Photography: the world and a backpack (I)

In October 2013, I said goodbye to my co-workers, let go the apartment I was renting, sold almost all my possessions and headed towards China with a one-way ticket in hand and a backpack on my shoulders. For eight unforgettable months, I travelled solo in Asia and Oceania and discovered much about the world and myself.

I saw landscapes of pristine beauty; visited gold-gilded temples where my shoes stayed at the door; tasted foods I'd never had before (hello, fried worms!), learned to say thank you in a few different languages, watching my interlocutors crack an instant smile; shared many rooms with plenty other travellers; and met wonderful people from a variety of different countries, cultures and beliefs.

But most importantly, I learned this: that the vast majority of the people in this world are good and kindness truly lives everywhere.

Perhaps it's the current times making me even more nostalgic than my usually nostalgic self, but for some reason I find myself wanting to dig back into my archive of (thousands) of photos from those days, so that I can share some with the lovely community here at Yoors and the world wide web at large.

Which brings me to this post. This is the first in a series of posts in which I'll be sharing a few of my favourite snapshots from the Big Trip. Instead of sorting them by country, though, I'll try to go with a specific theme each time.