Have you ever seen a child play? The way their eyes lights up when they are given something, or hands being held to go out to a park, their scream of joy when they run around exploring. Observe how they put their hands out to whatever is at their reach, and attentively study it, and their expressions. They are learning, unknowingly.
Do you remember the first time you sat on a swing at a playground? How your feet took the first step as you merely sat on a plank supported by two strings. As someone pushed you from the back, you lift of, looking at the world being merely 100cm tall, from above where it stopped midair and back on earth, then above again.
At a certain point, you tilt your head backwards as you’re falling.. you smile and laugh at the sight of it, and the slight dizziness it gives you. But you also remember the rush, the fear of falling, the idea of flying.
For me, traveling anywhere does that.
But come on, admit it. Sometimes, we have a pre-conceived idea on the back of our minds before we even stepping foot into a place. Simply because of what we saw on photos, videos shared in social media. I admit I did that too.
During a trip in Ho Chih Minh city, Vietnam, my two travel buddies and I decided to go on the famous mode of public transport- Grab Bike. Being all touristy, we roughly know which areas of interest to go. However, our drivers turned guide and friend, decided that they wanted to show us their country- their way. Thus not only we saw areas of interest but we ended up hanging out with our guides, learning the culture and places not posted on social media.
It got me thinking, how do I portray this beautiful side of my travels? A photo paints a thousand words they say, but at that moment, a photo probably could not describe how we sat with the locals by the streets, eating a snack (that we had no idea what it was called) and just laughing, exchanging stories of our lives.
I realized sometimes we love the idea of traveling. The beautiful, breathtaking pictures we see, we look for it when we arrive at that particular destination. That could be a plus point as it makes us go forth and travel. But to what extent we would let it ‘ruin’ our travel? I believe we can only truly learn and discover a place when we are fully immersed ourselves in the culture and people. Take some time off the local sim/3G and electronics, and experience the moment.
I believe travel isn’t just about going on a plane, picked a destination out of a travel site and trending. It’s about how you open up your eyes and mind towards the world. Every bit of the journey is a life lesson itself, depends where are you looking at it from.
Because if you take a moment and think about it;
I love traveling and going around because it has taught me things beyond books.The people I meet along the way, the places I’ve visited;
In my recent travel, I have to admit that I was taken aback when a local painter in town welcomed us into his shop and started sharing his life stories, even knowing we are not buying any items. Furthermore, our 10 minute historical family home visit turned into an hour’s worth of history lessons of China’s dynasty- how the silver/copper coins had different Chinese characters- how the names in Vietnamese and Chinese are similar; to even discover that one of us had the same surname as them!
Often, we are so quick to look for the differences in every place. But do you pay attention to the similarities?
I want to remember the places I go, not just by the tourist hotspots or all fancy insta-worthy shot, but by a buzz, tingle or jolt!* in my heart whenever someone asks me
A jolt in my heart and a smile on my face, for I have left a little bit of me at those places.*
