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Signs of Life: To the Ends of the Earth with a Doctor
They say that being a good doctor boils down to just four things: Shut up, listen, know something, care.
The same could be said for life on the road, too.
When Stephen Fabes left his job as a junior doctor and set out to cycle around the world, frontline medicine quickly faded from his mind. Of more pressing concern were the daily challenges of life as an unfit rider on an overloaded bike, helplessly in thrall to pastries. But leaving medicine behind is not as easy as it seems.
As he roves continents, he finds people whose health has suffered through exile, stigma or circumstance, and others, whose lives have been saved through kindness and community. After encountering a frozen body of a monk in the Himalayas, he is drawn ever more to healthcare at the margins of the world, to crumbling sanitoriums and refugee camps, to city dumps and war-torn hospital wards. And as he learns the value of listening to lives - not just solving diagnostic puzzles - Stephen challenges us to see care for the sick as a duty born of our humanity, and our compassion.
The same could be said for life on the road, too.
When Stephen Fabes left his job as a junior doctor and set out to cycle around the world, frontline medicine quickly faded from his mind. Of more pressing concern were the daily challenges of life as an unfit rider on an overloaded bike, helplessly in thrall to pastries. But leaving medicine behind is not as easy as it seems.
As he roves continents, he finds people whose health has suffered through exile, stigma or circumstance, and others, whose lives have been saved through kindness and community. After encountering a frozen body of a monk in the Himalayas, he is drawn ever more to healthcare at the margins of the world, to crumbling sanitoriums and refugee camps, to city dumps and war-torn hospital wards. And as he learns the value of listening to lives - not just solving diagnostic puzzles - Stephen challenges us to see care for the sick as a duty born of our humanity, and our compassion.
432 pages, Paperback
First published August 6, 2020
67 people are currently reading
1135 people want to read
About the author
Stephen Fabes
1 book12 followersStephen Fabes is British medical doctor, author and adventurer.
As a teenager, Stephen cycled the length of Chile with his younger brother Ronan, a journey that inspired a bicycle journey around the world. In 2010 he set off from St Thomas' Hospital in central London, where he was working as a junior doctor, and for six years he cycled the length of six continents, covering more than 53,000 miles by bicycle through 75 countries - a distance of more than twice the circumference of the earth - crossing Mongolia in the winter and spending more than a thousand nights rough camping by roadsides.
Along the way he visited remote medical projects, hospitals and clinics, and his first book, Signs of Life, explores the social context of health and disease through a blend of travelogue, memoir and human stories. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a keen runner, racing 50 times a year, and a regular at storytelling nights across London. Currently working in the Accident and Emergency department of Guys and St Thomas' NHS Trust, he appears regularly in the media, writing on adventure travel, running, social justice and health.
http://www.stephenfabes.com
https://twitter.com/DrStephenFabes
https://www.facebook.com/Cyclingthe6
As a teenager, Stephen cycled the length of Chile with his younger brother Ronan, a journey that inspired a bicycle journey around the world. In 2010 he set off from St Thomas' Hospital in central London, where he was working as a junior doctor, and for six years he cycled the length of six continents, covering more than 53,000 miles by bicycle through 75 countries - a distance of more than twice the circumference of the earth - crossing Mongolia in the winter and spending more than a thousand nights rough camping by roadsides.
Along the way he visited remote medical projects, hospitals and clinics, and his first book, Signs of Life, explores the social context of health and disease through a blend of travelogue, memoir and human stories. He is a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a keen runner, racing 50 times a year, and a regular at storytelling nights across London. Currently working in the Accident and Emergency department of Guys and St Thomas' NHS Trust, he appears regularly in the media, writing on adventure travel, running, social justice and health.
http://www.stephenfabes.com
https://twitter.com/DrStephenFabes
https://www.facebook.com/Cyclingthe6
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 68 reviews
November 19, 2020
Stephen Fabes is an emergency room doctor at St Thomas’s Hospital, London. Not exciting enough for you? Well, he also spent six years of the past decade cycling six continents (so, all bar Antarctica). His statistics are beyond impressive: 53,568 miles, 102 international borders, 1000+ nights of free camping, 26 bicycle tires, and 23 journals filled with his experiences. A warm-up was cycling the length of Chile with his brother at age 19. After medical school in Liverpool and starting his career in London, he found himself restless and again longing for adventure. The round-the-world cycle he planned fell into four sections: London to Cape Town, the West Coast of the Americas, Melbourne to Mumbai, and Hong Kong to home.
Signs of Life is a warm-hearted and laugh-out-loud funny account of Fabes’ travels, achieving a spot-on balance between major world events, the everyday discomforts of long-distance cycling and rough camping, and his humanitarian volunteering. He is a witness to the Occupy movement in Hong Kong, the aftermath of drought and tribal conflict in Africa, and the refugee crisis via the “Jungle” migrant camp in Calais. The desperate situations he saw while putting his medical expertise to good use in short bursts – e.g., at a floating clinic on a Cambodian lake, a malaria research center in Thailand, a leper hospital in Nepal, and a mental health rehabilitation clinic in Mumbai – put into perspective more minor annoyances like fire ants in El Salvador, Indonesian traffic, extreme cold in Mongolia, and camel spiders.
Wherever he went, Fabes met with kindness from strangers, even those who started off seeming hostile – having pitched his tent by a derelict cabin in Peru, he was alarmed to awake to a man pointing a gun at him, but the illicit gold miner soon determined he was harmless and offered him some soup. (Police officers and border guards were perhaps a bit less hospitable.) He also had occasional companions along the route, including a former housemate and a one-time girlfriend. Even limited shared language was enough to form common ground with a stranger-turned-fellow cyclist for a week or so. We get surprising glimpses of how Anglo-American culture permeates the developing world: For some reason, in the ‒Stans everyone’s point of reference when he introduced himself was Steven Seagal.
At nearly 400 pages, the memoir is on the long side, though I can see that it must have felt impossible to condense six years of adventures any further. I was less interested in the potted histories of other famous cyclists’ travels and would have appreciated a clearer sense to the passing of time, perhaps in the form of a date stamp at the head of each chapter. One of my favorite aspects of the book, though, was the use of medical metaphors to link geography to his experiences. Most chapters are titled after health vocabulary; for instance, in “Membranes” he ponders whether country borders are more like scars or cell membranes.
Fabes emphasizes, in a final chapter on the state of the West upon his return in early 2016, that, in all the most important ways, people are the same the world over. Whether in the UK or Southeast Asia, he sees poverty as the major factor in illness, perpetuating the inequality of access to adequate healthcare. Curiosity and empathy are his guides as he approaches each patient’s health as a story. Reflecting on the pandemic, which hit just as he was finalizing the manuscript, he prescribes global cooperation and innovation for this time of uncertainty.
We’re all armchair travelers this year, but this book is especially for you if you enjoy Bill Bryson’s sense of humor, think Dervla Murphy was a badass in Full Tilt, and enjoyed War Doctor by David Nott and/or The Crossway by Guy Stagg. It’s one of my top few predictions for next year’s Wellcome Book Prize – fingers crossed it will go ahead after the 2020 hiatus.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
Signs of Life is a warm-hearted and laugh-out-loud funny account of Fabes’ travels, achieving a spot-on balance between major world events, the everyday discomforts of long-distance cycling and rough camping, and his humanitarian volunteering. He is a witness to the Occupy movement in Hong Kong, the aftermath of drought and tribal conflict in Africa, and the refugee crisis via the “Jungle” migrant camp in Calais. The desperate situations he saw while putting his medical expertise to good use in short bursts – e.g., at a floating clinic on a Cambodian lake, a malaria research center in Thailand, a leper hospital in Nepal, and a mental health rehabilitation clinic in Mumbai – put into perspective more minor annoyances like fire ants in El Salvador, Indonesian traffic, extreme cold in Mongolia, and camel spiders.
