It's hard to say when Fall exactly arrived. Alota days just crawl by, struggling to pass each minute. Especially when you plan to change the course of your life, time slows and makes u realize every minute. Or maybe its just me, slowly becoming aware of what I have planned for myself. And of course there is this excitement that I try to suppress every day as I go about doing my thing. As a person I am clearly more relaxed, and in a constant good mood. Why is there such a dominating sense of anticipation? I know that when I do embark on my travels, these feelings may be hard to come by at times. I mean is happiness going to be there during or at the end of my travels? Maybe, maybe not. I am really interested to find out about the dynamics of this "quest" for happiness. I really think there are few things in life that bring about such emotions besides travelling. People look at brochures and stuff, tourquois waters and lonely islands, fancy cocktails and what not. This then evokes emotions of excitement and anticipation, and as the person books the tickets he/she starts to imagine how the place will look like (of course extrapolated from the paradise on the brochure), and how it will fullfill all of his/her "quest" for happiness. As we all know this is considerably different from how it really is, and events that can actually happen in reality. People often just think of where to go, but rarely thinking about why one should go and how to go about it in order to better ones self at the end.
Departure
During these 2 years I have integrated well into the society, and its hard to believe. I have to remind myself now and then that I've been here for a LONG TIME now. It's also hard to swallow that I will leave here and most likely never ever have anything to do with this place again. Then comes a sense of urgency as I try to recollect and hold on to all the important events and people that I have come by during this time. This can only mean that my time here was enriching and valuable.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Guess whose bzzzack???? 09 in review
so after 10 months since looking at this blog one really must wonder where all the time went...i would have to say time well spent...even sometimes if that means time well wasted as well! Let's see, started off with an awesome time in Hong Kong over xmas/new years with awesome friends and family. I always have a wicked time in Hong Kong there is no exception. Then it was a week boarding the Austrian alps and glaciers in March, in a place called Solden. 5 days of boarding all day to your hearts content, a quick recovery session in the sauna, a warm and heavy meal, then party till its time to board again!
Anway to speed up this recap I went back home in March and twisted my ankle (on purpose i swear!!!!) so that I can use sick leave days instead of vacation days. Always a good side to things! So this summer was more or less spent on rehabilitating my damn ankle back to shape, which meant lots of "rest" or "inactivity" whichever sounds better (of course rest), and just chilling with newly found friends. Its taken some time to integrate socially into the rurals of Deutschland but I would say it has been sehr erfolgreich, great success. And its true about making German friends, once you get to know them well enough, they're friends for life. I can call any one of them 5 years from now and we can pick up where we left off. My kind of friends.
Where was I? Oh yeah in Hamburg shortly after, celebrating Mai tag, literally translated into May day. Yes mayday it was as i was in the middle of 20 Polizei with sheilds trying to suppress an oncoming riot, second worst riot to happen that day in Germany next to Berlin. Good to see people trying to start a revolution through violence, like there isn't enough of that.
A splendid summer was spent in Deutschland where I got to see a little of what Eastern Germany, Ost Deutsch, was about. From a foreigner's point of view one would see no difference in the social sense, however for the Deutscher its day and night. But you gotta realize if you go 5km to the next town in this country, its the exact same thing. Isn't this colonial mentality a few centries too old now? I mean hold on to your dialect, traditions and what not, but those Deutsche neighbours next to you are still Deutsch. I emphasize Deutsch, regardless of how bad of a neighbour they are!
Anyway what was I doing in Ost Deutsch? In fact camping out on a 5 day Hip Hop festival, non stop concerts, music, and related paraphernalia. Had to check dictionary.com for that...big word there. The concert was called Splash, for those who want to know.
I think a couple weeks after, nearing the end of August, was a week long vacation in Hungary. This was the most eastern point of Europe for me, passing through Austria, Slovenia. I really wanted to stay longer and explore more so I could rid all stereotypes I had about Bratislava and the East Block, accumulated from movies from Eurotrip, Hostel, and the likes. Sorry guys nothing has changed, my German friends only helped to reinforce this image. Europe is so f'in racist! Going to have to find time to truly explore that region, I hate not having enough time!!
