The Hanginan Trail is a popular hike in the green hills behind Maasin City. Emily has done this hike several times before, while this was the first time for me.

Osmena Peak (1015m) is the highest mountain on Cebu Island, the highest in the province of Cebu, and the highest in Central Visayas (Region VII). So obviously, this is a very important peak for Filipino mountaineers.

After a very short visit to Tai Mo Shan in Hong Kong, my next objective was Alto de Coloane, the highest peak in the gambling mecca Macau.

Some say Tai Mo Shan (957m) is a country high point while some say not. It's all about how one classify Hong Kong and its level of independence from mainland China.

Yushan (Jade Mountain) at 3952 meters is the highest mountain in Taiwan. I started the paperwork barely 3 weeks before I landed in Taiwan, and by a slim margin, I received the permits (park permit + mountain permit) by e-mail just a couple of days before my cheap flight from Manila to Taipei. The permit is free of charge, but one must expect some small expenses to send the original and signed application with DHL, FedEx, LBC Express or if one has a plenty of time, the local post office. I sent my application with LBC Express from Manila, it took 4 days and cost 17 USD.

Before we arrived Ormoc City in the Philippines, we had done some research about Alto Peak (1330m), which is the highest peak in the Eastern Visayas region. Locally this peak is more correctly known as Mt. Mindieun, Amendiuen or Amindiwin (yes, a lot of variations over the same name).

We are a bit confused regarding the name of Qatar High Point, whether it is Al Galail or Qurayn Abu al Bawl. The latter one is located another place in Qatar according to Google Maps. However, we are pretty sure that we have scaled the highest point in Qatar and we measured it to 103m. You can read the entire trip report written by Lars Holme (in Norwegian language) on World Wide Vikings.

We were caught by the military in a highly restricted area, but that was after we had summited. You can read our trip report written by Lars Holme (in Norwegian language) on World Wide Vikings.

Jabal Shams (3012m) is the highest mountain in Oman. We knew that this would be a great challenge, even impossible because of restricted areas. But we had to give it a try. This is what adventures is all about.

As I was going to the far east anyway, I found out that a stop in Dubai with Emirates Airlines was a good opportunity to gather more country high points. Actually I had planned to do only United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman, but things changed a bit when the experienced country high point collector Lars Holme decided to join me. Quantity rather than quality was now the major focus, so we agreed to visit Bahrain and Qatar during our 4 days trip as well. It was a great idea, but that plan had small margins if something unexpected would happen.

After a hectic weekend on Carrauntoohil, the highest mountain in Ireland, I went on with Ryan Air from Dublin to Glasgow. Here my plan was to climb UK's highest mountain, Ben Nevis (1344) in Scotland. Ryan Air's Prestwick Airport is quite far outside of Glasgow, but because the train was out of operation, buses went all the way to Glasgow Central Station free of charge. From there it was just a few blocks to walk to the Buchanan Bus Station in Glasgow, where I almost immidiately jumped on a Citylink bus to Fort William (3 hours).

I and my good friend Håvar traveled to Ireland by a cheap flight from Oslo/Rygge to Dublin (Ryan Air). At Dublin Airport we picked up a rental car for the last 300 km drive to Killarney (approx 4-5 hours). In the evening we checked into Sugan Hostel, a friendly and cheap place to stay centrally in Killarney town. We ate Irish food and went bar hopping to test out the local Guinness beer, before we eventually went to bed.

The topographic prominence of Steindalsegga (1356m) had been set to less than 100 meters in a Norwegian database of peaks (peakbook.org), so I decided to go up and check it myself.

Finally there, standing on top of a small hill and watching the sun rise from the horizon, I was overwhelmed with feelings. Machu Picchu, its sheer beauty and spectacular setting, is really something out of this world.

Aguas Calientes is the entry-town of Machu Picchu, and that means a lot of tourists going by. Souvenir stalls, expensive restaurants and upscale hotels are booming in this little town. I simply had to get away from this madness.

Leaving La Paz (Bolivia) and heading back to Lima (Peru) overland, I decided to spend one night at Lake Titicaca, the highest big lake in the world, 3811 meters above sea level.

Pichincha is an active stratovolcano just outside of Quito in Ecuador. The mountain's two highest peaks are the Guagua (4784m) and the Rucu (4698m). The active caldera is in the Guagua, on the western side of the mountain and erupted last time in 1999.

Pasochoa (4.200 meters) is an extinct volcano located outside of Quito in the Ecuadorean Andes. This hike is both perfect for acclimatization and to get a good view of multiple volcanoes in the vicinity, including Cotopaxi.

Gosainkund is a holy body of water, located so high up in the mountains (4400m) of Langtang that the lake is frozen almost year round. I've been trekking to that scenic lake 10 years ago, but never from the south side, through the cultural interesting Helambu area.

I've been trekking and climbing a couple of times before in the Annapurna Himal of Nepal, but I've never done the Ghorepani trekking loop (including Poon Hill) and the Annapurna Sanctuary. So we decided to combine those two spectacular treks in a single 10-12 days trek.