong to Mongolia with a young, professional adventure cameraman, Leon McCarron, who is filming the journey for a National Geographic television programme. In this week's column, I ask Leon a few questions about his experiences during this gruelling journey through China. What made you want to be an adventure cameraman? I've always loved going on adventures and challenging myself. Another passion was being creative, and camerawork was... https://www.scmp.com/article/997796/leon-gets-his-shot?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/997796/leon-gets-his-shot?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000 6am I wake to the sound of my alarm clock and push my face towards the pre-dawn light and an incredible display of giant karst mountains, forested hillsides and deep valleys in the north of Xinglong, in the municipality of Chongqing. I shout to my expedition partner and cameraman, Leon McCarron, a few metres away, that it is time to get up. A groan in reply. Ten years younger, Leon is supposed to be the sprightly one, but he confesses that the past four months and 3,000 kilometres of tough... https://www.scmp.com/article/997310/every-slog-has-its-day?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/997310/every-slog-has-its-day?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Apr 2012 16:00:00 +0000 From time to time, I get an e-mail from a young person asking me for advice on how to become a professional adventurer. Certainly, making a living from doing adventures seems pretty appealing. But really, I ended up becoming a 'professional' rather by accident. When I was younger, I used to enjoy scraping together what spare cash I had to go on adventures - walking across Spain, hitch-hiking around America, cycling across Ethiopia or Pakistan or Peru. I always just did this on my holidays and... https://www.scmp.com/article/996695/may-quest-man-win?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/996695/may-quest-man-win?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Mar 2012 16:00:00 +0000 The Darwin Awards are bestowed annually upon humans who are so mind-bogglingly dim that they earn themselves deselection from the gene pool for dying in the most moronic of circumstances. My expedition partner, Leon McCarron, and I might well have qualified for it following our - on hindsight, silly - decision to walk through the 18-kilometre Zhongnanshan Tunnel, the world's second-longest road tunnel which cuts through the middle of the Qinling Mountains in the southern part of China's Shaanxi... https://www.scmp.com/article/995985/lets-not-go-through-again?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/995985/lets-not-go-through-again?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:00:00 +0000 People who learn that I'm walking 5,000 kilometres from Mongolia to Hong Kong always have plenty to ask me. Here are the five most common questions. 1. Why go on these madcap adventures? This is a huge question. In summary, I go on adventures for the same reasons as everyone else - because adventures are fun, they are a place of learning, and also a way of testing ourselves to the limit. In addition, I go on adventures to pay the bills. 2. Aren't you afraid? Indeed, yes, I am regularly... https://www.scmp.com/article/995258/because-you-asked-it?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/995258/because-you-asked-it?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Mar 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Crossing to the western bank of Huang He (Yellow River) at Hukou was a major landmark for us on our 5,000 kilometre Walking Home From Mongolia expedition. Our final sight of the river - which was still almost entirely frozen - was of where it ran south through a narrow gap in the cliffs, spanned by a huge, half-built motorway bridge. My expedition partner Leon McCarron and I climbed away from the river onto a smooth, asphalt road, and ahead of us we found a fork in the road which gave the option... https://www.scmp.com/article/994571/high-roads-and-byroads?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/994571/high-roads-and-byroads?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Mar 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Over the past month, my expedition partner, Leon McCarron, and I have made fast progress south along the Yellow River, and then crossed from the province of Shanxi into Shaanxi, and out of the mountains and onto flat, fertile plains that will lead us to Xian, the capital of Shaanxi and the ancient capital of China. We are now very nearly halfway through our 5,000-kilometre walk home to Hong Kong from Mongolia. However, our progress suddenly came to a temporary halt due to that rather modern... https://www.scmp.com/article/993852/visas-and-other-woes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/993852/visas-and-other-woes?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 27 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000 I have now been walking home from Mongolia for more than 90 days. In that time, Leon McCarron - my partner on this expedition - and I have been awed by the beauty and power of nature, humbled by the kindness of strangers, and thrilled by the fun of exploring ancient lands. At the same time, we've regularly been cold, hungry, afraid, angry, alone and, most of all, exhausted. As we walked along an empty road beside the Yellow River and traipsed through yet more mountains in Shanxi province in... https://www.scmp.com/article/993208/whats-missing-action?