Traveling is about (C) Culture and People

I'M OBSERVING devoted monks in Burma as they are about to collect their dinner

INDEED, traveling is about the culture and the local people you meet during your travels. They are the carriers of the culture your visiting, they are the ones that make you understand, and trust me - they will provide you with the best memories of them all.

When you look back on your travels, perhaps one day in the not so distant future, you will realize that it was not about all those incredible buildings or architecture that you saw, it was not about all the museums you visited or the country's history that you learned. No, it was rather all about the culture and the people you encountered. Those valuable moments is something you will never forget.


Here are some of my precious "moments";

I'M WATCHING incense which is slowly burning in a quiet tempel in Vietnam

I'M ATTENDING a private Cambodian wedding all by myself in the rural countryside

I'M MEETING up with some locals in a small village in India

  

I SPEND two days cycling with some crazy local chinese tourists in China. It was awesome!

These people made a delicious dinner for me in Bagan, Burma

I HAD several interesting conversation with these young uzbek ladies in Uzbekistan

The human race is overall inspiring, mystical and sometimes even beautiful. You might not give your own race a lot of warm thought in your everyday life, however, as soon as you hit the road and start traveling everything changes. You start appreciate the smiles you get along the road, you starting to get fascinated about culture differences, but most of all - you realize that its people that makes traveling worth while!

Traveling is about (B) Architecture, Monuments and Buildings

Whether we like it or not, traveling is still about visiting and observing Architecture, Monuments and Buildings to some extend. Unlike getting into nature and awesome landscapes around the world, architecture is solely made and affected by humans. That makes it unique, because you can tell a lot about the human society and the underlying forces that drives people, by observing human made architecture, monuments and buildings around the world.

I will tell you why:

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Admiring peoples willingness for having created something unique and beautiful up throughout the times

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Observing human willingness to never stop building and create.....

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Realizing that humans love to compete about being greater, bigger and on top of everyone else - and that this race will never really end...

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Witnessing about some crazy person's idea....that actually became to a reality

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Design, detaljs and perfectionisme

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Observing greatness of certain Kings and their struggle for power

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Human creativity

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Building something different just as an statement to the world - " I'm different and unique"

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: "I'm big - you'r small"

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: People's willingness to create harmony

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Reflecting over people's struggle for being organized, structured and harmonic.

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Understanding that nothing last forever....

Traveling is about: (A) LANDSCAPES

Being a traveler involves a lot, and I suspect that each and every devoted traveler probably have their very own perception of what traveling is really about. I have made my perception of it, and here it goes:

Traveling is about (A) LANDSCAPES. Is there anything more fascinating than observing mother earth and her beauty? She can both be stunningly beautiful, lush and tender, wild and aggressive and occasionally just boring. However, its all a part of mother earth and she deserves to be paid attention to.

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Sailing a wooden boat through ancient times, on a river surrounded by green, protective and majestic mountains.

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Walking through rugged and inhabited mountain areas - just to get a greater understanding of the sometime harsh relation between humans and mother earth.

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Observing wildlife in harmony with mother nature.

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Searching for the unknown in the far distance.....

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Enjoying the richness, beauty and harmony that we have been given through nature

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Walking through brutal, mean and destructive places..

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Irony, contrasts and a mixture of beauty and evil. Your words of this picture would be: how beautiful and quiet isen't it. My words would be - I'm standing on an active and dangerous vulcano....

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Try to look at the beauty in what appears to be ugly.

TRAVELING IS ABOUT: Deepness and reflections, and that what's underneath the surface could be greater than what you see above....

What makes traveling worthwhile?

 “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” – St. Augustine


I couldn't agree more - traveling is like a journey through a living library. The cultural understanding you get by interacting with the locals in some rural asian village, eating local food, the excitement of trying out the local beer, the thrill of walking through a "dangerous" jungel, sleeping over in some random village far up in the wild mountains in Himalaya, risking your life when you walk over the street in a chaotic third world city, or just relaxing on a white beach with crystal clear water. Its all part of the travel experience and its all good.

On an island in Malaysia - 2005

This is only bits and peaces of what makes traveling worthwhile, but what it comes down to is challenging yourself, getting out of your comfort zone, cultural experiences, local food, getting to know the beauty of mother earth and most importantly - human relations!

The photo is taken in Tibet - 2008

  

JUST REMEMBER: Life is  short, unpredictable and quite often more busy than we like it to be. The years passes by like the speed of a bullet train, but unlike the train you dont have to rigidly follow the railway - the path is yours to make only.

Crossing the boarder between Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan by foot

Sorry if I make this to a big cliche, but I don't care so here it goes:

"SO throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover" 

Thomas

The Joy Of Traveling- An Introduction

- “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” – Mark Twain


And so it began. It wasn't Mark Twain that motivated me to start traveling in the first place, but I do find his quote very powerful nonetheless. For some few years ago I found my passion in life.  I have always had an fascination for traveling, but I didn't really understand how much I really loved it before I had just turned 21 years old.


Now, several years later - I still find it fascinating. It is something special about entering a total new country somewhere in the world, that are so different from back home. You don't know what to expect ow what lies ahead of you, but that's what makes it to a big adventure!

The photo is taken in Laos - 2005. I spend a whole year backpacking the world.

MY GOAL with this blog is basically to share the joy and fun of traveling, but also the deeper sites of it. I have many personal stories to tell and many experiences to share.

The Great Wall of China - 2005

Stay tuned as I will explain what makes traveling so interesting and worthwhile in my next blog.


Best regards
Thomas