Mother’s Day is this weekend. Pamela from Pam Goes Traveling has a Mother’s Day feature and my guest post is in it: Mothers’ Day Special – Travel with Mum featuring YQ.
Besides reminiscing my travels with my mother, I also share tips on how to survive a trip with your mother (as in the plural “you”). You should also check out the previous guest blogger on Pamela’s website, Agnes, who has really good tips on how to travel with your mother.
It was YQtravelling.com’s third birthday on January 8. It slipped my mind so I’m making it up with this post.
Having visited Paris in 2011, I can’t really think of any other European city that I would like to visit. I think my imagination has been eroded from too much travelling.
Although I don’t have a a particular city in Europe that I’m dying to visit, if I were dying, I would choose to go to the fictional land of Westeros in Game of Thrones (which is kind of in Europe and filmed in Europe).
Credit: Robert whose handsome face I’ve cropped out
Compared to my current life, Westeros has 1000 times more swords and an infinity times more shadows dragons. Those are good enough reasons to go.
I would love have been a part of the storyline but based on my karma, I’d probably end up as Character Who Crosses The Road in the books or the film. Plus, I wouldn’t have survived a day in Flea Bottom.
Actually, come to think of it, I don’t feel like dying that soon. The one reason I want to be in Westeros is so that I can wear fantastic braids all year long (which I have been doing in a mini scale these days).
More on Game of Thrones filming locations:
I haven’t been to all parts of Asia but I don’t seem to find the motivation to explore all corners.
I guess living in this continent gives a false sense that it would be easy to travel around so I wouldn’t need to hit all the countries any time soon.
So for today’s choice, I would love to head back to Japan and see the other parts of it that I hadn’t been.
I’ve heard a lot about Hokkaido. It’s supposed to be a land where all seasons are beautiful.
I would love to heard there when lavender season is in. (I wanted to do that even back in 2011’s indie30.) I would love to be there when the King Crabs are fleshy.
Image credit: Jennifer
The only period I wouldn’t want to be in Hokkaido is winter. I dread the cold. Thank goodness the onsen-loving Japanese macaques don’t live there or else it’s a very tempting visit.
But if it’s for going to somewhere I’ve not been, South Korea would be my top choice since it is the land of skincare products.
I’m not particularly fond of spicy food which Koreans love. But if it’s spicy fried chicken, I’m up for it. The marinade is so so good.
I would also love to visit the cafes in South Korean and drink lattes until I am jittery from caffeine.
One related post: 11 travel blogs from Asia to follow
In SPM examinations in Malaysia (kind of an exam in between O- and A-Levels), non-Muslim students have to sit for a subject called “Moral Education” (Pendidikan Moral).
It doesn’t actually test how moral you are but how good you are at memorizing exact phrases. I’m telling you this because I scored a “C5” for this subject. (A1 is the best anyone can score and F9 is “Fail”.)
Based on my results, you might judge me as being an immoral person: someone who steals candy from babies and stick “Kick Me” signs on old ladies.
Well, I like to believe that I’m a moral person and that I’m moral at home and overseas.
So I won’t be sharing any scandalous stories about myself because I’m practically scandal-free.
Instead, the thing that I would do overseas but not at home is dressing like a tourist.
I love the idea of wearing hats. But to actually wear a hat in Singapore or Malaysia, I probably won’t do it unless I’m at a fancy picnic party where 5 other people are wearing hats.
That’s why I only wear hats when I travel. I already look different from the locals, why not milk it all the way.
I didn’t mind bus travelling a lot but after being violently car sick in Peru, I’ve decided that my favorite overland travel is by train.
With train travel you get to:
It’s unfortunate that KTM (Malayan Railway Limited) has removed their private 2-bed bunk on their overnight train. I really wanted to try one.
I’ve mentioned in the blog a couple of times that I’m an introvert who doesn’t make a lot of friends while travelling because I prefer enjoy being alone.
But in an extroverted world, I feel ashamed to admit that in real life. When I tell people that I prefer to be alone when travelling, they usually give me strange looks.
Once, someone asked, “What do you do to have fun? How do you share the moment that you were having?”
Luckily, smartphones and social networks take care of this part about sharing the fun.
Once in a while, I would make one or two friends on the road. These people usually end up being more than just the regular hi-bye friends that you add on Facebook and promptly forget.
It’s important to travel the way you are comfortable with. While I was in Peru, I forgot how awkward being in a homestay is. When I switched to a private room in the hostel, I was the happiest person on that part of the world.
Don’t let other people discourage you from travelling the way you want.
It’s your life, take the steering wheels.
I used to hate travelling when I was a kid. I didn’t like that I couldn’t sleep in my bed. I didn’t like having to meet strange new adults whom my mother seem to know.
I rarely went for any sleepovers while I grew up so I ended up terribly homesick in the first year in university. Almost every evening, I would secretly cry in my room.
It was a tough time. Then I decided to end it. Enough was enough. Crying is a tiring business and I really need to stop.
So I did. I stopped crying for home and decided to enjoy life.
My very first solo trip was when I was on student exchange in the second half of my second year at university. I was studying in the south of China in Xiamen, Fujian. I really wanted to visit Shanghai so I made it a goal.
I did my research and memorized Shanghai’s map. I booked one night’s stay in a hostel and stayed with a friend for the other nights.
Since I was still a beginning solo traveller so I signed up for a local tour around east China, covering Nanjing, Suzhou and Hangzhou. I had the chance to walk around alone during our free time. I discovered that walking around alone in a new city is very pleasant.
In Shanghai, my friend had school so I visited the sights on my own. One of them was the Dream of Red Mansion theme park. The park was built for filming and left for tourists to visit.
I wasn’t as familiar of the story as I would like but I recognized some of the crude models of the characters from the novel.
I was also during this period that I discovered ways to take selfies when travelling alone.
One question that people like to ask me after my round-the-world trip is: So, what did you learn?
I think they expect some profound answer that links back to the creation of the universe. Unfortunately, I didn’t have that sort of answer for them.
I usually reply, “I discovered that we are the same all over the world.” Then the person who asked the question would give me a weird look which said, “You spent 130 days travelling and that’s all you have?”
The more places I go, the more I realize that we are the same. Every human being faces the same sort of problems no matter where they are.
Are you stressed about making a living? Well, the people in South America do too.
Do you complain about your government? Well, the folks in Turkey do too.
When we watch other people through a lens or through the news, we think of them as different species. We think, “Oh, that would not happen to us. Oh, we’re so different.”
We think that we’re unique snowflakes. But the truth is, we’re more similar than we are different.
Surprise Thursday post! How has your week been?
Tomorrow, I’m heading to a travel event, called SG Travel Cafe, where independent travel enthusiasts in Singapore gather to listen to other indie travellers’ tales. I’m thinking about volunteering to present in one of the next few sessions.
Just before I leave you to your end of the week work, tell me which are your favorite travel blogs because I want to follow more people.
If the comment section is giving you a hard time, you can send your favorites using this form too.
Thanks.
And if you don’t have any favorite travel blog yet, check out 11 travel blogs from Asia to follow.
YQtravelling 