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/993208/whats-missing-action?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 20 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000 After almost two weeks of walking along the Great Wall, we finally reached the edge of a huge valley, which we descended on a road of swerving switchbacks. About halfway down, we looked across a gully to see another Great Wall watchtower, so we scrambled across to it, and as we arrived, gasping, at its base, there it was below us: Huang He, the mighty Yellow River. I had seen the Yellow River once before - in the city of Jinan, when I was cycling down the east coast about seven years ago.... https://www.scmp.com/article/992572/down-river?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/992572/down-river?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000 I've biked 50,000 kilometres from Siberia to England, traversed the length of Israel on foot, and walked London's infamous 290-kilometre ring road in six days. But I've never used a medical kit as much as on my current expedition: walking 5,000 kilometres from Mongolia to Hong Kong. Walking, especially with a heavy backpack, gives your body quite a hammering. In addition, my nutrition intake has been questionable, as I've been living on instant noodles and biscuits for three out of four... https://www.scmp.com/article/991906/quick-fixes-walking-wounded?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/991906/quick-fixes-walking-wounded?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 06 Feb 2012 16:00:00 +0000 For the last week or so of our 5,000-kilometre Walking Home From Mongolia adventure, my expedition partner Leon McCarron and I have been following the Great Wall of China westwards along the ridges and valleys of northern Shanxi. Unlike the postcard perfect stone sections of the Wall near Beijing, here it consists of a one to three metre ridge of crumbly yellow earth, covered in grass and dotted with regular watchtowers (five-metre columns of yellow earth). But while the wall may not be as... https://www.scmp.com/article/991278/above-and-beyond-wall?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/991278/above-and-beyond-wall?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 30 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000 On any adventure you should always expect the unexpected so that you're not taken by surprise when the going gets tough - and failure becomes a possibility. Recently, our Walking Home From Mongolia expedition has been getting tough. It's not only the regular routine of hiking through the extreme cold and never knowing where we are going to sleep each night, but I'm also struggling with a foot injury and mental exhaustion, and last week I received a message from England saying my dear... https://www.scmp.com/article/990333/how-i-get-through-times-trouble?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/990333/how-i-get-through-times-trouble?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 16 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000 You would think that finding the Great Wall of China would be easy. I had seen it on the pages of our Chinese road atlas for some time, marked clearly by a jagged symbol. However, on my iPhone's Google Maps, even when I zoomed in, the wall was indistinguishable from a dusty road. I suppose this dispels the myth that you can see the Great Wall from space. It is also a myth that there is one wall. Rather there is a network of walls, built and rebuilt by various dynasties (especially the Ming)... https://www.scmp.com/article/989714/legends-wall?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/989714/legends-wall?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 09 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Leon McCarron - my expedition partner and cameraman on this 5,000-kilometre trek home, which began in Mongolia about two months ago - is a softly spoken, tall, lanky, Northern Irishman in his mid-20s. When we set off, Leon and I did not know each other very well. He films adventures for a living and we had met briefly in London and New York to discuss a cycling expedition he was planning. Then about a year ago my wife and I invited him to stay with us when he arrived, on his bicycle, in Hong... https://www.scmp.com/article/989076/can-friendship-go-distance?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/989076/can-friendship-go-distance?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 02 Jan 2012 16:00:00 +0000 Last week's section of our long walk from Mongolia to Hong Kong took us over the border from Inner Mongolia and into Shanxi province, where ridge-backed mountains roll across the landscape like huge breakers in an earthy sea. My expedition partner Leon McCarron and I are relieved to finally end of the first of five legs of our 5,000-kilometre journey. My wife, Christine, joined us last Wednesday in Datong, where we are taking a week off over Christmas. We were really looking forward to this... https://www.scmp.com/article/988600/its-relief-get-weight?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/988600/its-relief-get-weight?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 26 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000 Last year, while on a walking expedition across Israel and the West Bank, I stayed with a friend who was naturally gifted at languages. I asked him what was the secret to his linguistic ability. His answer was simple: 'Vocab'. 'But what's the secret to vocab?' I asked. 