Journey of a Dream

During my first 19 years of my life, I was confined to Malaysia grounds. So when at 19 years old my brother took me to Singapore for the first time, I was thrilled!! It felt a bit like katak finally getting out of tempurung. Ever since then, traveling had been my favourite things to do in life. A year later, sadly, when I finally had a chance to go to Melbourne to visit my aunt who was then studying there, I had to forgo the opportunity because my first semester at uni was starting even though I already had the air tickets with me.

Ever since then, I did not miss out on any opportunity to travel. Besides my yearly trip to Singapore, this is what I've done.

• 2005 - Beijing

• 2007- (1) Hong Kong, Shenzhen, (2) Chiang Mai, Ayuthaya, Bangkok, Siem Riep, Phnom Penh, Saigon, Nha Trang, Hoi An, Hue, Hanoi. The backpacking trip to Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam didn't go easy. I remember my mum going to Jol's house to coax her to cancel our plan. She even told Jolene that I'm a taufu who can't go through hardships. Of course, I proved her wrong. Guess who didn't vomit while on island hopping trip at Nha Trang? I really missed this trip and wondered how can mat salleh go on backpacking trips for a year, if not more.. I think I can understand why.. the things that you see is really different from what you see doing your deskbound job.. Even though coming back from that trip, I realised how lucky I was to be in Malaysia where standard of living is much better. I loved immersing in the Vietnamese culture, the Vietnamese just love shouting at each other and can be quite dramatic. The Vietnamese are quite petite and they look at Jol as if she's a giant.  Of course, over the one month of traveling together and spending day and night with each other can be quite challenging. There were times we could no longer take it and started yelling at each other.
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• 2009 - (1) Macau, Guangzhou, Foshan, Shenzhen, Hong Kong - Some may wonder why do I bother to go to the same place twice. The first time I went to HK, it was with my family following a tour, it was ok, except that going to HK during summer isn't such a great choice. The heat can sometimes kill half the fun. However, this second time round, I went to my friends during colder weather in January. I enjoyed this trip immensely even though there were hiccups along the way. The plus point of going just before CNY is that you do really feel like it's CNY here. (2) Jakarta (3) Krabi - I took the planning of this trip for 13 people entirely by myself. Honestly, after this trip, I have phobia for planning trips. People don't thank you when things are going fine, but the moment there is 1 hiccup, that is the big trouble. I made a big mistake booking a very lousy accommodation. Even though I did necessary research to read the reviews about the particular place I was going to stay, it was just beyond me when it turned out to be so lousy.. It's one of the lousiest place (if not the lousiest) guesthouse I have ever stayed. Even my budget backpacking trip did not come as this bad except for the "penthouse" we stayed at Long John's at Bangkok. This trip is kinda therapeutic.. I especially like the natural hot spring, dipping in those "holes" really took all my stress away (4) Bali -after planning Krabi trip, I didn't really have time to plan with Jolene. Afterall, we are seasoned backpackers. This is yet another grave mistake when we turned up at Kuta 2 days before the new year with no place to stay.. We walked for about 3 hours before we managed to find a place to stay.. Ubud was better, if there is any word I can describe about Ubud, it's "spiritual". I found a lot of peace here in the midst of all the trees..
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• 2010 - (1) Guilin, (2) Dubai, Abu Dhabi - This came as a surprise as just a week before my trip, my bro asked me over the Messenger if I would like to go there to visit him.. I gave him the details, and in less than a week, I flew there with my parents. Over there, there's just a lot of sand, cloudless sky, beautiful buidings and women dressed in burqah.. Everything here is so elaborate including the toilets. 
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• 2011- The best is yet to come. If nothing goes wrong, I should have 4 stories to tell..
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If you think where has all my money gone, here they are.. But I don't regret them all a single bit.. especially the first backpacking trip even though I was poor and just came out of uni.. I guess for me, nobody could stop me to do the things I really want to. I really really really love to travel, even more than dance.