A Traveller's Life
The only three essential things to have, when travelling, are having sufficient money, authorised passports if you cross different countries and the right tickets at the required time. Beyond those basics, what is really important is a sense of adventure, humour and friendship.
I was in Rome when I thought I was being ripped off for a transaction. A well dressed lady approached me and the vendor and helped settle the misunderstanding. In Shanghai, I knew I did not have sufficient speaking grasp of standard Mandarin and went to a MacDonalds outlet along Nanjing North Road to get some change in currency -as they spoke English there. In the darkening forests near a lake in New Zealand's South Island, I temporarily got lost on the walking trail but got back to the known, through some benign force.
At Kobe in Japan, I befriended a local motor bike rider who was coming on the same overnight ship to Oita on the southern isle of Shikoku. In Koh Samui,life was so easy going no battered an eyelid when the testicles of a Brit backpacker hung out through in front of everyone of us in a small group having an islander's breakfast at the beach. I saw snow flakes for the first time in the mountains near the Swiss-French border and that was a wonder for someone originally from the equatorial regions.
I realised in my sojourn through the European continent that Chinese restaurants had tables of six, eight or ten in different countries, but never four. Greek food was really salty, but I did think of why anyone would leave Santorini for Melbourne. I recall with fondness how a good mate of mine from uni days and I were confined to free Auckland accommodation (courtesy of Air New Zealand) for two nights due to Typhoon Bola. I enjoyed the Lebanese spread one dinner time on a wintery night in Canberra because a nice colleague took me there.
On the way to the Phi Phi Islands off Phuket, my fisherman's boat encountered a storm, accompanied by the expected choppy waters. Through another benevolence, the boat boy and I managed to reach the safety of the lagoon village. Outside Nanjing, my commercial tour bus coach broke down for a few hours, but I appreciated better what it meant to be a farmer in China. On a summer's evening in Tassie, I got lost driving with a Singapore friend along a remote road, but we managed to get the right road instructions from a group of elderly walkers.
In Seoul, I was invited to an English-language focus group meeting after I chatted with someone off the street. My Singapore friends in turn do take time off to spend time with me when they hear that I am in town. I woke up one night in windy Welington and had to go to an ice-cold toilet, but found out later the next morning that fellow travellers also faced the same dread. Travel can be infectious, but so can be the sharing of experiences, with hindsight and lots of laughter! People who seem to be strangers just turn out to be indiviudals whom we are yet to know.
I was in Rome when I thought I was being ripped off for a transaction. A well dressed lady approached me and the vendor and helped settle the misunderstanding. In Shanghai, I knew I did not have sufficient speaking grasp of standard Mandarin and went to a MacDonalds outlet along Nanjing North Road to get some change in currency -as they spoke English there. In the darkening forests near a lake in New Zealand's South Island, I temporarily got lost on the walking trail but got back to the known, through some benign force.
At Kobe in Japan, I befriended a local motor bike rider who was coming on the same overnight ship to Oita on the southern isle of Shikoku. In Koh Samui,life was so easy going no battered an eyelid when the testicles of a Brit backpacker hung out through in front of everyone of us in a small group having an islander's breakfast at the beach. I saw snow flakes for the first time in the mountains near the Swiss-French border and that was a wonder for someone originally from the equatorial regions.
I realised in my sojourn through the European continent that Chinese restaurants had tables of six, eight or ten in different countries, but never four. Greek food was really salty, but I did think of why anyone would leave Santorini for Melbourne. I recall with fondness how a good mate of mine from uni days and I were confined to free Auckland accommodation (courtesy of Air New Zealand) for two nights due to Typhoon Bola. I enjoyed the Lebanese spread one dinner time on a wintery night in Canberra because a nice colleague took me there.
On the way to the Phi Phi Islands off Phuket, my fisherman's boat encountered a storm, accompanied by the expected choppy waters. Through another benevolence, the boat boy and I managed to reach the safety of the lagoon village. Outside Nanjing, my commercial tour bus coach broke down for a few hours, but I appreciated better what it meant to be a farmer in China. On a summer's evening in Tassie, I got lost driving with a Singapore friend along a remote road, but we managed to get the right road instructions from a group of elderly walkers.
In Seoul, I was invited to an English-language focus group meeting after I chatted with someone off the street. My Singapore friends in turn do take time off to spend time with me when they hear that I am in town. I woke up one night in windy Welington and had to go to an ice-cold toilet, but found out later the next morning that fellow travellers also faced the same dread. Travel can be infectious, but so can be the sharing of experiences, with hindsight and lots of laughter! People who seem to be strangers just turn out to be indiviudals whom we are yet to know.
Comments