Wherever he went, Fabes met with kindness from strangers, even those who started off seeming hostile – having pitched his tent by a derelict cabin in Peru, he was alarmed to awake to a man pointing a gun at him, but the illicit gold miner soon determined he was harmless and offered him some soup. (Police officers and border guards were perhaps a bit less hospitable.) He also had occasional companions along the route, including a former housemate and a one-time girlfriend. Even limited shared language was enough to form common ground with a stranger-turned-fellow cyclist for a week or so. We get surprising glimpses of how Anglo-American culture permeates the developing world: For some reason, in the ‒Stans everyone’s point of reference when he introduced himself was Steven Seagal.
At nearly 400 pages, the memoir is on the long side, though I can see that it must have felt impossible to condense six years of adventures any further. I was less interested in the potted histories of other famous cyclists’ travels and would have appreciated a clearer sense to the passing of time, perhaps in the form of a date stamp at the head of each chapter. One of my favorite aspects of the book, though, was the use of medical metaphors to link geography to his experiences. Most chapters are titled after health vocabulary; for instance, in “Membranes” he ponders whether country borders are more like scars or cell membranes.
Fabes emphasizes, in a final chapter on the state of the West upon his return in early 2016, that, in all the most important ways, people are the same the world over. Whether in the UK or Southeast Asia, he sees poverty as the major factor in illness, perpetuating the inequality of access to adequate healthcare. Curiosity and empathy are his guides as he approaches each patient’s health as a story. Reflecting on the pandemic, which hit just as he was finalizing the manuscript, he prescribes global cooperation and innovation for this time of uncertainty.
We’re all armchair travelers this year, but this book is especially for you if you enjoy Bill Bryson’s sense of humor, think Dervla Murphy was a badass in Full Tilt, and enjoyed War Doctor by David Nott and/or The Crossway by Guy Stagg. It’s one of my top few predictions for next year’s Wellcome Book Prize – fingers crossed it will go ahead after the 2020 hiatus.
Originally published on my blog, Bookish Beck.
October 25, 2020
Undertaking training to become a doctor is around seven years of your life, or longer depending on your specialism. To take the decision to pause when you are a junior doctor and cycle around the world is not a light decision. He had the idea from Langer’s lines, the topological lines that are drawn on the body and show the natural orientation of the collagen fibres. He sat down with an atlas and drew lines across each of the seven continents of a possible route. His mum pointed out that Antarctica might be a bit chilly, so he decided on six continents. The travel bug was in his blood though, as a teenager he would often be found standing on a road holding a sign to ‘Anywhere’. This would be the ultimate way of getting it out of his system.
He departed from St Thomas’s Hospital where he had been working and a few of his friends there had gathered to see him off and even managed to find a piece of tape for him to cross. Being January it was a bit chilly and was soon going to get much colder. Before departing he had volunteered to be examined medically before the trip to see what the effects of cycling that far around the world would have on his body, though perhaps agreeing to be checked for anything was not the wisest decision. He hadn’t done much training for the trip, reasoning that it was going to be tough, so why add extra months of toughness. He did rue his decision a little, as he struggled to overtake a jogger on his fully loaded bike… He did 14 miles on his first day and slept in a guesthouse in Bexleyheath and woke the following morning to snow.
It was to get much colder as he cycled through France and up into the Alps and sleeping in a tent he would wake up to find everything frozen solid. Sitting hunched over a cup of coffee in a café desperately trying to get warm he makes the decision to head to Nice and the warmth of the French riviera. He was eating lots and the city boy blubber was beginning to drop away. He had filled one of his front panniers with biscuits. More worryingly was a pain in one of his knees, and being a doctor he had a mental list of what it could be, and none of the prognosis was good. Surgery was needed and it would be three months before he could resume.
But he did. He was reunited with his bike in Istanbul and the continent of Africa beckoned. His plan was to head down the eastern side and then halfway down, head across to the western side heading towards South Africa. He was joined by Nyomi, a former flatmate from London for this part of the trip. All the way through, children were fascinated by them, they would wake up, open the tent to find an audience of twenty looking at them. They found that they were pretty good shots with the slings that they used too. To understand the place though he felt that he had to see its hinterland and to do this he offered to help at the hospital in Lodwar. It makes him think about the reason that people become ill; in the UK it is a combination of factors, but in that part of Africa it is almost always down to the crushing poverty.
They reached Cape town and Nyomi returned home. He headed to the airport to get a flight to Ushuaia for the South American leg of his trip. He had set himself the target of reaching Alaska in 20 months, ensuring that when he got there he was cycling during the summer, and not freezing his arse off again… As he cycled north through Chile, the volcano Puyehue which had been dormant for 50 years had exploded leaving a six-mile by three-mile gash in the surface and covering everything in a good layer of dust for good measure. As he headed north, climbing the mountains was making him suffer from altitude sickness, he lived for each descent. But it is an encounter at gunpoint that changes him on this continent, and every time he has tomato soup, he remembers that moment.
Filling out the form for the entry into the USA brought back memories of childhood where the excitement of American culture seeped into ours and seemed shinier and better. Sitting outside a bar called Kansas City Barbeque, where a scene from Top Gun was filmed, he strikes up a conversation with the waitress and manages to get a place to sleep for free. He contemplates staying a little longer, but Highway One beckons so he heads off. It is the least eventful part of his trip and he crosses the Arctic Circle to reach his final destination in North America, Deadhorse. Next stop, Australia.
He had messaged, Claire, an on and off girlfriend, and she had agreed to cycle across Australia with him and they met up in Sydney. It was fairly uneventful, apart from Claire being bitten by a huntsman spider which thankfully wasn’t serious. They were soon across the country and on their way to Timor. Asia is another level of intensity to his ride, the traffic was much busier, Jakarta was almost permanent gridlock which made for stressful cycling. It was in Singapore that Claire decided that she wanted to go to Japan, alone. They parted company and he headed for Malaysia, where he was to acquire dengue fever…
He spent a few days off fromcycling in Bangkok, planning the next stage and took up the invitation to join a medical team in Cambodia who were visiting people who lived in floating villages on the Tonle Sap River. He had a brief excursion into Myanmar and then reached India. He heads north again, passing through one of the wettest places in the world, Cherrapunjee, which receives 12m (yes that is metres) of rain a year and was even too wet for Welsh missionaries. A visit to a clinic that is treating mental health patients is eye-opening, most of the time in India, these sort of health problems are suppressed. The visa for Pakistan was proving problematic, so he booked a flight to Hong Kong.
China was going to be an experience, the guidebook he had found only had a slim phrasebook and it didn’t have the words for rice and noodles but he could learn how to ask to buy a padlock. He hooks up with a couple of Chinese cycle tourers, which makes it a little less daunting. Mongolia and the steppe was approaching rapidly. It was bitterly cold up there, so much so that he ends up using socks in more than one place to keep appendages warm… He passes back through China and is then passing through the ‘stans, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan with a brief but nerve-wracking trip into Afghanistan. Next would be Georgia and then he was almost at the edge of Europe and the final leg of his epic journey.
Rather than go back the same way through Europe as he came out he headed home via Austria and Germany where he caught up with a man called Heinz Stücke. He had spent 51 years cycling around the world and had wracked up a total of 650,000 kilometres in total. It was an eye-opening evening. He then found one of the worst countries to cycle through, the Netherlands, not because of the car drivers, rather other cyclists who paid little or no attention to anyone else on the cycle path. Soon enough he was departing the ferry at Dover for the run back into London.
