Sip coffee by a fiery volcano or swim in a bioluminescent lake

Flying off for year-end shopping at Causeway Bay in Hong Kong, while exciting and expensive, doesn’t count as adventure travel. Neither is it to travel by coach up the mountains of Sichuan and then wait in a long queue to gape at some rainbow-coloured lakes.

Adventure travel starts with your imagination. And your imagination starts with the adventure books you've read. HR Haggard’s adventure series featuring the hero Allan Quatermain, are among the most exciting. Tall Zulu warriors, scraggy witch doctors, King Solomon’s Mines, and of course the mysterious, beautiful She Who Must Be Obeyed.

I'm not sure if Solomon’s mines exist. Meanwhile, here're some suggestions of real adrenalin-pumping places to stroll or swim or sail:

· the 800km Pilgrim's Walk in the Pyrenees mountains between Spain and France, the same mountain range where Lance Armstrong cycled to win the Tour de France,

· the mist-shrouded Lake District in the north of England that has inspired memorable lyrical poetry in English,

· the Valley of the Kings where golden Tutankhamun was buried and where a new, intact Pharaonic tomb was discovered on Feb 10, 2006, that could possibly be that of Queen Nefertiti, the most beautiful woman in history (not scheming ol’ Cleopatra),

· the Khyber Pass between Pakistan and Afghanistan, that Alexander the Great passed through to conquer India,

· the city of Benares where Lord Buddha preached his first sermon that changed the course of human destinty,

· the pristine Cloud Forest of Costa Rica with well-marked trails,

· the magical Bioluminescent Bay in Vieques Island, off Puerto Rico,

· the 4,380km Congo River, described in Joseph Conrad's novel, Heart of Darkness;

· the surreal Mountains of the Moon, officially the Ruwenzori Mountains between Uganda and Congo, a mere seven-hour bus ride from Kampala;

· Tierra del Feugo, at the bottom of the world, first explored by the intrepid Ferdinand Magellan in 1520;

· the lava fields and glaciers of Iceland, a country that is one giant walking trail.