6 adventure trips in 7 months: Why this 51-year-old scaled down his business for the great outdoors

SINGAPORE – Braving strong winds on the Yellow River near Wuhai in Inner Mongolia on May 2, Rich Liow and a group of 17 other explorers paddled hard.

High waves meant the risk of their kayaks capsizing in the cold water was very real. Still, they cast aside their doubts, encouraged one another and aided those stranded in shallow sand banks.

Just over six hours later, the tired adventurers with an average age of 53 whooped with joy over their triumph in completing 32km. It was the longest distance some had ever kayaked.

Over three days, they covered a total of 100km, or about half the coastline of Singapore. Nine members of the group also mountain-biked 140km and walked two segments of 3km each – in lieu of a mountain hike scrapped because of unstable soil conditions – in the Gobi Desert.

“This team is made of conquerors,” Liow, 51, the trip’s organiser, says with pride.

He recalls the surreal landscape they experienced, from sand-dune islands in the middle of the Yellow River to seeing birds, bees and salt ponds in the desert.

“How often do you find nature’s opposites co-existing? It was a sight to behold,” he says.

Liow’s insatiable appetite for the great outdoors started in 2020, when the Covid-19 pandemic put a halt to business as usual. He runs a display cabinet business selling 99 per cent dust-free cabinets to toy collectors.

With more free time on his hands, he reignited his teenage love of kayaking and hiking, among other outdoor pursuits, and has lost 33kg in weight since.

“I thank Covid-19 for the chance to realign. I realised that I’m not willing to give up all those things I used to enjoy,” says Liow. He is now in semi-retirement and takes on a few display cabinet projects each month to fund his overseas adventures.

Every month or so, he takes an active trip where he cycles, hikes or kayaks, sometimes doing all three.

His itineraries in 2026 give a sense of his passion. In January, he kayak-surfed in Malaysia, then kayaked in Krabi, Thailand, in March.

A month later in April, he hiked up to 3,886m above sea level during a trip to the twin peaks of Yushan and Xueshan in Taiwan. The Gobi Desert trip took place in May.

He hiked in Italy’s Dolomites mountain range in June and did a 192km mountain biking journey in Mongolia in July.

Now on a break in August and September, he has lined up a 500km solo cycling trip to Okinawa in Japan in October, to be followed by a 700km foldie bike trip in Japan the next month that includes the scenic Shimanami Kaido route.

Liow’s family, including his two sons aged 15 and 20, joined him for the Dolomites trip.

Over the past four years, his wanderlust has taken him to the top of Japan’s Mount Fuji thrice – he has summitted four times in total – and to the Everest base camp in Nepal.

Most of the time, he is accompanied by a bunch of like-minded travellers, some old pals, some acquaintances introduced by friends through the informal trips he has been organising since 2024.

Such trips have always grown organically – for instance, a 900km cycling trip around Taiwan in April 2025 started with him broaching his idea with three friends. Within two months, they had spread the word and grown the group from three to 38.

“Everyone on the Taiwan trip gelled very well. We are still in contact with one another and still organise mini trips among ourselves. We are like one big family,” he says.

Women are game for the challenge

The expeditions he organises attract people in their mid-40s to mid-60s, with women making up three out of four participants.

“You’ll be surprised that women are the more garang (Malay for daring) ones who dare to go overseas to do all these adventures. Most of them are very fit,” says Liow.

A 50-something woman, who wanted to be known by her surname Long, is one such gung-ho participant.

Not one for sightseeing tours, she met Liow when they both signed up for the Everest base camp trip.

Long later joined his group in the Gobi Desert in May. That proved to be memorable when she capsized on the second day of kayaking in the cold water, but was quickly picked up by the safety boat.

While she was an experienced dragon boater, she picked up kayaking just three months beforehand.

“There was a strong headwind and big waves kept coming at me on the side. I couldn’t manage it well enough. Of course, you panic when you capsize, but I had learnt how to hold on to the kayak and ask for help,” Long says.

“I was scared, but it was fun and a good experience.”

Liow sources for reputable on-ground tour companies and participants settle payment directly with the vendors.

He reckons that such vacations cost about $1,500 on average for a five- to seven-night trip in South-east Asia. The Gobi Desert trip in May cost 9,800 yuan (S$1,860) a person for eight nights. Prices do not include airfare, travel insurance and some meals.

Ample preparation

Liow also takes on the responsibility of ensuring that everyone has the correct documentation as well as the right training and conditioning for the rugged journeys.

To prepare for a kayaking trip, for instance, he recommends that participants practise at least once a week for 10km to 20km around Singapore’s waters and sign up for kayaking courses conducted by the Singapore Canoeing Federation or SeaOPS, a provider of sea-based activities.

“This is not a tour, it is an adventure. People who come are like-minded, and they are aware of the risks,” he says, adding that training sessions and choosing competent vendors help mitigate the risks.

He steps in to train with participants who need help with their strength and speed. During the trips, he also serves as an unofficial mentor to those who need extra attention and encouragement.

His fellow explorers learn to be prepared for anything and take detours in their stride.

During a hiking trip to Taiwan earlier in 2026, an adventurer in his 40s developed severe altitude sickness during their descent at about 3,200m above sea level. His lungs filled up with water and he was breathless.

They evacuated quickly and he was rushed to a hospital 200km away and admitted for one night. Instead of tackling Taroko Gorge as planned, the group did a city tour while waiting for their friend to recover.

“When you go for such challenges, you have to go with the mindset to treat all things as challenges, instead of issues. Then, you can calmly execute life-saving measures when you encounter dangerous situations,” he says.

“When we meet back home, we reminisce about such incidents and we’ll talk about how the rescues were done, how we helped to save each other and how we could have done it better as a team. It becomes a type of camaraderie.”

Liow does not plan to slow down. Having gained a new lease of life since the pandemic, he does not want to waste a minute of it.

“When I experience the vastness of earth, I feel so small. Nature overwhelms me with all its beauty and every single breath I draw in is so crisp and clean.

“It just speaks to my heart and all the worries of life just fade away,” he says.