This is Water

I watched this yesterday and it is a pretty good discussion about life and perspective. Unfortunately, David Foster Wallace, upon whose commencement speech at Kenyon college the video is based died about 3 years ago from suicide. According to what I can find he was depressed.

Anyway, back to the video. It resonates with me because I think why travel is so important for me is because I want to expose myself to so much more of the world. I think there is a big big world out there, and not just in terms of the natural wonders, but in terms of people as well. I am but one of billions, and in our daily lives its hard to see how one is not the centre of the universe, because for sure I am the centre of mine. Yet we all have our stories and its important to pause and reflect once in a while.

Two days ago I had dinner with my cousin and her friends. They work in a different industry and have a different background to me. In fact they speak almost a different language, more singlish/mandarin than the english I am used to. I’ve thought I have progressed as a conversationalist, but I found myself silent at gaps. Which is not a bad thing. I think the more I push myself, the more I can develop. There is always value in someone else’s story.

 

Singapore Sketches: The Garden City

Gardens by the Bay, Singapore

Singapore, the garden city. In some ways the Gardens by the Bay is quite representative, it’s completely manufactured, artificially cooled, carefully zoned, oddly homogenous, and you know, still, in its own way, absolutely beautiful.

There is an odd tension within me. I love the outdoors, I love mountains and lakes and woods and crisp air and still nights, and yet that bit of me, that Singaporean, practical, trained, mathematical, is a personality drawn to the beauty in disorder within order. I can understand why the Gardens would be derided for all those reasons I’ve provided above, yet I unequivocally love it. I love running to the Bay just so I can duck under the helix bridge and head for the gardens, and the paths and the artificial lake, and the wooden swings at the far end which are sometimes taken up by Bangladeshi workers. I love rising up from the underpass at the MRT, up those laborious flights of stairs, into the expanse of green and people. I love strolling across the bridge, first at the hotel, then the dragonfly bridge, running into multiple tourists with their cameras, all trying to capture some pathetic memory of a garden by an expressway, but all I want is the solitude and aloneness in the park, a space in the big city.

Tulipmania runs now till 20th May at the Gardens by the Bay. Entrance is S$10 (USD$8). 

 

The Travel List: Khao Yai National Park

Khao Yai National Park, Thailand

Where: Khao Yai National Park is located near Pak Chong, approximately 4 hours by train from the capital Bangkok.
Money: 1 USD buys 30 Thai Baht (May 2013), park entrance fee of 400THB (USD 14)
Language: Thai

Incredible waterfalls, diverse wildlife and most of all, cool temperatures. (The lowest ranges of the park lie 350m above sea level) The park boasts a network of hiking trails, but some effort is needed to get there as this is not a typical tourist spot. Overcome that, though, and there are some amazing sights for the adventurous traveller, including the Heo Suwat waterfall, made famous by Leo DiCaprio (give that man an oscar!) in the Beach. Excellent information here.

The Travel List: Vang Vieng, Laos

Vang Vieng, Laos

Where: Vang Vieng is located in central Laos, approximately 4 hours from the capital Vientiane.
Money: 1 USD buys 7,700 Laotian KIP (May 2013)
Language: Laotian

Apparently Vang Vieng would be what the world would look like if teenagers were in charge. What put Vang Vieng on the map was tubing, basically a pub crawl while floating along the river. Not going to kid, that sounds awesome. But clearly also a magnet to general western debauchery. I hear that last year there was a crackdown on the pubs along the river that might have quietened things up. Nevertheless, Vang Vieng makes it to my list for one very clear reason; I love mountains, and the Karst mountains (which you can see in pretty much every picture above) are pretty breathtaking in my head.

My life as it stands

Today, I am 1194 days away from freedom. 

About 980 days ago, I returned to the place of my birth, after three years of independence, of solitude, and of pain. About 400 days ago, I broke the chains tying me to a life of dissatisfaction and complacency. Ever since then I’ve been searching for myself, who I am, who I was, who I will be. Many things I still don’t know, but this I do: that I do not yet belong. 

Travel to me, now, is my way to keep my life moving forward. By circumstances not of my choosing, but entirely consequent of my choices, my life is stagnant. So while holding down my full-time job, this is my attempt to make sense of the world. 

One huge milestone in my life came sometime in June last year. Tired of studying for an exam (which I eventually failed, and got over surprisingly quickly), I booked a trip to Bangkok, on my own, for the week after. I think that ranks up there as one of the craziest things I’ve done in my life; the last time I travelled alone, March 2009, I did not last my two days in Hamburg. Now I was going to make a trip to Bangkok, where I did not speak a word of Thai, where I knew to be messy, gritty, confusing. I had a blast. 

In 14 days I return to Bangkok. In time I want to look back and know that despite my circumstances, I have lived life the best I could. So here it is, my life as it stands.