I have read a fair number of round the world cycling trips. There is Mark Beaumont’s book of his round the world races where he is against the clock, Sean Conway’s ride started off as a race around the world, but just became the ride of a lifetime after an accident. Alastair Humphries is another who has followed a similar journey and who wrote about it in two books. If you’re going to spend six years doing something, a trip like this seems to be the best way of seeing our planet and Stephen Fables journey around the world is a worthwhile addition to the bookshelf of these sorts of trips. He is a passionate cyclist and keen observers of human life, but what makes this a little bit different is his medical training. He thinks nothing of taking time out to visit medical centres to help others who are tending to the sick and needy. He brings his knowledge to them, they in turn teach him a little bit of humility and humanity. Occasionally, it felt a little rushed, you would pass through some countries in the blink of an eye, but to condense six years worth of memories into just four hundred pages cannot have been easy. Apart from that, this is an excellent travelogue and account of a world tour by bicycle. Very highly recommended.
He departed from St Thomas’s Hospital where he had been working and a few of his friends there had gathered to see him off and even managed to find a piece of tape for him to cross. Being January it was a bit chilly and was soon going to get much colder. Before departing he had volunteered to be examined medically before the trip to see what the effects of cycling that far around the world would have on his body, though perhaps agreeing to be checked for anything was not the wisest decision. He hadn’t done much training for the trip, reasoning that it was going to be tough, so why add extra months of toughness. He did rue his decision a little, as he struggled to overtake a jogger on his fully loaded bike… He did 14 miles on his first day and slept in a guesthouse in Bexleyheath and woke the following morning to snow.
It was to get much colder as he cycled through France and up into the Alps and sleeping in a tent he would wake up to find everything frozen solid. Sitting hunched over a cup of coffee in a café desperately trying to get warm he makes the decision to head to Nice and the warmth of the French riviera. He was eating lots and the city boy blubber was beginning to drop away. He had filled one of his front panniers with biscuits. More worryingly was a pain in one of his knees, and being a doctor he had a mental list of what it could be, and none of the prognosis was good. Surgery was needed and it would be three months before he could resume.
But he did. He was reunited with his bike in Istanbul and the continent of Africa beckoned. His plan was to head down the eastern side and then halfway down, head across to the western side heading towards South Africa. He was joined by Nyomi, a former flatmate from London for this part of the trip. All the way through, children were fascinated by them, they would wake up, open the tent to find an audience of twenty looking at them. They found that they were pretty good shots with the slings that they used too. To understand the place though he felt that he had to see its hinterland and to do this he offered to help at the hospital in Lodwar. It makes him think about the reason that people become ill; in the UK it is a combination of factors, but in that part of Africa it is almost always down to the crushing poverty.
They reached Cape town and Nyomi returned home. He headed to the airport to get a flight to Ushuaia for the South American leg of his trip. He had set himself the target of reaching Alaska in 20 months, ensuring that when he got there he was cycling during the summer, and not freezing his arse off again… As he cycled north through Chile, the volcano Puyehue which had been dormant for 50 years had exploded leaving a six-mile by three-mile gash in the surface and covering everything in a good layer of dust for good measure. As he headed north, climbing the mountains was making him suffer from altitude sickness, he lived for each descent. But it is an encounter at gunpoint that changes him on this continent, and every time he has tomato soup, he remembers that moment.
Filling out the form for the entry into the USA brought back memories of childhood where the excitement of American culture seeped into ours and seemed shinier and better. Sitting outside a bar called Kansas City Barbeque, where a scene from Top Gun was filmed, he strikes up a conversation with the waitress and manages to get a place to sleep for free. He contemplates staying a little longer, but Highway One beckons so he heads off. It is the least eventful part of his trip and he crosses the Arctic Circle to reach his final destination in North America, Deadhorse. Next stop, Australia.
He had messaged, Claire, an on and off girlfriend, and she had agreed to cycle across Australia with him and they met up in Sydney. It was fairly uneventful, apart from Claire being bitten by a huntsman spider which thankfully wasn’t serious. They were soon across the country and on their way to Timor. Asia is another level of intensity to his ride, the traffic was much busier, Jakarta was almost permanent gridlock which made for stressful cycling. It was in Singapore that Claire decided that she wanted to go to Japan, alone. They parted company and he headed for Malaysia, where he was to acquire dengue fever…
He spent a few days off fromcycling in Bangkok, planning the next stage and took up the invitation to join a medical team in Cambodia who were visiting people who lived in floating villages on the Tonle Sap River. He had a brief excursion into Myanmar and then reached India. He heads north again, passing through one of the wettest places in the world, Cherrapunjee, which receives 12m (yes that is metres) of rain a year and was even too wet for Welsh missionaries. A visit to a clinic that is treating mental health patients is eye-opening, most of the time in India, these sort of health problems are suppressed. The visa for Pakistan was proving problematic, so he booked a flight to Hong Kong.
China was going to be an experience, the guidebook he had found only had a slim phrasebook and it didn’t have the words for rice and noodles but he could learn how to ask to buy a padlock. He hooks up with a couple of Chinese cycle tourers, which makes it a little less daunting. Mongolia and the steppe was approaching rapidly. It was bitterly cold up there, so much so that he ends up using socks in more than one place to keep appendages warm… He passes back through China and is then passing through the ‘stans, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan with a brief but nerve-wracking trip into Afghanistan. Next would be Georgia and then he was almost at the edge of Europe and the final leg of his epic journey.
Rather than go back the same way through Europe as he came out he headed home via Austria and Germany where he caught up with a man called Heinz Stücke. He had spent 51 years cycling around the world and had wracked up a total of 650,000 kilometres in total. It was an eye-opening evening. He then found one of the worst countries to cycle through, the Netherlands, not because of the car drivers, rather other cyclists who paid little or no attention to anyone else on the cycle path. Soon enough he was departing the ferry at Dover for the run back into London.
I have read a fair number of round the world cycling trips. There is Mark Beaumont’s book of his round the world races where he is against the clock, Sean Conway’s ride started off as a race around the world, but just became the ride of a lifetime after an accident. Alastair Humphries is another who has followed a similar journey and who wrote about it in two books. If you’re going to spend six years doing something, a trip like this seems to be the best way of seeing our planet and Stephen Fables journey around the world is a worthwhile addition to the bookshelf of these sorts of trips. He is a passionate cyclist and keen observers of human life, but what makes this a little bit different is his medical training. He thinks nothing of taking time out to visit medical centres to help others who are tending to the sick and needy. He brings his knowledge to them, they in turn teach him a little bit of humility and humanity. Occasionally, it felt a little rushed, you would pass through some countries in the blink of an eye, but to condense six years worth of memories into just four hundred pages cannot have been easy. Apart from that, this is an excellent travelogue and account of a world tour by bicycle. Very highly recommended.
August 19, 2020
Not every writer has this sort of material to work with, and not every cyclist-adventurer can write. Fortunately Dr Fabes writes beautifully and has an amazing story to tell. All the mishaps, cultural misunderstandings, adventures and bumps to bike and body that you’d expect in a journey like this are here, but this is much more than just a collection of - admittedly often hilarious - travellers’ tales. Fabes, a London doctor who set off round the world in 2010, had plenty of time to think during his six years on the road, and the narrative of his incredible journey is interspersed with reflections on our common humanity, health and disease, and the history of cycle touring. Fabes is an amiable and self-deprecating guide, and is not afraid of examining his own motivations for leaving home and a successful career to seek adventure at the tail-end of his 20s, and the many subtle and not-so-subtle ways in which the journey changed him. I also appreciated the fact that unlike other narratives of this sort, Fabes doesn’t cheat the reader by ending abruptly at the moment he crossed the ‘finish line’. Instead a chapter devoted to the difficulties he had in adapting to “normal life” after six years away is among the most illuminating in the whole book. It is not easy to avoid cliche when you’re following in the tyre-tracks of so many others, but Fabes’ descriptions of people and places, his sense of humour, and the unique perspective he brings as a doctor, rise above much well-worn travel writing. In short, a highly enjoyable, informative and thought-provoking book, a sort of time-capsule of life around the world in the second decade of this century, as well as a deeply personal reflection on what it means to be alive, and to make the most of your time on this planet.
