A Walk on the Wild Side

The book follows Mike and his disabled wife Sylvia, who firstly visit the Philippine islands of Cebu and Mactan, and then visit Japan, where they travel extensively around Honshu, Japan's largest island. In the Philippines, they witness their son Nathan's wedding to his Filipino girlfriend, Melodie. In Japan, they meet up with three of their former students who stayed with Mike and Sylvia in the UK whilst they were studying English; they took Mike and Sylvia to parts of Japan which opened up their perspective on the fascinating fusion of traditional and contemporary cultures that characterize modern Japan. In both countries, Mike and Sylvia experienced exceptional levels of friendship from people in all walks of life and gained valuable insights from people they met and interacted with. The book covers an amazing four weeks' learning experience.

The book also focuses on the issues faced by Mike's disabled wife, Sylvia, who has Parkinson's disease and who needs to get around in a wheelchair. There were several challenges along the way, all of which Sylvia rose to, and at times their journey became a real adventure, very occasionally descending into the sphere of chaos. But good people were on hand to assist and encourage us at every step of the way. And what a journey it turned out to be!