Phew..what a week. i always stop short of sharing my views on my office work ,sometimes i feel like a chameleon.
As i looked back on my career i cant help fathoming what it would have been if i have made different career choice decisions along the course of my life.
No regrets putting all things in perspective , this blog though is intended to chronicle initially all my travels (hence the word sojourns) and ordinary things or stories that i would like to share.
Temptations are there as always to share my work experience and happenings at work also notwithstanding views on politics and other more "serious" topics.
What inspires me in my desires to chronicle all my travels?
For a start i am a sucker for travel writing books,my home library is well armoured with many travel books and i never miss buying a book by my favourite travel writers,VS Naipaul and Paul Theroux.
Their perceptive observations as they plodded all over the world and their ability to give insightful and interesting accounts or anecdotes of their journey captivate me most.
Bill Bryson is another of my favourite travel writers....they all share a common bond of travelling simple and always making a point of mingling and interacting with the people of the places they visit.
On TV , the series Globe trekker is a favourite programme of mine and i love the way Ian Wright with his distinctive Northern English accent and unbridled enthusiasm explaining what he observed and experienced.Love you mate!!!
Michael Palin of the Monthy Phyton fame somehow has made a name for himself on TV as well ..his TV series, around the world in 80 days as he attempted to retrace Passepartou(?) tracks in rounding the world within that period while at times hilarious but was also a joy to watch.
His Oxford English accent though adds spice to the episodes reminiscent of a typical bumbling Englishman trying to discover the world in his own myopic view.
Ha..me? what did i do on my travels? Like most Malaysians the first stop is always a market or mall and the usual trinkets always end up in the extra trunk or luggage that we brought along.
However i did experience some interesting encounters.
Attending a Friday prayer in the heartland of the Indonesian Muslim world in Solo was enlightening for its simplicity and sense of earnestness of the congregation.
My discovery that there used to be a Sino-Malay Islamic empire in Cambodia and South Vietnam of the Champa people fascinated me no bounds.
The diligence of the people of Hanoi as they all rushed in their innovative way to embrace the free market world is so easily apparent that you wondered what the country would have achieved by now if not being devastated and stalled in its progress by the senseless wars in the 70s.
The sense of pride in their history that one can observe with the French as they religiously try to preserve their heritage buildings and artifacts makes one wonder that in the modern capacity of development one must take great care not to destroy the heritage that our forefathers left us but also not to conjure "ugly" buildings and infrastructure to be inherited by the future generations.
Ya that's how one should enact their travel ,not only just some mindless shopping and herded like cattle pursuing a tight itinerary as programmed by the tour operators but one must take some time to reflect the nature and beauty of places that one visit and also to interact with the common folks.....for by doing so i have begun to realise that despite our differences in beliefs and way of life a person always have a common bond that spurs each one of us; a common bond of strong desire to build a good life for oneself and the family and learning to respect one's neighbours and friends. To be friends with the people that we meet in our travels i can assure you will unravel this fundamental human trait , enjoy your trip and don't forget to buy a T-shirt!!!
Temptations are there as always to share my work experience and happenings at work also notwithstanding views on politics and other more "serious" topics.
What inspires me in my desires to chronicle all my travels?
For a start i am a sucker for travel writing books,my home library is well armoured with many travel books and i never miss buying a book by my favourite travel writers,VS Naipaul and Paul Theroux.
Their perceptive observations as they plodded all over the world and their ability to give insightful and interesting accounts or anecdotes of their journey captivate me most.
Bill Bryson is another of my favourite travel writers....they all share a common bond of travelling simple and always making a point of mingling and interacting with the people of the places they visit.
On TV , the series Globe trekker is a favourite programme of mine and i love the way Ian Wright with his distinctive Northern English accent and unbridled enthusiasm explaining what he observed and experienced.Love you mate!!!
Michael Palin of the Monthy Phyton fame somehow has made a name for himself on TV as well ..his TV series, around the world in 80 days as he attempted to retrace Passepartou(?) tracks in rounding the world within that period while at times hilarious but was also a joy to watch.
His Oxford English accent though adds spice to the episodes reminiscent of a typical bumbling Englishman trying to discover the world in his own myopic view.
Ha..me? what did i do on my travels? Like most Malaysians the first stop is always a market or mall and the usual trinkets always end up in the extra trunk or luggage that we brought along.
However i did experience some interesting encounters.
Attending a Friday prayer in the heartland of the Indonesian Muslim world in Solo was enlightening for its simplicity and sense of earnestness of the congregation.
My discovery that there used to be a Sino-Malay Islamic empire in Cambodia and South Vietnam of the Champa people fascinated me no bounds.
The diligence of the people of Hanoi as they all rushed in their innovative way to embrace the free market world is so easily apparent that you wondered what the country would have achieved by now if not being devastated and stalled in its progress by the senseless wars in the 70s.
The sense of pride in their history that one can observe with the French as they religiously try to preserve their heritage buildings and artifacts makes one wonder that in the modern capacity of development one must take great care not to destroy the heritage that our forefathers left us but also not to conjure "ugly" buildings and infrastructure to be inherited by the future generations.
Ya that's how one should enact their travel ,not only just some mindless shopping and herded like cattle pursuing a tight itinerary as programmed by the tour operators but one must take some time to reflect the nature and beauty of places that one visit and also to interact with the common folks.....for by doing so i have begun to realise that despite our differences in beliefs and way of life a person always have a common bond that spurs each one of us; a common bond of strong desire to build a good life for oneself and the family and learning to respect one's neighbours and friends. To be friends with the people that we meet in our travels i can assure you will unravel this fundamental human trait , enjoy your trip and don't forget to buy a T-shirt!!!
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