In Conversation with... David Moore

In conversation with...

DAVID MOORE

David Moore has been on a ten-month round-the-world trip with Audley, from Peru to Japan, and now he’s writing about his epic adventure in his first book…

What kickstarted the idea for your adventure? Neither my wife Helene nor I had backpacked when we were younger, but two years ago we decided that, while we’ve still got our health, we should do it. Helene bought the biggest map she could find, and each of us marked it up with pink and blue pins of where we’d like to go. After four weeks, we’d worked out a route, but when we thought about how to make it work, we quickly realised that the task was incredibly daunting. That’s when we found Audley.

You visited so many destinations on your trip – where stood out? The obvious one is Easter Island. Everybody knows what the Moai statues look like, but to actually spend three or four days with a local was extraordinary. Tito, our guide, was absolutely

brilliant and told us how his family and ancestors had been there for hundreds of years. He talked us through the story of the Moai and why there are 900 of them dotted around the island, why they were made and how they were moved. It was those sorts of stories that were underneath the surface of what we knew about Easter Island.

You spent a lot of time in South America. What else caught your eye there? We loved Peru and, again, our guide was fantastic. Over the course of four days, the guide told us the story of the Inca and the emperor Pachacutec, and the story of Machu Picchu. Nothing prepares you for that first sight of the citadel, when you walk up and the plateau opens in front of you. It was quite an emotional moment, actually. It was incredibly calm and serene, and

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INTERVIEW

All over the world David and Helene experienced some of the greatest travel icons on the planet

I found it extraordinary – the whole place. We visited a lot of Peru, seeing Lima, Arequipa and Lake Titicaca, where the scenery was wonderful.

Did you spend time in the jungle? Yes, we went to Puerto Maldonado in Peru for the Inkaterra Reserva Amazonica, which was really out of our comfort zone but fantastic fun. We were only there for five days, right in the middle of the jungle, staying in stilted cabins. We went on a night hike looking for tarantulas, which was frightening. A week earlier, we stayed in Mashpi Lodge in Ecuador, a glass-walled oasis in the middle of the cloudforest – an extraordinary place that recently featured on the BBC’s Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby.

You visited Southeast Asia later on. That must have been a big change… It was, but that was the beauty of this trip: the contrast. Burma (Myanmar) was probably the place we the fewest expectations for, but it absolutely delivered. We went ballooning over Bagan at 5.30am, just as the sun was coming up. We soared over the area, its 2,000 temples and monuments sprinkled across the landscape. It was extraordinary. We also visited the Ghost Market in Mandalay, which disappears off the railway tracks to allow a train to pass, only to be set up again just as quickly.

Did you have any other highlights in Asia? It would have to be the Great Wall and Terracotta Army. We were taken to a part of the wall that not many people go to and we walked along it for two or three hours. It was

TRAVEL TIP

“Always chat with local people who can provide stories and insight that you won’t find in the guidebooks.”

wonderful and delivered on all levels. Then, with the Terracotta Army, we were quite lucky because we saw them the day after the Qingming Festival finished. The day before, there had been thousands of visitors, but when we went, we didn’t even have to wait in line.

So, what led you to write the book? It all started when I told my children that I’d write as I went along and send them what I called ‘Moore Ramblings’. A couple of friends heard I was writing these and, before I knew it, it snowballed into quite a lot of people wanting to read my ramblings. They suggested I try and make a book out of it, and thankfully a publishing company said yes.

What can we expect from your book? We have had somany experiences that have been planned, but it’s often the unplanned and bizarre ones that made it. We met a lady with six-foot-long hair in the middle of a rice field, dug our own baths on the volcanic beaches of New Zealand and were given an oxygen tank to help us sleep at night in Lake Titicaca. I also want to inspire others to push themselves out of their comfort zone. You can read about it and watch as many David Attenborough programs as you like, but you’ll never understand the real thing until you actually go and see it for yourself.

David’s book, Turning Left Around the World, is released on 24 September. Visit his website at www.davidcmoore-author.com for more information about his trip, including photographs and a link to pre-order the book.

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