Meet the Nomads: Josh Summers

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Josh is the author of the blogs that I’ve been following for more than a year now. Josh features the part of China which we (in the Philippines) don’t know that much, Xinjiang.

Xinjiang was supposedly part of my itinerary last year which unfortunately did not materialize due to some “stuff” that went on in that area.

China is more than Beijing, HongKong and Shanghai and Josh will you give you a lot of information about tourism in Far West China.

Get to know him more and visit him at Far West China.

Here’s Flip’s short interview with Josh.

How did you discover your passion for travelling?

“I first fell in love with traveling when I crossed the border from America to Mexico. Even though there was only a small space of land separating the two countries, the change in scenery and culture was so dramatically different that I was hooked. From then on I was addicted to being wide-eyed and mystified by other cultures.”

What’s the most horrible experience that you’ve had on the road?

“On a flight back from England I was caught in the worst storm I have ever experienced. We tried to land 3 times before finally bouncing onto the runway. To make matters worse, all other flights were canceled so my wife and I had to sleep on the New York airport floor with hundreds of other stranded travelers. It was awful.”

What’s the best travel experience that you’ve ever had?

“Oooh…see now that’s a much harder question. I think my favorite experience as a single guy was staying in a chateau on the mountainside in Switzerland. Since being married – which is such a different travel experience – I’d say our trip to the Philippines (100 Islands, Sagada, Baguio City) has been the most memorable.”

What’s the biggest realization that you’ve got out of travelling?

“Despite the dramatic visual differences between cultures and countries, we’re all very similar. We all love to share experiences, tell stories, enjoy old friends and make new ones.”

What keeps you going? What keeps you motivated?

“If you don’t practice a language, you lose it. If you don’t exercise you get fat. If you stop traveling, you lose your sensitivity for global issues. I don’t want to do that.”

This is a silly and hypothetical one. If you would be given a chance to travel with a popular person or a celebrity, who would it be and why?

“I think I’d want to travel with a comedian like Jerry Seinfeld or Rodney Dangerfield. Nothing makes traveling more fun than being able to laugh at every uncommon or stressful situation you run into!”

Where’s your favourite place in this planet and why?

“My favorite place is wherever my wife is After that, it’d have to be the Alps for its beauty or Central Asia (especially Xinjiang!) for its fascinating history. Of course, she’d rather be on a beach in Hawaii, the Philippines or Thailand…so I guess that’d have to be on my list too!”

What do you think about yourself?

“I’m really not that interesting. Trust me! I’m fun when I’m with fun people and boring when I’m with boring people. I get fascinated by the most simple things and I would much prefer to walk around a good museum than to go souvenir shopping. I’m flattered that anybody cares to read what I write and it serves to motivate me to both travel more and learn to tell better stories.”

“FarWestChina is a small window into a very unknown and misunderstood province. Xinjiang is China’s largest province yet few people have been there or heard about it. I want to change that. I want to use my pictures and stories to entice people’s curiosity to explore this part of Central Asia. It is my 2nd home and I love it.” – Josh

Next: Edcel Suyo of Soloflighted. Previously: Akila and Patrick of the Road Forks. For more interviews with travel bloggers, check out the archives of Meet the Nomads.

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