Step Into Far Lands
whether it be into the highest peaks or on the ancient highways, and experience stories of simplicity and kindness that the people who live here breathe life into. Get lost in a remote corner of the Tibetan Plateau, an ancient kingdom in Northern Armenia, or the wild edge of Kazakhstan and China, and find your way back home with a newfound treasure.
Into Far Lands aims to magnify the beauty and simplicity of planet Earth. To accomplish this, we hope to share the unique regions and roads discovered through our overland journeys and treks. We hope to inspire future explorers or those who are not able to reach the remote places, and bring awareness to the beautiful people who live there.
"It's a dangerous business going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." JRR TOLKIEN
We Came as Strangers. We Left As Family.
Throughout the years exploring faraway lands, our most joyous experiences on our journeys have come through investment in relationships and respect for everyone we meet and interact with. Our intent with Into Far Lands is to reflect the universal fellowship and kindness that awaits travelers in new destinations from people who were once strangers.
We have found absolute peace in empty grasslands, contentment over tea in a nomad’s yurt, an immense sense of satisfaction and achievement from days of Himalayan trekking and complete surprise when strangers welcomed us into their home and shared all they had.
Being happy and content is possible and may not be far away. All it may entail is stepping out your door to go on an adventure.
Our Story
Our journey began on opposite sides of the world. Whereas I grew up watching sunsets overlooking the Pacific Ocean, my wife Mary grew up watching sunrises over the Pacific. San Diego in California and Wenzhou in China; two coastal towns with vastly different environments run under vastly different governments. And as it turns out, two people being raised in vastly different circumstances with an approximate 0.01% chance of our paths crossing. Well, they did. And that will take a novel to write about. But fall in love we did. Myself, who originally never even wanted to visit China and Mary, who only began talking to me as she was sure it wouldn’t lead to anything more. But it was faith that brought us together and the glue that made us inseparable.
Upon graduating from UCLA at the end of 2015, I bought a one-way ticket to Shanghai, where we made our wedding vows just a few weeks later. We stayed in the vicinity of Shanghai for a year, basking in the fact we can spend every day together and that the long-distance phase is over. Shanghai being a large city is an understatement, especially in the eyes of two people who prefer open lands. Hence, we soon longed for a new environment, one where mountains beckoned and the unknown attracted. A short jaunt into Western China seemingly lit the spark, where numerous ventures into the wild places ensued. We eventually moved to Sichuan Province in the west-central portion of China to be in closer proximity to the Tibetan Plateau, and the basis of our quest formed.
Exploring the Silk Roads and the far lands of Earth.
Over the years, the journey ran its course as a heart beat with highs and lows. At one end of the spectrum we were backpacking non-stop across all of Eurasia, with enough stories to fill a library. On the other end of the spectrum was life in America during COVID, working towards my licensure as a geologist and well, taking on an entirely new adventure ~ kids. Zion, our first-born son takes after me with his zeal for roaming about. And our baby girl, Joy River, takes after her mother with her gentle spirit (and of course good looks). But they have since joined us on our ventures into far lands. The pendulum of both sides comes full swing this summer as we embark on the wild adventures we previously undertook as two, but now as a family of four.
We are going to overland across all of Asia.
and we hope you can follow along on the adventure!
The Far Lands Team
Kevin
Leader, explorer, Geologist, father, husband,
photographer, creative.
Mary
Supporter, mother, wife, photographer,
creative, the better half.
Zion
Rock-climber, explorer, wanderer, son,
collector, charmer.
Joy River
Our little baby girl. Need I say more?