September 15, 2020
What a wonderful way to be transported around the world during these troubled times!
‘Signs of Life’ is so much more than an ‘I-took-six-years-off-and-cycled-round-the world’ travel book. We accompany Doctor Stephen Fabes to spots we would never dream of visiting: a mobile medical clinic in Northern Kenya, a rubbish dump in Jakarta, the migrant jungle in Calais, to name a tiny fraction. With Fabes, we tend to lepers, discover a mummified Tibetan lama, and suffer the horrors of dengue fever, poisonous spiders and bedbugs.
We meet Fabes’ companions: from the cheery Liyan in China, who always comes up with ‘a plan and a proverb’, to a grumpy Pole on the Tajik-Afghan border, the quietly yogic Mike in Nepal, and dozens more. And there are myriad other encounters: playful stone-wielding kids in Ethiopia, aggressive police officers in in Marin county, friendly students in Indonesia, tea-offering border soldiers in India…all described with affection.
Fabes is impressively well-read and knowledgeable. As he weaves in the historical and political context of the conflict-torn places he visits, his writing never becomes dry or inaccessible. On the contrary, he is a master storyteller, and his writing is inventive and humorous.
It is such a pleasure to travel through the pages with a companion who is fun-loving, brave (almost recklessly so!), honest, open, curious and non-judgemental. Yes, that’s a lot of adjectives, but he merits them all.
His is not simply a physical and geographical journey: it’s spiritual and reflective – a search for ‘a fresh sense of purpose’, a search for ‘connections between an Indonesian slum, a mobile clinic in an African desert, the cubicles of St Thomas’s A&E.’, which he seems to find in ‘Ubuntu’, the Bantu notion of a ‘universal bond’: ‘I am what I am because of what we all are’.
What a master-stroke it was for Fabes to give us the final chapter, which perfectly captures his ‘reverse culture shock’ on his return. ‘…I’d been a time traveller of sorts – for years as a doctor in London I’d dreamt endlessly of the future. On the road, I’d landed hard in the present. Home again, I lolled helplessly in the past.’
But the lesson he shares through the book is one that he can continue to share throughout his life: the world would be a better place if we all learnt that ‘…paying more attention to what we have in common might pave the way to a brighter future.’
Thank you, Stephen, for brightening my present!
‘Signs of Life’ is so much more than an ‘I-took-six-years-off-and-cycled-round-the world’ travel book. We accompany Doctor Stephen Fabes to spots we would never dream of visiting: a mobile medical clinic in Northern Kenya, a rubbish dump in Jakarta, the migrant jungle in Calais, to name a tiny fraction. With Fabes, we tend to lepers, discover a mummified Tibetan lama, and suffer the horrors of dengue fever, poisonous spiders and bedbugs.
We meet Fabes’ companions: from the cheery Liyan in China, who always comes up with ‘a plan and a proverb’, to a grumpy Pole on the Tajik-Afghan border, the quietly yogic Mike in Nepal, and dozens more. And there are myriad other encounters: playful stone-wielding kids in Ethiopia, aggressive police officers in in Marin county, friendly students in Indonesia, tea-offering border soldiers in India…all described with affection.
Fabes is impressively well-read and knowledgeable. As he weaves in the historical and political context of the conflict-torn places he visits, his writing never becomes dry or inaccessible. On the contrary, he is a master storyteller, and his writing is inventive and humorous.
It is such a pleasure to travel through the pages with a companion who is fun-loving, brave (almost recklessly so!), honest, open, curious and non-judgemental. Yes, that’s a lot of adjectives, but he merits them all.
His is not simply a physical and geographical journey: it’s spiritual and reflective – a search for ‘a fresh sense of purpose’, a search for ‘connections between an Indonesian slum, a mobile clinic in an African desert, the cubicles of St Thomas’s A&E.’, which he seems to find in ‘Ubuntu’, the Bantu notion of a ‘universal bond’: ‘I am what I am because of what we all are’.
What a master-stroke it was for Fabes to give us the final chapter, which perfectly captures his ‘reverse culture shock’ on his return. ‘…I’d been a time traveller of sorts – for years as a doctor in London I’d dreamt endlessly of the future. On the road, I’d landed hard in the present. Home again, I lolled helplessly in the past.’
But the lesson he shares through the book is one that he can continue to share throughout his life: the world would be a better place if we all learnt that ‘…paying more attention to what we have in common might pave the way to a brighter future.’
Thank you, Stephen, for brightening my present!
January 2, 2024
I have just spent 53000 miles, 6 years and 400 pages with Stephen Fabes and yet I have no sense of him nor of his journey. He writes with about as much enthusiasm as an assembly line worker explaining the ins and outs of a 40 hour work week.
By page 120, he has already crossed 5 continents in over 3 years. (Think about that. A third of the book to account for all of Europe, Middle East, Africa, South America, North America, Australia and South East Asia. That's 24 pages per continent.)
There are almost no stories here. At one point, he referred back to an event in Jordan and I thought 'when was he in Jordan??'. Looking back at the map, I see that his journey line does, in fact, go through Jordan but he didn't find it worthy of mentioning at that time.
And the doctoring is limited to 'I saw a gal with leprosy. I saw a man with elephantitis. I visited a medical clinic'. He doesn't do Doctor-y things but he seemingly waves that flag around at every opportunity. If he did provide medical support at clinics, his accounts are more academic than relatable. Perhaps this just highlights his lack of bedside manner.
Fabes strikes me as a 'been there, done that' tourist who simply wants to click off the miles without getting entangled with the commoners. For the most part, his cultural observations are simple comparisons to how things are done in England and occasional accounts of the drudgery of his rides.
I suppose I was hoping that he would reveal more about how he financed the trip, how he managed resupplying, finding water, repairing and acquiring essential gear, or any other lessons learned along the way. I thought the book was going to have more of a traveling medical clinic feel but it isn't that at all.
Kudos to Fabes for this incredible accomplishment, but this account truly has no signs of life.
By page 120, he has already crossed 5 continents in over 3 years. (Think about that. A third of the book to account for all of Europe, Middle East, Africa, South America, North America, Australia and South East Asia. That's 24 pages per continent.)
There are almost no stories here. At one point, he referred back to an event in Jordan and I thought 'when was he in Jordan??'. Looking back at the map, I see that his journey line does, in fact, go through Jordan but he didn't find it worthy of mentioning at that time.
And the doctoring is limited to 'I saw a gal with leprosy. I saw a man with elephantitis. I visited a medical clinic'. He doesn't do Doctor-y things but he seemingly waves that flag around at every opportunity. If he did provide medical support at clinics, his accounts are more academic than relatable. Perhaps this just highlights his lack of bedside manner.
Fabes strikes me as a 'been there, done that' tourist who simply wants to click off the miles without getting entangled with the commoners. For the most part, his cultural observations are simple comparisons to how things are done in England and occasional accounts of the drudgery of his rides.
I suppose I was hoping that he would reveal more about how he financed the trip, how he managed resupplying, finding water, repairing and acquiring essential gear, or any other lessons learned along the way. I thought the book was going to have more of a traveling medical clinic feel but it isn't that at all.
Kudos to Fabes for this incredible accomplishment, but this account truly has no signs of life.
May 29, 2022
A fantastic and fascinating book. One of the best travel books I have read - a poignant reflection on humanity and one epic adventure!
April 2, 2021
This book has no soul. I read the entire first section of him biking from London to the southern part of Africa and still have no feel for anything he saw, experienced or felt. He gave some facts of the travel, mentioned some people, and spouted out random bits of history, but none of it was spoken with any real interest or passion.
I don't have any hope that the rest of the book will offer much more. So I'm turning it in.
This book gets good reviews from many people, so maybe this is what they wanted or like. But it's not for me.
I don't have any hope that the rest of the book will offer much more. So I'm turning it in.
