Widening Of Horizon

I had probably one of the best 2 months trip this year.

A 56 days expedition (It was supposed to be 60 days but something happened, I'll explain it soon) from China and across 5 Southeast Asia countries was truly a remarkable journey which brings out new perspective of travelling, adventure and cultures.

Coming from a typical middle-income Singaporean family, I grew up in a metropolitan city which is a hotpot fusion of different races and cultures from Chinese, Malay, Indian, and Caucasian and spanning across all the different religions you can think of. From young, I was taught to be tolerant of other races and their practices and we learnt the importance of racial harmony (in which Racial Harmony Day, in conjunction with Total Defence Day, is held annually in Singapore on 15th February. It serves as a reminder of the dark times when Singapore was under immense national security threat of numerous racial riots in the 1960s after the independence, but let's save this space for my trip.)

Therefore, it wasn't a culture shock for me travelling in this strongly-cultured Asian countries, but what actually open my eyes were the travellers I've met along the the way. They've made me realize how contented I am living within my comfort zones, when these people, coming from all of the different sides of the world, travelling alone and accomplishing more than I do at a relatively young age.

I've met a Belgium guy, William during our first week in Guangzhou, China and he the the first traveller we've made friends with. At that point, he was travelling alone for 3 months across China, and at the last leg of his trip in the country before continuing to the other parts of Southeast Asia. He just graduated from the University of Brussels with a degree in Sports Science, and I suspect he is younger than me. To think about it, a fresh graduate from Europe backpacking alone in China for months! When asked why he was travelling alone, he said none of his friends wanted to go with him because they thought he was crazy to backpack in a country with huge communication barrier and being the 4th largest nation in the world (I've googled and realize USA & Canada are ahead with 3rd & 2nd respectively, apart from Russia which everyone knows). However, that didn't stop him. Apparently, we went our separate ways in a most unglamorous way, by getting lost in the Guilin jungle. It was a shame I didn't manage to get hold of his personal contacts, but he somehow strikes a resemble of Bear Grylls, and he was sure living up to his doppelganger as he has no choice but to leave us behind to reach his destination before dusk at a Chinese village on the other side of the Guilin mountains.

Another guy worth mentioning here was a young Argentinian dude, Nico. I've made friends with him when I was in Hanoi, Vietnam. It was on a Sunday, when my 3 good friends and I had planned to visit the Ho Chin Minh Museum (apparently that's the only opening day of the week), and our hotel receptionist arranged Nico take a taxi with us since he was travelling solo. He was an avid photographer and his photos were amazing, always capturing the essence of it. To our pleasant surprise, he was our roommate in our shared dorm that night, we managed to catch up our dinner at a vegetarian shophouse stall (sadly, there wasn't any cheap halal food) and i've learnt he had worked for 8 years to save enough money to travel the world for a year. A South-American backpacking for a year across Asia? You bet it. It was interesting to hear his insights on Asia in general, and strangely enough, earlier that day we ourselves had a bitter experience dealing with a Taxi Mafia which has its meter digitally modified that makes the fare goes up at a ridiculous rate. We manage to negotiate for a lower price (if we didn't pay he would drive us to his armed Mafia gangs), but Nico almost did his South American move and gagged that taxi driver from behind. Thankfully, that didn't happen and manage to resolve the issue peacefully, albeit a sour one. After we went our separate ways, Nico went on to Nepal, India and the other parts of Asia and having to see his wonderful pictures, I can't help but to feel happy for him.

Both of them resembles the new travellers of our time, exploring places to widen up their perspective and pushing themselves out of their comfort zones. We too, should, inculcate those values on top of the existing cultural roots which shouldn't be marginalized.

On a personal level, as a Muslim, I would want to travel, not just for the sake of travelling, but with a niya' (purpose) to find the path that will bring me closer to Him and my religion. Where it is all started from the Middle East with the holy lands of Jerusalem, Madinah, and Mecca, and not to forget some of the Islamic regions in Turkey, Spain and the other parts of Europe. Learning the history of it and seeing the historical places ourselves will bring out the best and strengthen our beliefs.

Travelling intrigues your mind and question your purpose in this life. When you come across a beautiful scenery before your very eyes, you cannot help but to feel blessed how beautiful this world is crafted. It leaves us wondering and be mesmerized with the wonders of this world. Only He, the Creator, knows and to whom we seek for His Mercy and His Blessings.

P.S: Apologies for being a doing more of a reflection for this entry.. I would surely want to share my 2 months backpacking adventure across the 6 countries to you guys soon!

Musafir

Someone came up to me at a Kapitan Keling mosque in Penang one fine day asking, "Salam bro, i'm a musafir (traveller) and I need money to survive.

I told him, "Salam, i'm a musafir too, and i just got robbed yesterday. I have only 30 ringgit to return home in Singapore before Aidilfitri.

