China town, London

This year I have a personal goal to explore and see as much of the world as I possibly can. My idea of exploring is not getting a ticket to a tourist destination and then being guided like sheep by a tour guide. My idea of exploring is to live the lifestyle and experience the atmosphere in it’s true nature.

Yesterday was another such day. I left my home at 4am to meet up with my cousin Tina. We then ventured into London. I’ve already walked into London twice this year but this time we decided to view the other parts of Central London. As we reached Stratford I saw Rastafarian’s doing a BBQ at 5am (once again). Previously, my cousin thought I was joking about it but yesterday she saw for herself.

As we progressed into London we took snaps near various monuments : The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, St.Paul’s Cathedral & Millennium bridge. The Millennium bridge has a no bike policy so we unfortunately were unable to walk on bridge itself but we took the lift (photo: left side) going down and walked along the river.

Further on near a statue on a lone street we were approached by a very kind lady who offered to take a photo of us. After making small talk she revealed to us that she was on her way to give an exam for the job of tour guide. We then went into China town and then to Bar Italia on Frith Street.

When we crossed the road we saw some Skinheads (at a gay bar). They seemed stressed out but I’m sure there’s a good reason for it.

Before leaving home we made a quick stop in Covent Garden and enjoyed the music by the various entertainers.

On the way back my feet gave way and my cousins back gave way. Luckily for her she was on a bike! We reached my town by 7 in the evening and departed our own way. It had only been a minute since I started walking down the high road when I heard a bottle smash. Everyone froze and attention was drawn to a Caucasian male who was wearing a sky blue tshirt along with black trousers. He then took out a razor blade which to me at first looked like a credit card (perhaps because he was standing outside Bradford & Bingley society). As I focused my eyes on his hands he started slicing his neck and left wrist. Blood was visible on his neck but not on his wrist. He then stopped and stood there whilst shoppers looked on.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing so I approached two African men to ask what he had done. They said the same as what I had seen. The suicidal man then started walking away and as he did I limped away with my aching feet to the police station which is not too far. I reached the police station and explained to the officers at the front desk. The police had been viewing the situation on CCTV as it happened and a patrol car had already been dispatched. I got commended for taking the initiative and coming in to report the incident nevertheless.

There’s lots of little exciting things which happen when you walk and take the time to spot them. You meet all sorts of wonderful, bad, crazy & suicidal people on the way. I urge all those who are reading this to quit using the car or public transport and to “walk it”. Believe me, you won’t regret a single moment. Two funny things which I saw were a floating raft with a witty message and a hair salon called “Kalah Beauty salon”. The reason why I found the hair salons name funny was because “Kalah” in the Punjabi language means black. This particular salons main customers are black too.

Remember to prepare before leaving guys. Every time I go out to walk I pop down to Tesco the night before and grab myself a sandwich, bottled water, pasta, gummy sweets (to keep the energy levels up) & a cereal bar. There are two reasons for doing this. The first is not to die on the way to wherever you may be heading. The second reason is that most well known locations are expensive. Buying before hand keeps your costs significantly down.

In addition to food supplies be sure to have the correct clothing. In particular footwear. The first time I went walking with my friends I was wearing business shoes - bad idea. The second time I went walking into London I was wearing walking shoes. For some reason my feet still gave way. Now when I went walking I was wearing regular trainers and they seemed to be better.

Be ready to experience pain. Lot’s of pain. Just to give you an example here’s some photos of my feet:

This foot is still healing from my second trek. The marked line indicates upto what point my foot had swelled up and blistered. I had to cut the skin off with scissors. Thankfully it’s almost healed up.

This is my right foot. It was fine earlier on yesterday but on the way back it decided to cause issues. The photo doesn’t do justice to the pain and condition that it’s really in. 15 hours & 40 miles = foot like this.

These pains and injuries are a small sacrifice for the experience and fun you have whist exploring. I’ve ended up in this situation three times already and I wouldn’t mind ended up in it again! Keep on walking soldier!