Travel off the beaten track and experience

On the Kinabatangan River, Malaysian BorneoWe woke before the sun came up, stumbling to put on our over-sized gumboots that were already caked with mud from a jungle walk the day before. Making our way down to the small boats, torches in hands, the anticipation of seeing wild orangutans or perhaps even crocodiles and elephants was enough to keep our eyes wide open, a better stimulant than coffee. After miles and miles of river, after hearing the distant calls of monkeys and other creatures, we finally spotted those lovely and endangered apes, the gentle and intelligent orangutan. We all just sat in the boat for ages, staring up into the treetops to watch them eat their breakfasts. None of us spoke, none of us moved. And when it was finally time to head back to camp, to eat our own breakfasts and to take a river-water shower behind the huts, we all were filled with a great feeling of respect, of sadness, and of luck – luck to see these beautiful animals while we still could...

Winnipeg, Canada Halifax, Canada Toronto, Canada Edinburgh, Scotland Osaka, Japan Today, the rain poured down so heavily I could barely see outside the windows. There wasn’t much more to do other than lie in bed and read. My favourite days are very often rainy Sundays, doing nothing. It got me thinking of all the places I’ve lived, all the windows I’ve looked out, all the times I’ve called a place home. The last shot is of my current apartment in Osaka, the one I won’t be able to call home in a few months. I took that photo two weeks after I moved in, and it looks different now; the carpet and pillows have changed, there is a record player, masks from Japan, Borneo and Sri Lanka have been added, the stack of books handed down from one ex-pat to another has grown exponentially. It is, almost more so than any place I’ve lived in the past eight years, a place I really love, and a place I’ll sorely miss.

Canada Happy Birthday to my favourite country in the world. I’ll be home soon. Canada Day 2010: Tokyo Canada Day 2009: Osaka Canada Day 2008: Edinburgh Canada Day 2007: Moscow Canada Day 2006: Oslo

Roppongi Hills, Tokyo, Japan I am off to Tokyo again tomorrow. I had a sneaky plan for J and I that involved a restaurant with hammocks instead of seats, a beer picnic in the park, and swan boats on the lake. The ten-day forecast for Tokyo (and most of Honshu) however, is rain. Rain, thunderstorm, rain, rain. Looks like it will be movies in bed and World Cup games at the local pub instead. I’m not complaining. It’s my third summer in Japan but I always manage to forget about the rainy season.

Christchurch, New Zealand I have little time for words tonight, as I’m meeting J in Osaka station and then heading downtown to watch the first World Cup game. Four years ago, I watched the first World Cup game of 2006 in Ljubljana, Slovenia, in a little bar along the river that served pints of Lasko beer and bowls of piping hot goulash.This has nothing whatsoever to do with New Zealand, but I have been really craving fish and chips these days. Blame it on the humid afternoons and the unforgiving sun.

Manitoba, CanadaI am the type of person who never wants the journey to end. When I was growing up in the sleepy city of Winnipeg, I used to beg my dad to take me “once around Wildwood” before going home. This meant that we would circle the neighbourhood before pulling into the driveway, taking about 5 minutes or two songs on the radio.One of my favourite parts of travelling is the actual journey: the rickety train ride, the bumpy bus, the rusty motorbike, the cramped rickshaw (airplanes are excluded from this sentiment). There is almost nowhere I would rather be than sitting on a train with some good food and some good company and a beautiful country passing by outside the window. I have had some of my most memorable moments during these kinds of voyages, and, even when finally arriving in Budapest or Sapa or Casablanca, I often can’t help but wishing the journey was just a little bit longer. That’s not to say that I don’t love the destination, just to s...