From one traveller to another, i wish i could help him...

Travel is never a matter of money but of courage.  I spent a large part of my youth traveling the world as a hippie. And what money did I have then? None. I barely had enough to pay for my fare. But I still consider those to have been the best years of my youth.The great lessons I learned has been precisely those that my journeys had taught me.”

-Paulo Coelho

2012: Breaking personal barriers

Apologies to all my readers (hmm i wonder if there's readers to my blog in the first place) for not doing much blogging for the past months, due to my packed schedule and a little tinge of plain laziness (i shall blame myself on this, perhaps i've found something better to do. More to that later)

However, I noticed something. My tagboard just got SPAMMED. I don't offer advertising space for you guys, please. (I don't mind if i got paid for it)

Since I didn't really write much (or nothing at all in fact) about the year 2012, here are the lists of highlights i've managed/achieved this year (not in any order).

1. Part of the executive committee of the Freshmen Orientation Camp'12 of SIMCMS (SIM Malay Cultural Muslim Society). I was basically the programmer of the whole event, and, undoubtedly being sabo-ed to the become the emcee for the event too.
2. Part of the title-winning team Yew Tee CSC in the Inter-Constituency Games and SNG (Singapore National Games). I must say I was pretty honoured to be playing alongside Ali Imran Lomri, an ex-national player.
3. Sunig... *cough*... first-half... *cough* champions! We played really well throughout the tournament, i must say, but were let down by lack of fitness and concentration in the last 10 min of the games and were duly punished by last-gasp goals for 3 games in a row! (from 2-1 to 2-2 with NUS, 2-0 to 2-2 with NTU, and from 2-1 to 2-2 with SMU and eventually winning SIT 4-2) Noticed the pattern? Yes, we conceded two goals throughout. We ended up as 3rd out of the 5 universities. It was very disappointing for such promising campaign and I was actually silently hoping we could finally win it in my final year but, i guess, it wasn't meant to be.
4. My 2nd year academic results was almost-there-yet-still-falling-short to my expectation. I'm still searching for the formula to achieve outstanding results. Anyone?
5. IVP disappointment. Losing out to SP, ITE and NP, and eventually beating NTU. The only takeaway for me was the match against SP, facing my own brother on the same side of the field and manage to score my only goal for the tournament. The last time we faced was the CCKSS vs TWSS and that was also another epic derby battle. It was also sad to see Marko, our coach has to step down and focus on his new coaching stint at Woodlands Wellington. Its been one of my best experience playing under his tutelage for 2 years, and putting faith on me every game on the right midfielder role.
6. Got called up from my Marko, what to be, my only chance to test my ability on professional level to play for Woodlands Wellington, in which I turned it down due to school commitments. If not because of the exams looming, I would have definitely accepted the offer.
7. Played for Suria football team in the Piala Dollah Kassim tournament, which we were disqualified due to 'infringement of the tournament rules'. Disappointing way to bow out but glad to play with the quality players from the FirstXI reality TV show.
8. My part-time working stint ends with NEC Asia Pacific in September when they moved over from HawPar TechnoCentre in Commonwealth to Boon Keng. It was indeed an invaluable experience learning from my superior, Julia (Cik Ju whom i addressed as), Joanne and my fellow colleagues Rani, Faridah and Hairi to name a few. Definitely will miss the Chicken Noodle with extra rice that i ate almost every lunchtime. Perangai PBG sey, but its only $3.50!
9. Had my first ever Mendaki classes this year. My kids are great bunch, love every single one of them and I will definitely missed their unique characters and behaviours. I hope you kids will grow up into good people and contribute back well to the society. Insya'Allah.
10. This probably go down as the most significant achievement in my footballing 'career' (Hahaha though to some it may not be much) when i was selected to be part of the 20-man squad Singapore Football team to play in the Asean University Games (AUG) in Vientiane, Laos from 9th to 21st December. It was the most memorable event for every aspiring footballer to experience; playing in the packed daunting Chao Anouvong stadium, the national stadium of Laos, having to see ourselves playing live on the national TV and getting mobbed by fans. I never thought it would be such a grand event, let alone, feeling like a celebrity over there. Haha. On top of that, the teammates and friends I've made there were awesome. We had such a great team bonding time, in every training sessions and leisure activities. Though i wished i could have played more there (I didn't get to play against Malaysia, and came in as substitute for the last 30 minutes of the Laos game), but it was still a good experience playing with good players in the ASEAN region. Sadly, we lost to Malaysia 1-0 in a nail-biting encounter and were deservedly beaten by the brilliant Laos side 4-0 (were told afterwards that 14 of their 20 registered players were from the Suzuki AFF team.)
    
    Yeap that's it! Darn.. i have to rush off now. Till the next time, i'll write again Insya'Allah.