Interviews

[Editor's Note]: I met Thomas in August 2014 at the Lutheran Guesthouse in Goroka, Papua New Guinea. Together we attended the weekend Sing-Sing festival and then visited a village in a rural area outside of Goroka. Thomas is one of the happiest people I have come across, and he just loves mingling with the local people. He really sets an example of how a great foreign traveller should embrace the locals and their culture. Happy travels Thomas, and thanks for showing people in far away places just how nice and warm hearted some foreign travellers are! You are truly an inspiration to your fellow travellers! [MORE...]

[Editor's Note]: I met Masayuki in September 2013 in the small Tajik town of Khorog. We were both staying at the Pamir Lodge and were planning our route through the Pamirs and the Wakhan Valley. Together with a Japanese friend, Tetsuo, we hired a four-wheel-drive vehicle and driver and then set off to the east of Tajikistan. We travelled together over a few days from Khorog, through the Wakhan Valley along the Afghanistan border all the way to Sary Tash, Kyrgyzstan. At Sary Tash Masayuki went to China and I travelled north to Osh in western Kyrgyzstan. After China, Masayuki continued on to travel to far away places around the world. A year later and he is still on the road. He is such a friendly guy with a big smile. Great travel partner indeed! [MORE...]

[Editor's Note]: I met Fabio a few years ago on a "Spot the polar bear" expedition in Svalbard, in the very far north of Norway. Being so close to the North Pole, Svalbard is incredibly cold during winter, but we had a great time on the snowmobiles and dogsleds. At his current age of just 29, Fabio has been to an impressive list of 73 countries which includes amazing destinations such as Svalbard, Iceland and Iran, and he is keen to visit North Korea, and.... even New Zealand! A very energetic young man who is now living in Oslo, Norway! [MORE...]

[Editor's Note]: I first met Min during my second trip to Myanmar. He gave me such a friendly welcome and offered great advice about where to travel and what to do. He accompanied me on Yangon's Circular train journey and we hopped off a few times to explore the very authentic fruit and veggie markets. He is a walking encyclopaedia of Myanmar and nobody should plan a trip to Myanmar without first drawing on Min's experience and knowledge of this incredible country. [MORE...]

[Editor's note]: I was sitting on the veranda at the Lutheran Guesthouse in the village of Goroka, Papa New Guinea, when Helen shared with me her incredible adventures in Kurdistan, northern Iraq. What floored me was when she said that she arrived by plane at about 2am at the Kurdish international airport outside the city of Erbil (Arbil, Irbil) and had no hotel reservation and no meet-and-greet arrangement. Furthermore, hotels would not allow her in because she was seen as an alien as it is unheard of for women to travel solo in this part of the world. Many of her stories totally amazed me and since then I always think of Helen as "Kurdish Helen" and "Helen the Brave". Such an incredible human being! Enjoy Helen in conversation with Globerovers Magazine. (Note that 'Helen the Brave' has also eaten chicken ass (yes, an anus!) in Korea and she will never ever forget it. In fact, the experience converted her into a vegetarian! [MORE...]

[Editor's note]: As I walked into John's Cafe in Kashgar, Xinjiang Autonomous Region of western China, I noticed a lonely man sitting at a table staring at his small laptop. I walked up and we introduced ourselves and started with the usual "where you from and where you go". Soon we were joined by Emma. I quickly found that both Greg and Emma were no ordinary travelers. This couple has already traveled all the way from Cape Town at the southern tip of Africa up through dark Africa, through the Middle East and Central Asia, and are now taking a well deserved rest in Kashgar before heading south into Pakistan, India, Nepal, China, and a few more countries before reaching Singapore. Here their long overland journey will come to an end as it is the furthest point where they can travel overland towards Australia, their homeland. We had a long and very enjoyable chat about travel. They convinced me that I should go ahead with my planned Cairo to Cape Town trip, though to date I still have not embarked on this epic trip. They also inspired me to travel northern Pakistan, which I recently did! During their recent stop in Hong Kong we met up for dinner at my place. Was great to get a run-down of their travels since we first met several months ago in Kashgar. What an inspiration these two wonderful souls are! [MORE...]

[Editor's Note]: Chi Ho is one of the bravest travelers from Hong Kong. While most Hong Kong travelers prefer shopping destinations such as London and Paris, Chi Ho always yearns for the unknown. Among the most intrepid destinations he has explored, include rural regions of Papua New Guinea, Syria, Turkey, South Africa, Iceland, New Zealand and Russia. Chi Ho is always planning a next trip and seems like he is always ready with his backpack! He really likes to mix with the locals, in their own language where possible. As a multilinguist he is fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin, Japanese and English. Currently he is studying Russian and Spanish! We trust Swahili and Zulu are next... [MORE...]

I was introduced to Nasir by my good friends Greg and Emma Reynolds who know Nasir quite well. They assured me that Nasir is the best guide in the region and I need not look any further for a better guide. So, I met up with Nasir at his home-base in Gilgit and then traveled with him for almost two weeks during July of 2014. We covered much of the Hunza Valley up to Passu Glacier in the far north, and then went south and up to the Fairy Meadows near the base of Nanga Parbat peak (8,126 m). From here we traveled further south all the way down to Islamabad when my trip came to an end. I have nothing but praise to Nasir and can highly recommend his services! [MORE...]

[Editor's note]: I met Libby at TravBuddy, an online travel community. She was particularly impressed with the photography in my coffee table books, which she saw at www.globerovers.com. The next time she visited Hong Kong we met up at a coffee shop on Hong Kong's Tsing Yi Island where she literally drooled over my travel pictures (or so at least I saw it, LOL). We had a great chat about everything related to travel. Since then she has become one of my most loyal supporters, editors, and buyers of my books and magazines. She can be found at www.allaboutphotography.com.au where she and Rich Johnston offer photography workshops and tours mainly around Australia. As a born traveler, she also has a trained eye for good photos! [MORE...]

[Editor]: Therese is one of the happiest travellers I have ever come across. She smiles every day from early till late and absolutely takes the perils of solo travelling as it comes. I first met Therese at the Tehran Imam Khomeini International Airport upon arrival for my first visit to Iran. I think we both pretended to be brave while we both were a bit worried about what to expect in Iran. Together we exchanged rials for dollars at the exchange window and then decided to share a taxi to town. We ended up travelling together over several days during the following two weeks. While she loves spending a lot of time mingling with the locals, even joining them on picnics and home visits, I'm more into running up the hills to take photos of the stunning landscapes. She's a great travel buddy and in her heart and mind she is travelling the world every single day! She is one of my travel idols! [MORE...]