De one with I Miss...

Raining desirable days

Honest speaking, it takes a great deal of money and courage to travel solo in foreign lands. Recall being half enthusiastic with butterflies in my stomach while boarding the plane solo to Australia. Arrival wasn't as pleasant as I expected. The immigration officer "interrogated" me, asking all sorts of questions, partially unconvinced a young boy was traveling alone. As far as my memory recollect, they inquired "who bought my ticket? What was the purpose of my visit? Where am I heading to? For how long am I going to be here?". Secondly, I was picked up late. Left my stranded at the arrival hall when all the passengers in the same flight were dismissingly out of sight.

Wouldn't say I'm a travel fanatic, yet it'd still be considerably fair to declare my passion for travel.  Purpose of travel are diverse. These involved relaxation (beach, reading a book at local cafe, suntanning), sightseeing (mountainous areas, places of interest), entertainment (theme parks, shopping malls) or food-tasting (wine bars, local delicacies). Albeit the boundaries of activities and geographical venues visits, what's inherently most enjoyable is being somewhere different (environment, culture, language, temperature wise) as much as history records mine being part of diverging national time.

I always thought: who needs a time machine when we're already time-traveling when aero-machines fetch us across time-borders? Clap your palms in Thailand and you're an hour (on local time GMT +8) into the future. Siren your soul across the Indian Ocean to Sydney, should time pass too rapidly. Don't waste your birthday wishes for the hatchday be prolonged. Take a stroll with the hobbits down to New Zealand where time is way behind local's.

I'd give anything, except my life (cause I need to be alive to wander the globe. Else, a soul has to wait till August annually, according to the Chinese) to be traveling. Now as I'm typing, the mist is clear, the paramount streams of flickering memories missed unveil itself.

Missed the cold air, it's like living in a city that's naturally air-conditioned. Love the particular moment the tender warmth of the sun touches my cool skin, without causing perspiration! Ohh, and the constant need to remind myself to apply lip balm - daunting chore yet it saves torture from cracked lips. Haha. I love the vapours in the surrounding, which makes my hair soft and straight, requiring less gel to style.

Because it is cold, especially in hotel rooms, I savor the early morning where I'd hide under the soft cosy bed sheets to keep warm. Oh, as I recall, the morning run by the beach where I managed to race against the rising sun. The view's simply breathtaking.

Love self-enrichment through experience of cross-borders' cultures. Respect variable history, decipher the local's behavoir and beliefs. Not forgetting, to learn to understand and appreciate beautiful language of the foreign lands. Occasionally, believe it or not, I find myself becoming more appreciative of how fortunate I already am and ponder in validation to those I didn't. For example, my NZ trip opened my eyes to the fortune of living in a country without natural disasters like volcanoes. Australia taught me the fortune of having chili available FOC.

Love the food, I missed the appetite-whetting breakfast, rejuvenating spring waters and chocolates from Switzerland, the unique curry sauce for Mcdonald's McNuggets, all-time favourite fish and chips from Australia, the salivating dim sum, succulent wanton noodles from Hong Kong, the aromatic chicken-cutlet from Taiwan, the spicy dhar and Kingfisher in India, the tantalising bamboo rice and khao niao mamuang from Thailand, the cold-defending meals in New Zealand. Yes, I don't eat much but I miss them.

I used to collect drumsticks from every Hardrock cafe I happen to visit. Turns out, production seemed to have ceased.What a pity.

Yes, I'm not a travel fanatic. But I do love venturing overseas and bring memories that make me love returning!