Traveling : The flip side of the coin

Today I remembered that I once wrote this piece of thing in collaboration with a well known online-shopping company in Malaysia, it was actually intended to be the second writing after I had the first invitation back in 2014/2015. 

But it turns out that the writing is more like a blog-style kind of writing, and the person in charge wish it to be more 'article' sound , but I was a bit busy that time, busy lazying around - doing online shopping before coming back to Malaysia for good. 

But I guess this is the good time to post it here : I miss my Xiaomi for the good pictures , but now this Apple is good too. I thought I posted this earlier, but apparently I don't ( through the search ) , on the other hand, I miss travelling T.T 

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Scheming through the Instagram worthy pictures from thousands of traveling picture can take so much time and energy, plus some do waited for the best time (read optimum time for likes and comments) considering the different time zones, I find these people amusing. 

Beneath a picture

  People always see the nice part of it, the right amount of the bright sun shining at the Wall of Dubrovnik, Croatia with the blue ocean, what a picturesque scenery! And a nice spot for poses. But the thought of finishing the long-route of the high wall is just frustrating but considering that we already paid an amount of money for the ticket, we might as well make the sweats worth the walk!

Location : Dubrovnik ( view from Dubrovnik Wall ) , Winter 2015

This brings me back down to the memory lane in Turkey. I've been to few countries while I study in the UK. And I have tried different travel methods, I was once very a clueless person who wanted to travel but loathe planning, so I did the paying part only (leave everything to my seniors to handle, bless them) back in my first year.

I have been to adventurous explore-it-all-by-yourself, actively involved with planning from A to Z not to mention choosing the cheapest accommodation on the list, and I thought I should relax myself for Turkey trip and let the travel agency do it all, ‘Yes we will be touring Turkey in 9 days, what a good investment I made’ I thought. Little that I know geographically, Turkey is like 10, 12 times bigger than Malaysia.

Strangely I did come across the itinerary many times but never once it crossed my mind that I'll be sitting in the bus sleeping eating chatting on repeat for like 12 HOURS. 

Yes, you read me well, 12 hours. The journey from Istanbul to Cappadocia in a bus is no joke, complete with all the dramas (the tyre flattens twice, the air-condition ugh well not in a good condition and that 12 hours of my life wasted ha-ha) but watching the hot air balloon before the sunrises mesmerised me. 

Location : Capadocia, Spring 2015 

‘Gahhh there you go my 12 hours’ bus ride!’

 I enjoyed nature more than everything else when it comes to traveling but picky in the sense that nature shouldn't be about hiking any hills or mountain. Let it be a peaceful walk in a green surrounding but somehow the first traveling episode in my life seems otherwise. 

We went to Scotland in Winter 2014 and my seniors were into hiking. They insisted to hike Arthur's Seat in the city of Edinburgh. The night in winter starts as early at 5.30 pm and it was somewhere around 4.00 when we started hiking the hill or is that a mountain? Thanks to the dark surrounding I am able to hide my tears (like finally I am on top of the Arthur's Seat) (or should I be frank here, what am I doing right now) 

And perhaps to brighten the mood of Ramadhan, let's talk about the fancy foods! When it comes to foods, we usually packed some necessities from the UK (with all the packets of Nasi Goreng seasonings) booked an Airbnb with provided cooking utensils to save some penny. But not when you’re visiting Italy.

I visited Venice last winter, and yes it's Uh-mazing. The canals the vibes are so beautiful, just like how I imagined them to be. The smell of the canals with different flavours of gelato ice creams, I must be in heaven. 

Location : Venice Canal, Winter 2016 

And when you're in Italy, got to eat like Italians - so spaghetti it is. Thought of saving, I picked the cheapest on the menu and decided to share a plate with my friend. Unknown to us, we ordered a lobster spaghetti. You know the moment when they put the plate on your table, there is this sudden uneasy feeling that we'll be spending half 100 bucks that night, and yes we did!

But its go-od.  

(gulping my saliva accepting the fate) 

Knowing people & Growing up while traveling

Nevertheless, traveling is about getting to know people.

Be it the one that travels with you or new random people you met at the market. I remembered this one Palestinian guy we met in the city of Cordoba Spain, exploring the beauty of Andalusia country and suddenly we're chased by a group of other tour guides who claims that the Palestinian guy was not certified as a tour guide. Of course, we paused for moments like this guy here is so kind, why is this happening to us. 

And significantly, a junior of mine lost her passport and her money in the historical Sarajevo city in Bosnia. She might be younger than me but her calmness was admirable. She stayed calm all the way while we seek ways to send her back to the UK safely.  Being older means there was a need for you to act maturely, and I savoured the feeling of being independent at the age of 22 years old. 

I met warm people in the Malaysian Embassy in Sarajevo after a never-ending trip to lodge police report in Bosnia, it's not easy though with all language barriers and unlike lodging police reports in Malaysia, they took around 3/4 hours to produce one decent report, kudos Malaysia for an efficient lodging reports system! 

After all, Malaysians, in any parts of the world, thousand miles away from the prosperous land, they gave you the feeling of being home

Location : Mostar Bridge, Winter 2015 

Love, the'ann