This book gets good reviews from many people, so maybe this is what they wanted or like. But it's not for me.
May 19, 2020
Everything about this book is impressive. The journey undertaken by the author is mind blowing - almost 54,000 miles on a bike over six years. The book tells the story of the journey; from leaving London, St Thomas' hospital on a cold January day to celebrating a birthday in Syria with Tariq, (who he had just met) and countless other stories in many other countries. This is not a book which documents the tourist hotspots in the countries visitied, it is absolutely a travel memoir and often reflects on a 'route less travelled' in remote and off the beaten track areas. The reflections on visits to medical clinics along the way are fascinating and relevant given the authors profession. I particularly enjoyed the accounts of the TB sanatorium and the jungle in Calais.
I read an e-book copy and wished it was a hard backed book crammed with maps and photos. Those maps and photos are out there. The author has a website called 'cyclingthe6' and I was happy to see that one of his photo albums is named 'photos for the book'. The photos bring the stories to life. They extend the 'sense of place' given by the writing. There are so many pictures depicting the remoteness of the setting, the difficult terrain (either roughness or snow) as well as the good natured humanity and hospitality encountered along the way.
The writing is intelligent and engaging. There are literary quotes and scientific references throughout. In fact the references at the end are as impressive as anything else. I also enjoyed the statistics at the end - the number of different bike parts which had to be replaced along the way is quite fascinating, although I suppose not surprising.
This was a 5 star read for me from the first few pages, all the way to the end. I recommend it to anyone who likes books by Bill Bryson, Robert McFarlane and or Levison Wood(!) Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
I read an e-book copy and wished it was a hard backed book crammed with maps and photos. Those maps and photos are out there. The author has a website called 'cyclingthe6' and I was happy to see that one of his photo albums is named 'photos for the book'. The photos bring the stories to life. They extend the 'sense of place' given by the writing. There are so many pictures depicting the remoteness of the setting, the difficult terrain (either roughness or snow) as well as the good natured humanity and hospitality encountered along the way.
The writing is intelligent and engaging. There are literary quotes and scientific references throughout. In fact the references at the end are as impressive as anything else. I also enjoyed the statistics at the end - the number of different bike parts which had to be replaced along the way is quite fascinating, although I suppose not surprising.
This was a 5 star read for me from the first few pages, all the way to the end. I recommend it to anyone who likes books by Bill Bryson, Robert McFarlane and or Levison Wood(!) Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
November 21, 2020
I've read a lot of travel narrative over the years, including a fair amount of bicycling adventures. Is this one perfect? No, in the sense that some chapters engaged me more than others; I realize that's a personal thing, but I suspect others may feel the same way. Overall, however, I'd declare it a really good read.
First of all, Dr. Fabes is flat-out a great writer. I'm sensitive to (picky about) books where the material strikes me as either choppy or flowery. Here, the stories flowed well, although I did have to get used to a lack of expected transition. Specifically, an encounter at one location sometimes ends, with his being hundreds of km further along in the next paragraph. Not entirely a bad thing, as the strength of the book is that he provides us with unique experiences beyond the usual tales from the road. As an example, in Kenya he goes through an area so remote that almost no one would consider traveling there.
There's also the medical angle, as he visits clinics and sees an occasional local when urgently requested. Certainly something one doesn't see much in (non-medically-specfic) travel writing; as mentioned, he writes very well, but I must confess those aspects were a bit difficult for me, being a bit squeamish and prone to the odd bout of hypochondria.
Finally, you won't like this book much if you don't share his sense of humor. I found it a strong plus, but that's a subjective thing.
Highly recommended as a solid portrayal of one hell of an accomplishment!
(Copy provided by publisher for an honest review)
First of all, Dr. Fabes is flat-out a great writer. I'm sensitive to (picky about) books where the material strikes me as either choppy or flowery. Here, the stories flowed well, although I did have to get used to a lack of expected transition. Specifically, an encounter at one location sometimes ends, with his being hundreds of km further along in the next paragraph. Not entirely a bad thing, as the strength of the book is that he provides us with unique experiences beyond the usual tales from the road. As an example, in Kenya he goes through an area so remote that almost no one would consider traveling there.
There's also the medical angle, as he visits clinics and sees an occasional local when urgently requested. Certainly something one doesn't see much in (non-medically-specfic) travel writing; as mentioned, he writes very well, but I must confess those aspects were a bit difficult for me, being a bit squeamish and prone to the odd bout of hypochondria.
Finally, you won't like this book much if you don't share his sense of humor. I found it a strong plus, but that's a subjective thing.
Highly recommended as a solid portrayal of one hell of an accomplishment!
(Copy provided by publisher for an honest review)
January 25, 2021
3.5 rounded up for one adorable photo. A lively bicycle adventure saga. Fabes experiences were surprisingly relatable to someone who has never done any bicycle touring (and never intends to), he has an easy, natural way of relating to the people he meets along the way that makes him seem very approachable. I had hoped there would be a little more medicine along the way, and he does visit various clinics starting about halfway through his journey and discusses the ways in which money and privilege influence health in both first and third world countries, but I had expected more as his profession was specifically mentioned in the title for most of the book he really could have been just anybody. Also before his journey starts he undergoes a battery of test for research purposes but there is never any mention of a follow-up and that was slightly annoying. On the whole an enjoyable read written with admirable restraint as in a six-year journey there must have been thousands more stories that could have been told.
2021 Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book set in multiple countries
2021 Popsugar Reading Challenge: A book set in multiple countries
August 14, 2020
I was engrossed for three whole days on my 4 day with this book. As someone who has always enjoyed reading travel books...(particularly Dervla Murphy, who I noticed Stephen also rated highly) I seriously loved this one with it’s addition of genuine medical interest. I was amazed by his extraordinary courage and persistence in the face of some serious dangers. His get back up and carry on in the face of Dengue fever after a mere 10 days of life threatening illness was inspiring.
I felt he could have turned this extremely long cycling/reading journey into several books. A little more depth of exploration of the relationships he made on the way would have made an even better read.
I felt he could have turned this extremely long cycling/reading journey into several books. A little more depth of exploration of the relationships he made on the way would have made an even better read.
July 16, 2023
4.5/5 ⭐️ Signs of Life: To the Ends of the Earth with a Doctor, is both an epic adventure book and a thoughtful exploration of humanity. It’s vivid, genuinely interesting and absolutely hilarious. Stephen Fabes left his life as a junior doctor and cycled around the world for 6 years, and as he rides and encounters incredible people, he is drawn to healthcare on the margins.
I think this is a really underrated piece of travel writing, and one which will make you forever feel grateful for our NHS. Some of my favourite quotes below:
“Yoooooou festering fuck-bunion”
“Fucking giant scorpion death spider!”
“On the way, I'd been awed by wild landscapes, and by a common generosity, but most of all, by the tremendous complexity of the world.”
“Cycling around the world was, for me, an object lesson in the importance of accepting intricacy, and of holding our biases lightly. I see such value, now, in connections, empathy and hope. And I am hopeful.”
“…something extravagantly bad was happening to my arse. I couldn't put off an investigation any longer, and without a mirror, or an extremely close friend, there was only one thing to do. That evening, in my tent, I reached for my camera and held it behind me for a close-up. I looked at the viewfinder, tilted my head one way, then the other, turned the screen upside down. This was not normal anatomy, and it's incredibly hard to describe what I saw, but I'll try.
There is a species of sea anemone called Actinia equina, the beadlet anemone, common to the shores of the British Isles.
Know it? A liver-red, glistening thing that wobbles like blanc-mange. Now imagine a pair of them, only greatly increased in size, and there you have my bum.”
I think this is a really underrated piece of travel writing, and one which will make you forever feel grateful for our NHS. Some of my favourite quotes below:
“Yoooooou festering fuck-bunion”
“Fucking giant scorpion death spider!”
“On the way, I'd been awed by wild landscapes, and by a common generosity, but most of all, by the tremendous complexity of the world.”