'Repetition,' he said. I admit I was never very motivated to learn languages at school, and always assumed I was simply not good at them. So my friend's advice was encouraging six months ago, when I set about teaching myself... https://www.scmp.com/article/988209/theyre-men-few-words?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/988209/theyre-men-few-words?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 19 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000 We prepare to leave at 8am, and outside dawn has just risen over Inner Mongolia. We have been sleeping in a little truckers' roadhouse hotel which we stumbled upon last night, after three hours of marching through the Gobi darkness. It's Friday, December 9, and seriously cold outside - about minus 20 - although this is made much worse as the Siberian winds are whipping down from the north, biting through our clothes, stinging our faces, and, when we remove our gloves for simple tasks such as... https://www.scmp.com/article/987606/miles-not-smiles-gobi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/987606/miles-not-smiles-gobi?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 12 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000 After 12 days of walking south through the Gobi Desert, a week ago we arrived at the ramshackle Mongolian border town of Zamyn Uud. We looked and smelled like we had just walked across a desert. We knew that we would not be allowed to cross the border on foot, so we joined some other passengers in a beaten-up Russian jeep, and were driven three kilometres through no man's land. All being well, that will be the only part of our 5,000 kilometre journey home to Hong Kong which we will not be... https://www.scmp.com/article/986914/footsteps-giants?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/986914/footsteps-giants?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 05 Dec 2011 16:00:00 +0000 On November 14, my cameraman friend Leon McCarron and I finally set off from the Mongolian outpost town of Sainshand on our 5,000-kilometre walk home to Hong Kong. Our first challenge was to traverse the Gobi Desert from north to south. The Gobi is a place I remember learning about at school. On maps it was typically shown in shades of blue to identify it as a cold desert. You could argue that walking into it in late November was asking for trouble, not just because of the fast-encroaching... https://www.scmp.com/article/986224/gateway-gobi?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/986224/gateway-gobi?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000 In a few days I will fly to Mongolia, to walk 5,000 kilometres back to Hong Kong, through a very cold and wintery China. One of the most frequent questions I am asked about this expedition is why. Why leave behind a comfortable life in Hong Kong? Why set out on an expedition which, to quote Shackleton's apocryphal newspaper advert recruiting people for a 1914 Antarctic expedition, will consist of 'low wages, bitter cold, long hours of complete darkness. Safe return doubtful.' (He allegedly... https://www.scmp.com/article/984135/tough-times-make-me-feel-alive?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/984135/tough-times-make-me-feel-alive?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 07 Nov 2011 16:00:00 +0000 I'm usually the sort of person who goes on holiday without even knowing where I might be staying on my first night (before I got married, at least). However, for my 5,000-kilometre winter walk from Mongolia to Hong Kong, in addition to getting physically fit, there have been all sorts of other bits of planning. To be honest, I sometimes think the actual expedition is going to be easy compared with these protracted negotiations and preparations. First, there has been the acquiring of gear. In the... https://www.scmp.com/article/983473/load-logistics?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/983473/load-logistics?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 31 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000 In three weeks, I will be flying from Hong Kong to Mongolia with a friend, and when we land, we will set off to walk back to Hong Kong - 5,000 kilometres through a rather wintry China. Of course I'm daunted by the adventures (and blisters) which we will no doubt encounter, but I'm also really excited to get back into living in the wild. Furthermore, the past four months have been mentally exhausting. There's actually quite a lot of preparation involved - the logistics, acquiring of gear,... https://www.scmp.com/article/982796/best-foot-forward?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/982796/best-foot-forward?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 24 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000 The other evening at around 5pm I left home and set off from my village towards Sunset Peak. I had loaded up my newly custom-moulded Osprey rucksack with five two-litre bottles of water and an old tent, bringing its weight to over 15kg. I carried my pink iPod in my left hand and a stick for the snakes in my right (I'm terrified of snakes). Weaving through the village houses I reached the familiar path and began to climb. It was completely dark by the time I reached the top, so I used the light... https://www.scmp.com/article/982173/wanders-never-cease?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/article/982173/wanders-never-cease?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 17 Oct 2011 16:00:00 +0000