Traveling with The Silk Experience tour Day 1 On the bus. Cemeteries so compact, rice fields everywhere, so green with trees. Our group is like a flock of birds, chirping, settling down, taking off again. 10 am the sun is breaking through. Walls along the highway cut off most neighborhood views. Tile roofs, electrical wires…

Sunday in the pub, Cardiff There’s a pervasive loneliness to solo travel. I’m the sort of person who makes off-handed comments to strangers all the time, but here I feel out of my depth. Everyone seems so settled, not interested in chatting with a somewhat scruffy stranger. I suppose I’m much the same as them…