relax..

exciting things i do during my off work times in syria..finally i know how it feels like to have some time to relax...just relax

(me: fisherman on a lunch break)







just nice ain't it?

Life on the move

Almost one year have passed since i began another chapter in my life. A chapter that included many new challenges and many new views of life. beginning a new lifestyle..gypsy style. before that time last year, never before have i set foot out of Malaysia. a nut in the shell. not because i didn't want to, but because i couldn't afford to. well, a trip to climb Mount Kinabalu was as much and as far as i could go for exactly a year ago, which was great by the way and a childhood dream crossed off the list. i did get to the peak by the way if any of u people are wondering.

since then, i've been to places. places i've really enjoyed, places i didn't expect to be and some places which was, well, lets just say, i wouldn't go back again. the world started to get smaller. a 7 month working stint in egypt, a 3 week backpacking trip to europe, and at the moment, in syria for a little over 2 months now for work. work which never seems to end. but what can i say, it pays the bills and it puts food on the table. plus it crosses off more things from the list of things i want to achieve in my life before i die.

i'm in a situation i've never imagined i would be in. maybe i mentioned this a few times too much throughout this blog but well, it is my blog ladies and gentleman, so i guess u would've to live with it :) . a decent paying job, a chance to travel the world, a chance to meet people from all over and at the same time, enjoying life to the brim of my limits.

i met many kinds of people and made many new friends along the way, of which is a mixture of nice and not so nice people. people who offered me free coffee in cairo or the people who stole my laptop in london. oh well, if only i could document my life in a scrapbook that i can look back to when i'm bald and grumpy at 70. it's been fun anyway. for example, just few weeks back i was travelling together with my colleagues to an old castle here in Syria, 7 different nationalities crammed up in a van just wanting to get away from the hustle and bustle, and a few nights ago, i was having a late weekend night with a bunch of koreans and japs in my apartment drinking and sharing experiences, talking bout nothing like a bunch of aimless teenagers. all of which who just wants to have a good time and enjoy life.

not all's nice though. it was not so fun when i was being discriminated against for being an asian, being treated as a nobody because of skin colour. the sad realities of life. in the real world, u have to earn ur respect. if u don't want to be looked down upon because ur black, brown, green, blue or transparent. working abroad have really challenged my patience and my endurance.

but even then, i'm looking forward to the places i will ' conquer' next, some place nice hopefully. of course home being at the top of the list first before anything else. losing family and friends was never any part of the plan. homesickness have been apart of my body all these time but the desire to see more while i still have the chance to, is much stronger than the appeal of a hot steaming plate of nasi lemak and a glass of teh tarik, not when i can cook that in a kitchen somewhere halfway around the world!

Guilt addiction

it's been roughly 4 years and 4 months since i left university..which also means it been that long since i left my studying life and started the real world life...where it involves dogs eating dogs and where the rabbit actually win the race..despite what the story tells u when u were young..i think it was just a scam started by the tortoise at that time which involved some big multinational bucks

i remember when i was in the study life..hours not spent in the class were always "should be" designated to doing assignments, research on subjects, reading books...and so on and so forth..not like i really adhered to that but generally that was the rule and that was what i did 'sometimes'..more accurately..during desperate times..which maybe could explain why i was not the top student :p

and the times when i was not doing it..it was always filled with guilt...when i was watching movies when im supposed to be doing research for my thesis, when i had a night out with the boys instead of studying for the exams...but that period of time has passed now..at least for the time being..but the guilt feeling is still haunting me at times up till now..when i come back from work...switch on my laptop to watch movies or surf the net, go out for a coffee and a dose of people watching..i always have the feeling that what im doing is wrong and im suppose to be studying or something..

but in actual fact, im eligible to do that..i no longer have assignments, i have no more exams..i enrolled in the rat race..wake up in the morning, go to work, come back, enjoy life, sleep, and repeat the same thing again the next day..so...why am i still addicted to this feeling of guilt? did i forget to switch some buttons off when i left university?