So here I am, looking at the end of my journey. I've spent the rest of my vacation days at home, seeing friends and family one more time before embarking on this little trip through Asia-Australia. Ive had lots of time to contemplate about being at home, and being away from home. What's driving me? It seemed that the travel bug latched on to me, and off I went. Is it genetically encoded in the male species to go explore, divide and conquer? To gain a great depth of worldly wisdom and perspective? To find my own roots as an asian decendant? Or simply to connect to the world through people? The answers are infinite. However the opportunity that lies ahead of me is like soft ice cream on a cone, waiting to be inhaled (yes i inhale ice cream) before it melts.
For all of you just wanting to know, without all the crap above, where I'll be (roughly) and when, here it is:
Amsterdam, Holland
November 1st - December 14th 2009
Western Europe
December 14th - January 19th 2010
Goa and Mumbai, India
January 19th - Beginning of Februrary 2010
Hong Kong, China
Middle Februrary 2010
Melbourne, Australia
March 2010
Hong Kong, Cina
April 2o10
The Asias
May-September 2010
Anway to speed up this recap I went back home in March and twisted my ankle (on purpose i swear!!!!) so that I can use sick leave days instead of vacation days. Always a good side to things! So this summer was more or less spent on rehabilitating my damn ankle back to shape, which meant lots of "rest" or "inactivity" whichever sounds better (of course rest), and just chilling with newly found friends. Its taken some time to integrate socially into the rurals of Deutschland but I would say it has been sehr erfolgreich, great success. And its true about making German friends, once you get to know them well enough, they're friends for life. I can call any one of them 5 years from now and we can pick up where we left off. My kind of friends.
Where was I? Oh yeah in Hamburg shortly after, celebrating Mai tag, literally translated into May day. Yes mayday it was as i was in the middle of 20 Polizei with sheilds trying to suppress an oncoming riot, second worst riot to happen that day in Germany next to Berlin. Good to see people trying to start a revolution through violence, like there isn't enough of that.
A splendid summer was spent in Deutschland where I got to see a little of what Eastern Germany, Ost Deutsch, was about. From a foreigner's point of view one would see no difference in the social sense, however for the Deutscher its day and night. But you gotta realize if you go 5km to the next town in this country, its the exact same thing. Isn't this colonial mentality a few centries too old now? I mean hold on to your dialect, traditions and what not, but those Deutsche neighbours next to you are still Deutsch. I emphasize Deutsch, regardless of how bad of a neighbour they are!
Anyway what was I doing in Ost Deutsch? In fact camping out on a 5 day Hip Hop festival, non stop concerts, music, and related paraphernalia. Had to check dictionary.com for that...big word there. The concert was called Splash, for those who want to know.
I think a couple weeks after, nearing the end of August, was a week long vacation in Hungary. This was the most eastern point of Europe for me, passing through Austria, Slovenia. I really wanted to stay longer and explore more so I could rid all stereotypes I had about Bratislava and the East Block, accumulated from movies from Eurotrip, Hostel, and the likes. Sorry guys nothing has changed, my German friends only helped to reinforce this image. Europe is so f'in racist! Going to have to find time to truly explore that region, I hate not having enough time!!
So here I am, looking at the end of my journey. I've spent the rest of my vacation days at home, seeing friends and family one more time before embarking on this little trip through Asia-Australia. Ive had lots of time to contemplate about being at home, and being away from home. What's driving me? It seemed that the travel bug latched on to me, and off I went. Is it genetically encoded in the male species to go explore, divide and conquer? To gain a great depth of worldly wisdom and perspective? To find my own roots as an asian decendant? Or simply to connect to the world through people? The answers are infinite. However the opportunity that lies ahead of me is like soft ice cream on a cone, waiting to be inhaled (yes i inhale ice cream) before it melts.
For all of you just wanting to know, without all the crap above, where I'll be (roughly) and when, here it is:
Amsterdam, Holland
November 1st - December 14th 2009
Western Europe
December 14th - January 19th 2010
Goa and Mumbai, India
January 19th - Beginning of Februrary 2010
Hong Kong, China
Middle Februrary 2010
Melbourne, Australia
March 2010
Hong Kong, Cina
April 2o10
The Asias
May-September 2010
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