“Cycling around the world was, for me, an object lesson in the importance of accepting intricacy, and of holding our biases lightly. I see such value, now, in connections, empathy and hope. And I am hopeful.”
“…something extravagantly bad was happening to my arse. I couldn't put off an investigation any longer, and without a mirror, or an extremely close friend, there was only one thing to do. That evening, in my tent, I reached for my camera and held it behind me for a close-up. I looked at the viewfinder, tilted my head one way, then the other, turned the screen upside down. This was not normal anatomy, and it's incredibly hard to describe what I saw, but I'll try.
There is a species of sea anemone called Actinia equina, the beadlet anemone, common to the shores of the British Isles.
Know it? A liver-red, glistening thing that wobbles like blanc-mange. Now imagine a pair of them, only greatly increased in size, and there you have my bum.”
September 15, 2020
Signs of Life by Stephen Fabes 2020
This has been a joyous read! The whole idea of the bike ride excited me from the first. I wondered whether Stephen Fabes could sustain my interest and write with feeling about the places and people he encountered? The answer is resoundingly positive. Yes, he could!
I was touched by the delicate and modest way in which he integrated his considerable medical knowledge into the substance of his account, and by the warmth of his relationships with many of the people he met along the way. His descriptions of landscapes and travelling conditions were riveting, with his very survival in question, from time to time.
Quite honestly, the book was hard to put down. I kept wanting to know “whatever comes next”? There is no gainsaying his courage and determination, but what stood out for me, and remains, is a feeling of real love for humanity and for our small, biodiverse world.
This is THE book for now and well worthy of 5 stars. *****
This has been a joyous read! The whole idea of the bike ride excited me from the first. I wondered whether Stephen Fabes could sustain my interest and write with feeling about the places and people he encountered? The answer is resoundingly positive. Yes, he could!
I was touched by the delicate and modest way in which he integrated his considerable medical knowledge into the substance of his account, and by the warmth of his relationships with many of the people he met along the way. His descriptions of landscapes and travelling conditions were riveting, with his very survival in question, from time to time.
Quite honestly, the book was hard to put down. I kept wanting to know “whatever comes next”? There is no gainsaying his courage and determination, but what stood out for me, and remains, is a feeling of real love for humanity and for our small, biodiverse world.
This is THE book for now and well worthy of 5 stars. *****
August 31, 2025
Enjoyable but slow going to read (not a natural writer which showed a lot at times) so I had to dip in and out of it. I was expecting a bit more about the writer’s medical experience at various stop offs but this was only minor. Still, it was a fascinating memoir of so many different places and cultures on a trip I would never be brave enough to even contemplate. Before he went, he underwent loads of medical testing so that on return his colleagues could compare results and see the toll his trip had on his body though this was never followed up or referred to when he returned which was a shame.
August 30, 2021
Adventure by the tent-load. A beautifully written travel book through a medical lens. One of the things that sets this book apart from others of the genre is a real humanist touch when writing about the people the author meets on his journey. More thought is given than simply how the person impacts the author's own bicycle journey. There is a tacit acknowledgement by the author of the journey he is on being one of his own choosing, and thus any sense that he considers himself to be in any way impressive or a hero is absent. This is a refreshing perspective in a genre that can tend toward egomaniacal.
January 1, 2022
I thought I was at saturation point with books about epic walks/runs/cycles, but this is a stand out example of the genre. Admittedly I ended up reading it in sections and read other books in between but this is better written than most books of this ilk, the author has a natural compassion for those he meets and, most importantly of all, he doesn't continually whinge about the challenge he has voluntarily embarked on.
February 17, 2025
It was interesting, especially in the beginning stages of the journey. Certainly an incredible task to undertake, but sadly it did become a bit same-same as his wheels turned and he ticked off countries.
I do salute everyone who has such an adventurous spirit and an awful lot of grim determination.
I do salute everyone who has such an adventurous spirit and an awful lot of grim determination.
September 3, 2020
As a reader, when I approach adventure books, I always fear feeling like a useless couch potato admiring the incredible achievements of supernatural-fearless-beings overcoming every obstacles in their adventurous perfect life.
When I finished Stephen Fabes’ book I felt nowhere near that. It is a honest, witty and ironic account of his adventures (and disadventures), fears and excitements as he embarks in a bicicle world tour.
The book takes the reader on a trip across the globe exploring mankind more than countries. It is a curiosity- driven exploration of humanity, cultures and eventually of just human bodies and minds.
A gripping and ironic reading, a must in your adventure books’ shelf.
When I finished Stephen Fabes’ book I felt nowhere near that. It is a honest, witty and ironic account of his adventures (and disadventures), fears and excitements as he embarks in a bicicle world tour.
The book takes the reader on a trip across the globe exploring mankind more than countries. It is a curiosity- driven exploration of humanity, cultures and eventually of just human bodies and minds.
A gripping and ironic reading, a must in your adventure books’ shelf.
February 5, 2021
It's not about the bike.
Difficult to sum up, for me it was a compelling mix of travel anecdote and profound observation, of our differences and similarities. It is quite philosophical, maybe political. A lot to digest and think about.
Funny, sad, poignant. I loved it.
Difficult to sum up, for me it was a compelling mix of travel anecdote and profound observation, of our differences and similarities. It is quite philosophical, maybe political. A lot to digest and think about.
Funny, sad, poignant. I loved it.
May 16, 2022
Fabes has challenged himself to fit years' worth of travel across many countries and continents into a short book. Having myself tried to keep a blog whilst backpacking for eight months I appreciate how difficult of a task this is. Nevertheless the first half of the of the book, before he properly begins to explore his medical interest in travel, is so truncated that it really doesn't offer much in the way of perspective. Unless you are an accomplished poet, it is impossible to convey much of the atmosphere of a place, the character of its people, or the experience of moving through it in the short space Fabes gives himself to do so.
Fabes' style is easy to read but one gets the impression he is trying too hard to come up with witty and humourous turns of phrase, many of which fall flat or come across as strained. The inside cover reviews praise him for lacing his stories with good old British humour, but I found most of it to be vulgar, childish, or simply filler where insightful observations could have been found instead.
Having visited many of the places he describes (particularly in Asia), I also found Faber's worldview to be rather black-and-white, and he wastes precious pages pushing politics on the reader instead of sharing the unusual perspective he has as a result of seeing so much of the world. When he encounters modern-day suffering, a few paragraphs of 'Europeans bad, colonialism bad, poverty bad' usually follow. He occasionally labours the point by comparing his travels to those of certain Victorians and early 20th-century cycle tourers, typically dismissing them as prejudiced, ignorant, and silly, despite the fact that in many ways they took on a great deal more risk in the absence of modern medicine, technology, and navigation. More broadly, he makes many sweeping, fashionable assertions about culture, nationality, and history which anyone who has travelled as far and as long as he has should have learned quickly not to make.
Overall this is a book which was bound to be enjoyed by many for containing what they had been expecting to read and for getting some easy laughs out of being rude and self-deprecating. Fabes just hasn't given himself enough space to go much beyond the surface, and he doesn't help himself by spending time vascillating between introspection and observation (choose one or the other; you don't have the space to do justice to both), trying to force humour out of situations where there isn't any (there's a line between lighthearted and disrespectful), and composing half-baked essays about colonialism, nationalism, multiculturalism, and so on. The best part of this book is his medical insight and commentary, but Fabes could have spent much more time on that and written a different, more valuable book in the process.
Fabes' style is easy to read but one gets the impression he is trying too hard to come up with witty and humourous turns of phrase, many of which fall flat or come across as strained. The inside cover reviews praise him for lacing his stories with good old British humour, but I found most of it to be vulgar, childish, or simply filler where insightful observations could have been found instead.
