And so I travel

If you who know me personally, you would know of my love for travelling.

If you are trying to picture me nicely dressed, lugging a big luggage and a flashing a shiny compact digicam, in the company of a big group of middle-age uncles and aunties, listening to the tour-leader announcing well-rehearsed lines over the loudspeaker... gosh you're dead wrong. Those folks are tourists, not travellers.

By travelling I mean roughing it out: donning light-weight used cloths meant for getting dirtied, carrying all my entire provisions in a haversack upon my back and a daypack in front, flipping through a Lonely Planet travel guide, glancing at the train/bus schedule and making choices, brushing shoulders with the locals, savouring a local dish in a not-so-savoury roadside stall, chosing backpackers' lodges over nice hotels... that's more like it.


I have 'done' 8 weeks in Nepal (a dream came true!), 6 weeks trans-China, 1 week in Laos/North Thailand. Read about those old stories in My Old n Dusty Website if you are interested. I've had the opportunity to step foot in every state in Malaysia; I've explored the highlands of Sarawak and trekked the Kalimantan forests. I think I've travelled more of Sabah/Sarawak than most Sabahans/Sarawakians. That may not sound much to you, but given my circumstances I would say that's quite OK.

Recently I've been trying to figure out what is it in travelling that got me so passionate and excited about.

I think, it's the challenge to stretch my abilities that made travelling so attractive.


In planning a travel itinerary, I learn to access to information and travel tips, via guidebooks, online travel forums and word of mouth. I learn to establish contacts and set up a networking of some sort. I need to set priorities in terms of time spent in each place, to budget my expenditure, to compare the lodging options, modes of transports...

I learn to categorise my stuffs into essentials (that I must bring along no matter what), nice-to-haves, might-needs (that I can get on the field), and will-not-needs (don't bring!). Well you too would need to think like that if your haversack has only that much capacity and your shoulders could only manage that much weight.

On field, I enjoy the feeling of having full control over my itinerary; while having little control over unexpected change of events, be it a cancelled flight, bus break-downs, illnesses, getting lost... I find exhilaration in taking such surprises head-on, working out solutions within limited time-frame and resources, and enjoying the new discoveries that come along. Call me a last-minute person if you like. The traveller's mantra is: Expected the Unexpected.


I enjoy being among the local people in their natural setting. I love immersing myself in a new culture foreign to mine. My style of travelling enables, or rather forces me to communicate and seek help from locals and fellow travellers. I love to see the surprised/impressed looks of the locals when I speak in their native tongue. In fact, I spoke pretty decent Nepali during my 8-week stint there. Those were the days. :-) I learn to blend into cross cultural settings, to observe and admire things that make those cultures unique.

Encounters with kind people are often the most memorable highlights in all my adventures. I remember the kind peasant girl that offered me a jug of cool water when I was on the brink of heatstroke and lost in the Nepali mountains... I remember the gracious new-found-friends in Xinjiang China that opened their homes to me and my travel partner...

The many lessons I gained through travelling enables me to adapt to whatever surroundings or situations I am in, and to draw upon whatever resources available, to modify to innovate to recreate... whatever it takes to be efficient and effective.

It teaches me to differentiate my needs from my wants; and to realise that one does not need lots of possessions to get on with life. I learn to live with little, and be content with it.


In my meeting with people from different cultures and backgrounds, I learn to appreciate what we have in common rather than harping on our differences. I learn to look beyond nationality, race, religion and social status... to find a person, a human being just like me.

Even while I am all alone in a foreign setting, far away from friends and family, I find comfort in knowing that I have my God as company.

I learn to live outside my comfort zone; I learn to explore, to discover, and to enjoy the new things I come across while taking the less travelled route.


And so, I travel.

Where's next?

What is God preparing me for?