A step on the road to journey of discovery

A scene from The Forever Walk: Salopek trekking on a mountain. "My route is not always to famous tourist or cultural landmarks," says the explorer who likes to visit grassroots areas to find real life. "It could be someone's dinner table, or the sight of an old ethnic Bai woman calling down from the roof where she's drying her chilies. During his extraordinary trek across China, Salopek is witnessing the country's achievements, particularly in the fields of ecology, wildlife conservation and cultural inheritance. Along the way, he has met members of the Naxi, Tibetan, Yi and many other ethnic groups, and people from all walks of life, including farmers, urban hippies, entrepreneurs, wilderness survival experts, and even a man who claims to be the reincarnation of the fabled poet Li Bai.