Having visited many of the places he describes (particularly in Asia), I also found Faber's worldview to be rather black-and-white, and he wastes precious pages pushing politics on the reader instead of sharing the unusual perspective he has as a result of seeing so much of the world. When he encounters modern-day suffering, a few paragraphs of 'Europeans bad, colonialism bad, poverty bad' usually follow. He occasionally labours the point by comparing his travels to those of certain Victorians and early 20th-century cycle tourers, typically dismissing them as prejudiced, ignorant, and silly, despite the fact that in many ways they took on a great deal more risk in the absence of modern medicine, technology, and navigation. More broadly, he makes many sweeping, fashionable assertions about culture, nationality, and history which anyone who has travelled as far and as long as he has should have learned quickly not to make.
Overall this is a book which was bound to be enjoyed by many for containing what they had been expecting to read and for getting some easy laughs out of being rude and self-deprecating. Fabes just hasn't given himself enough space to go much beyond the surface, and he doesn't help himself by spending time vascillating between introspection and observation (choose one or the other; you don't have the space to do justice to both), trying to force humour out of situations where there isn't any (there's a line between lighthearted and disrespectful), and composing half-baked essays about colonialism, nationalism, multiculturalism, and so on. The best part of this book is his medical insight and commentary, but Fabes could have spent much more time on that and written a different, more valuable book in the process.
May 27, 2020
I really enjoy travel writing, particularly a book that does something different, as well as one that complements my fiction reading. Stephen Fabes’ ‘Signs Of Life’ does just this..
Fabes is a London-based hospital doctor and in his late twenties, relatively new to his vocation, he decides to give it all up and cycle around the world. No mean feat - but it has been done before, in various ways. Fabes sets out from London and the next six years of his life are spent exploring the world, from travelling the length of Africa, through to traversing the Mongolian steppes.
It is clear that Fabes prepared for this venture, as far as possible - and living frugally with little income, if any, would have been essential. At the start, he says that ‘uncertainty... is the heart and soul of any journey’ and this beautifully sums up his outlook. Throughout, the anecdotes are interspersed with medical knowledge, of recollections from his hospital days. Seemingly, you can take the man out of medicine but not medicine from the man - and this isn’t surprising, given the intensity of training that doctors go through.
Fabes has amazing experiences; he meets fascinating people, but has some scary times, too, from the treacherous borders of war-torn countries, to the more trivial - camel spiders in his tent! Interestingly, this contains, towards the end, references to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Fabes comments that ‘Societies are judged on how they treat their most vulnerable’ and this, although a reference to a [now closed-down] TB sanitorium in Georgia, is extremely pertinent given the global tragedy that we are all experiencing in some way or another. Fabes philosophises near the end, too, and I found it particularly thought-provoking when he writes that the world’s ‘most marginalised people’ have always been restricted. In the western world, many think they are hard done by but for so many, it’s a way of life all of the time.
This is a great book - it’s a fantastic way of travelling from your arm chair (or bed, deckchair or any other place to rest) whilst learning about medicine, motivation and doing something different. Fabes has a wonderful way with words and even though some similes (‘... my armpits raining like a Malaysian typhoon’) jar, one cannot fault this book. It’s a huge accomplishment, as are the six years that Faves spent on his bicycle.
Fabes is a London-based hospital doctor and in his late twenties, relatively new to his vocation, he decides to give it all up and cycle around the world. No mean feat - but it has been done before, in various ways. Fabes sets out from London and the next six years of his life are spent exploring the world, from travelling the length of Africa, through to traversing the Mongolian steppes.
It is clear that Fabes prepared for this venture, as far as possible - and living frugally with little income, if any, would have been essential. At the start, he says that ‘uncertainty... is the heart and soul of any journey’ and this beautifully sums up his outlook. Throughout, the anecdotes are interspersed with medical knowledge, of recollections from his hospital days. Seemingly, you can take the man out of medicine but not medicine from the man - and this isn’t surprising, given the intensity of training that doctors go through.
Fabes has amazing experiences; he meets fascinating people, but has some scary times, too, from the treacherous borders of war-torn countries, to the more trivial - camel spiders in his tent! Interestingly, this contains, towards the end, references to the current COVID-19 pandemic. Fabes comments that ‘Societies are judged on how they treat their most vulnerable’ and this, although a reference to a [now closed-down] TB sanitorium in Georgia, is extremely pertinent given the global tragedy that we are all experiencing in some way or another. Fabes philosophises near the end, too, and I found it particularly thought-provoking when he writes that the world’s ‘most marginalised people’ have always been restricted. In the western world, many think they are hard done by but for so many, it’s a way of life all of the time.
This is a great book - it’s a fantastic way of travelling from your arm chair (or bed, deckchair or any other place to rest) whilst learning about medicine, motivation and doing something different. Fabes has a wonderful way with words and even though some similes (‘... my armpits raining like a Malaysian typhoon’) jar, one cannot fault this book. It’s a huge accomplishment, as are the six years that Faves spent on his bicycle.
August 6, 2020
A thoroughly enjoyable and brilliant read. I loved the descriptive writing and the pace of the story telling as the epic journey unfolds. The brief snapshots of the people Stephen meets are captured so well making the individuals stand out like wonderful vignettes illustrating his passage across the continents. He weaves in social commentary and small historical perspectives, facts and figures which all inform the places through which he was travelling making the reader more knowledgeable or have fresh insights into the communities he engaged with along the way. I love the asides on how it feels to be on the road and for large chunks of time alone. And always there are little bursts of humour that freshen the landscape and bring a smile to the reader. I think it’s a superb first book and I wish Stephen every success with it not only for the quality of the writing but also for the fantastic adventure which gave birth to the book.
May 13, 2020
Oh did this book make me want to hop on my bike and get going! A fully qualified doctor decides he can't quite reconcile himself to 'normal' everyday life and so he sorts out his world into a couple of panniers, attaches them to his bike and leaves the front door of St Thomas' hospital in London to cycle around the world for six years.
Stephen Fabes has a great turn of phrase and sees the absurd in many of the situations that he finds himself in. First trip was from London to Cape Town - waking the first morning out of London to find the landscape white with thick snow. Then on to the extreme south of South America flying into Ushuaia and getting all the way to the dead boring Deadhorse. Another continent and more after that. Flying into Melbourne and cycling up the east coast before a small side trip to New Caledonia before heading north west across Bali onto Indonesia and eventually making it to Mumbai via Myanmar and Assam and Nepal. Still not content he wings off to Hong Hong and slowly, windingly, makes his way - inches his way back to Europe and home. What a trip. What stamina. What courage. He is worthy of our respect - he has mine already.
Stephen Fabes has a great turn of phrase and sees the absurd in many of the situations that he finds himself in. First trip was from London to Cape Town - waking the first morning out of London to find the landscape white with thick snow. Then on to the extreme south of South America flying into Ushuaia and getting all the way to the dead boring Deadhorse. Another continent and more after that. Flying into Melbourne and cycling up the east coast before a small side trip to New Caledonia before heading north west across Bali onto Indonesia and eventually making it to Mumbai via Myanmar and Assam and Nepal. Still not content he wings off to Hong Hong and slowly, windingly, makes his way - inches his way back to Europe and home. What a trip. What stamina. What courage. He is worthy of our respect - he has mine already.
September 4, 2023
Cycling with Humanity
Stephen Fabes account of his 6 year cycle adventure around the world is different than most other similar undertakings. Refreshingly different. A 6 year journey distilled to a single book inevitably overlooks many places and experiences and people. But what is distilled is the purity of the journey, the essence of the people he encountered, the feeling and emotion and connection with place and landscape and culture.
But what was more apparent was the human connection, through his medical experience and the situations he witnessed with varying levels of health care in some of the poorest countries in the world. His journey serves to not only realise the good fortune many of us are born into - the ability to travel extensively, the privilege of a passport, but how we are ultimately the same. Yet nations, politics, economics, social circumstance render those less fortunate more at risk to disease and ill health and poor treatment.
