Goin' astray in Malaysia (KL)

After my trip to Burma, I decided to stay in Kuala Lumpur for a few days with a friend to explore some of its known and unknown areas. Many told me that there's nothing to see in KL, but I beg to disagree. There's so much to see when you are in a different place - it is just a matter of perspective and the kind of adventure you are up to.

My Burmese Experience

It was months ago but it still feels surreal. Maybe that's the case when you unlock things that you thought you can't do but then did. Burma will always have a special place in my heart.

There are plenty of places to see in South East Asia, in fact, a lot cheaper to go to than Burma - yet I chose Burma. It wasn't intentional, but something I am very thankful for. Honestly, my choices were limited when I booked that zero fare flight ticket. The country is quite unheard of actually, so I wasn't really sure of what I am getting myself into. But the good thing about it is, when you are pressed with time and have not much option, decision is a lot quicker. And the least you know about a place makes it even more interesting to explore. 

Burma is not hailed of skyscrapers. One has to scratch off the luxurious city-vibe because you can't really have it here. But judging by my first impression of it - it sure has an intact culture and belief and an unexplored haven of authentic heritage tucked in its old villages and pagodas. Its people are interesting to get to know too! The country is not yet saturated with tourists, I presume, and I wonder why. 

My travel pet-peeves

Character matters a lot, actually, in all areas that require social engagement or human interaction. I would not delve deeper on that as it will be an unending argument of different perspectives. But I'll be talking about why traveling might be a way of knowing a person's character. 

Traveling, in a way, loosens up-tight and reserved people and that makes them vulnerable. By vulnerable, it means, one can see through them, like a transparent glass void of pretense. Normally, it wouldn't show at first, it'll just unravel in succeeding travels. Some though get the hint at the onset and decide from there whether to do it again or not.

Little things I noticed in Yangon, Myanmar

Though it may seem overrated for western travelers, I still consider Myanmar as an underrated country for the reason that it doesn't receive much recognition from an Asian like me. Over the years, many tourists flock to its neighboring countries like Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. Not much is heard about this country. But Myanmar is a country worth a visit if you want to deviate from the flock. Fewer tourists mean less hassle and you can have some of the tourist attractions for yourself. One has to be patient with this country though because it is still a rising star in the tourism industry. You won't find everything as organized but that's just the kind of deal an adventurous type of person would want. 

I am less and that's Okay

There will come a time when you just have to stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop feeling less valuable, less great, less beautiful, less talented, less blessed, and less endowed with all the resources out there. Why? because in reality 'feeling less' is the least important thing in the world. Truth is you can still eat, sleep, and travel without putting them on top of your head. What they are are distractions of the mind, if we learn to focus and undermine all those little thingss that are keeping us from  treading the right path we are on, then we have probably learned one of the basics to a happy life. And yes along the way of doing it, we have to prick one by one the thorns that hurt our feet - they can be people and memories that burden us or weigh us down. The key to a happy life is to let them go and continue to move forward.

Going solo in Ilonggo land

In my desperate attempt to go solo in most of my trips, I booked myself a ticket to IloIlo. Why IloIlo?

1) I have never been to Iloilo before. So, I thought that it would be nice to have a first impression of it based on personal experience.

2) A good friend, who happen to be based there at the moment, has been inviting me over.

3) I just really want to travel to places I'm not familiar with.

4) It was the best time of the year to unwind.

I want to come up with a better meaning to ILOILO, but nothing comes out of my brain as of the moment so ... let me just proceed with the details of how my trip went.

I got caught in a limbo

Probably this is the worst case I've been into in the past two years - the feeling of being caught in an unintended limbo (or might be intended). Felt like my ego was crushed like a mashed potato. Even though it sounded so stupid and embarrassing (at least for me), I admit, I was, for the first time, been a victim of an asshole. Before I get into the petty bits of the story and talk about why my guarded self has permitted such thing to happen, I'll start with a positive note. Most of the people whom I talked to said that damn people we meet in our life teach us a lesson. I've sticked with that thought for a while now so I wouldn't be so hard on myself for being complacent with the people I surround myself with. Okay, so here goes the story.

Technology is eating me up

I feel like technology is slowly eating me up. If there is one thing that I never lose sight of, it is my phone. I check on it almost every minute. It surprises me even when I can manage to stay in one place for hours just checking my social media accounts. Before when my life was still Jurassic, I can spend hours from reading books and writing on my journal. But now I get to spend less and less from reading and writing when I have plenty of time to even do so. Well, it is because most of my time are spent on social media. Ugggghhhh and I can't turn-down my Facebook account as I am an administrator of a couple of pages.

Not only that, I have noticed that I now have really short attention-span in things. I drop reading long messages or text, the reason why I get bored easily from reading books. And I sometimes have a hard time listening to a person talking to me. I don't know what this is called but I have heard some famous people who experienced the same. Solution? they detoxified by simply deleting or deactivating their accounts. But the problem with me is - I can't do that. My account is attached to work-related pages and I had to stay updated with the news. I don't know if Mark Zuckerburg has already found ways on how to 'debrief Facebook users, do they even have that? Or perhaps, they are not fully aware of its psychological effect on users. This thing that I am experiencing now is indeed alarming and I wonder if kids younger than 6 years old are strongly reprimanded by parents from using their smart phones for long-hours. Because I think parents really need to. The virtual world is a dangerous place, and people have to be well aware of its difference from reality. Or the line between the two is blurring?