A salient and important book that is so much more than a bike ride.
Written with honesty, humour, integrity, compassion...but mostly this is a book about a journey, cycling with humanity.
Highly recommended.
Stephen Fabes account of his 6 year cycle adventure around the world is different than most other similar undertakings. Refreshingly different. A 6 year journey distilled to a single book inevitably overlooks many places and experiences and people. But what is distilled is the purity of the journey, the essence of the people he encountered, the feeling and emotion and connection with place and landscape and culture.
But what was more apparent was the human connection, through his medical experience and the situations he witnessed with varying levels of health care in some of the poorest countries in the world. His journey serves to not only realise the good fortune many of us are born into - the ability to travel extensively, the privilege of a passport, but how we are ultimately the same. Yet nations, politics, economics, social circumstance render those less fortunate more at risk to disease and ill health and poor treatment.
A salient and important book that is so much more than a bike ride.
Written with honesty, humour, integrity, compassion...but mostly this is a book about a journey, cycling with humanity.
Highly recommended.
May 10, 2020
Doctor Stephen Fabes gives up his job in emergency medicine and spends six years cycling round the world.
We travel with him, encountering danger (poisonous spiders in his tent, the Taliban) as well as the kindness of strangers.
Fabes mixes his traveller’s tales with history of the places he visits, and experiences of seeing medical facilities including a TB hospital and a refugee camp.
Although Fabes dwells on themes such as the nature of connections between humans, and the politics of global health, this is essentially a well-written and often humorous travel memoir.
It’s enjoyable - the bite I liked most were the comical tales of adversity such as Fabes photographing his saddle-sore posterior - and Fabes’ medical background adds extra interest.
We travel with him, encountering danger (poisonous spiders in his tent, the Taliban) as well as the kindness of strangers.
Fabes mixes his traveller’s tales with history of the places he visits, and experiences of seeing medical facilities including a TB hospital and a refugee camp.
Although Fabes dwells on themes such as the nature of connections between humans, and the politics of global health, this is essentially a well-written and often humorous travel memoir.
It’s enjoyable - the bite I liked most were the comical tales of adversity such as Fabes photographing his saddle-sore posterior - and Fabes’ medical background adds extra interest.
December 3, 2022
Fascinating read. Fabes style and confidence as a writer grow on you throughout this book. His descriptions are often very observant and witty. The detail with which he describes the places and history of the countries he visits is captivating. I was often left wondering where and what the many characters in his book are doing now. The book is analytical and reflective but not overly so, as his wonderfully timed humor brings a smile back to the readers face.
I enjoyed his thoughts on healthcare, humanity and life on the road - and I found myself pausing to think just as much as I was keen to read on.
Thanks for sharing your journey with us - definitely one to be remembered
I enjoyed his thoughts on healthcare, humanity and life on the road - and I found myself pausing to think just as much as I was keen to read on.
Thanks for sharing your journey with us - definitely one to be remembered
January 17, 2022
I haven’t finished this book but gave it a good shot reaching page 174. It was a carefully chosen Christmas present so I hoped to like it. It completely lacks heart and soul. It couldn’t be more different from the passion of Mark Beaumont’s ‘The Man Who Cycled The World’ which I would recommend instead to anyone captivated by the idea of a global cycling trip. The medical element is not central to the storyline so would be disappointing to a reader with that interest. I wonder if the author simply took too long and was too unstructured about his venture.
February 26, 2024
Have you ever wanted to hear the perspective of an entitled, arrogant man? Wondered what privilege begets when he wanders away from any obligation to anyone?
Perching near the top of the world’s geopolitical hierarchy, a self flagellation propelled by medical science, whooshed in and out of medias res, this little release of trapped wind endlessly alludes just that air of superiority.
Bicycle travel at its very very worst. Panniers full of garbage. Signs of life? None.
Perching near the top of the world’s geopolitical hierarchy, a self flagellation propelled by medical science, whooshed in and out of medias res, this little release of trapped wind endlessly alludes just that air of superiority.
Bicycle travel at its very very worst. Panniers full of garbage. Signs of life? None.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 19, 2020
Disclaimer: I haven't read the book yet. Even better though: I've met and traveled with Steve himself!
While I was a paltry 5,000km into my own bicycle trip in East Asia, someone I came across told me of a legendary character who had already covered five times that distance in Europe and Africa. I immediately became a devoted follower of Steve's blog, Cycling the Six, greatly enjoying reading up on his exploits wheeling around countries that I wasn't sure I'd ever get to. Two or so years later, our paths crossed briefly in Darjeeling, where we planned a ride together in Nepal. On our shared trip around the Annapurna Circuit, I felt comforted by his medical knowledge ("If someone faints, just leave them there. It's your body's way of getting your head on the same level as your heart."), while at the same time much annoyed by all the lunches where he would rather jot down notes in his tiny, grizzled notebook than talk to me about how today's potatoes were pretty much the same as yesterday's. "What's it all going to add up to?" I asked myself. Now we have an answer!
Congratulations to Steve on completing his world tour and, what's probably even more of a challenge, getting it all down on paper. I know from experience that his adventures took him to some wild and incredible places, and I also know from experience that even the simple, basic moments of bicycle travel are full of wonder and awe. I am so glad that Steve's book is out there to give everybody a taste.
While I was a paltry 5,000km into my own bicycle trip in East Asia, someone I came across told me of a legendary character who had already covered five times that distance in Europe and Africa. I immediately became a devoted follower of Steve's blog, Cycling the Six, greatly enjoying reading up on his exploits wheeling around countries that I wasn't sure I'd ever get to. Two or so years later, our paths crossed briefly in Darjeeling, where we planned a ride together in Nepal. On our shared trip around the Annapurna Circuit, I felt comforted by his medical knowledge ("If someone faints, just leave them there. It's your body's way of getting your head on the same level as your heart."), while at the same time much annoyed by all the lunches where he would rather jot down notes in his tiny, grizzled notebook than talk to me about how today's potatoes were pretty much the same as yesterday's. "What's it all going to add up to?" I asked myself. Now we have an answer!
Congratulations to Steve on completing his world tour and, what's probably even more of a challenge, getting it all down on paper. I know from experience that his adventures took him to some wild and incredible places, and I also know from experience that even the simple, basic moments of bicycle travel are full of wonder and awe. I am so glad that Steve's book is out there to give everybody a taste.
September 13, 2020
In this time of travel restrictions, what better way to spend some hours than in the company of Stephen Forbes as he recounts his 6 yeras cycling around the world.
A total of 53,568 miles, 102 international borders crossed and 26 replaced tyres.
This is a little bit more than a normal traveller's account of such a journey, for Stephen has a medical background and the book is infused with how healthcare forms an integral part of his life.
We also see how healthcare provision differs so markedly throughout the world. The link between poverty and illness is vividly demonstrated.
There are many amusing anecdotes and we meet a whole range of quirky and eccentric characters. In between are some sad and troubling moments.
Throughout, Stephen remains honest, philisophical and retains a sense of humour and awe at witnessing the wonderful natural sights he encounters along the way.
The ending when he tries to make sense of the 6 years away and his return to normal life is both moving and honest.
Well worth a read.
A total of 53,568 miles, 102 international borders crossed and 26 replaced tyres.
This is a little bit more than a normal traveller's account of such a journey, for Stephen has a medical background and the book is infused with how healthcare forms an integral part of his life.
We also see how healthcare provision differs so markedly throughout the world. The link between poverty and illness is vividly demonstrated.
There are many amusing anecdotes and we meet a whole range of quirky and eccentric characters. In between are some sad and troubling moments.
Throughout, Stephen remains honest, philisophical and retains a sense of humour and awe at witnessing the wonderful natural sights he encounters along the way.
The ending when he tries to make sense of the 6 years away and his return to normal life is both moving and honest.
Well worth a read.
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