Where is your Passport, Sir.

This week’s Blogger in the Spotlight (BITS) is a fun-loving foodie who loves to kick my a** at combat class. He writes sometimes quirky, sometimes deep and almost always rather brilliant stuff on his blog.. I often tell him, he is a rare gem of a blogger, just waiting to be discovered and he totally agrees! Follow his tweets and you will see what I mean. Here is Marcky and What Travel means to him.

“Too often. . .I would hear men boast of the miles covered that day, rarely of what they had seen.” – Louis L’Amour

All photos on this post are from Marcky.MY

I have a confession. In all my twenty-nine years of living, not once have I made any effortful plans (beyond conceiving frail intentions) to travel out of Malaysia. I confess because it’s a truth that might draw disapproval, even condescension, from those of you who pride yourselves on the number of stamped pages on your passports; not because I feel ashamed of my perceived inadequacy.

There are too many places I’ve not been, too many adventures I’ve not experienced, too many delights I’ve not savored; and I know these journeys await me. I know, for I have heard many a tale of such places so close to home. It’s all right here in within my own shores, and that knowledge is what keeps me from traveling abroad. I feel… unqualified to view the world across the seas, when I’m yet to journey my own lands.

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” – Henry Miller

To the skies, the sun never sets any differently on one day from another. It’s a constant truth that has always been, and (at least within our lifetimes) will always be. I don’t believe in having to travel half the world just to see the sun set a thousand different ways. I would feel like a hypocrite if a foreigner told me of the most enchanting sunset atop Mount Kinabalu in Sabah, even if I could only tell of having beheld the sun casting a shadow on the sands from behind the Great Pyramids in Egypt. While the world is preoccupied with traveling distant lands in search of buried treasure, I find myself having just as much of an adventure digging in my own backyard.

Above the clouds, everyone is king.

There’s a whole new world waiting to captivate me, and the heavens have placed them conveniently near enough to visit, yet not out of the way enough it doesn’t rob from the joy of travel; like an apple on a tree, just close enough to entice, but just out of reach enough to not be taken for granted. I love cherries, and I know they are ripe for the picking on my neighbour’s orchard, but my heart does not allow me to move on until I have tasted the apples in my own orchard.

“People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.” – Dagobert D. Runes

Whenever I’m travelling locally, I’d put on my “tourist face”. I’d pretend that I was in a completely foreign land, and I’d forget everything I knew about being local. I’d pretend so convincingly that the locals would buy into it. I could tell from the extra friendliness of the street food vendors as I’d pretend I didn’t know what yummy goodness they had to offer, and from the astronomic dare-you-to-haggle prices I would be offered at Chinatown. It’s all about how you see things, really. The experience and adventure of traveling is little more than a matter of perspective. In a traditional sense, travelling essentially means placing many miles between you and your home. To me, travelling is about abandoning all that is familiar and routine.

Maybe you and I, fellow traveler, will cross paths someday. Maybe within my borders, maybe within yours, or maybe even within someone else’s. Whenever it may be, and wherever it may be, should the day ever come, I pray that we meet as travelers, detached from all that we’ve come to know, so that we may experience a new journey together. No matter whose lands we travel, may we experience it in the spirit of adventure. May we forget about the miles, and make it all about the smiles.

“Where is your passport, sir?” I’m still earning it.

Marcky jumpAbout this week’s Guest writer:

Marcky is an avid foodie residing in the heart of the Klang Valley in Malaysia. His intense and animated character, and unusual points of view is reflected through his photography or unique flavor of writing. The only time you can catch him quiet and sitting still is when he’s chewing his food, composing a shot or penning down his thoughts.

Marcky shares his thoughts and experiences on food, lifestyle and the little things in between on Marcky.MY

Follow Marcky on twitter : @marc_ky

8 Comments

  • LeslieTravel says:

    Interesting post! It’s true, there is always a lot to see in one’s own country. Congrats to Marcky for exploring it! Hopefully he will get to travel outside of Malaysia at some point too.

  • I think Marcky raises a really good point – do we need to travel outside the borders of our country to truly travel? My guess is not as I’ve been visiting every state in our beautiful Malaysia in the past couple of years through the course of my work, and man – there’s a lot more to what we have here than what we may continue to seek abroad.

    I mean, I love travelling to new countries and cities as anyone else, but you know what? There’s a lot of NEW left in Malaysia (and whatever country you are from, respectively).

    Let’s explore. We only need to walk out of our own front door. 🙂

  • A very true post. Even after living in a country after two yeas one will not see everything. Many people who travel have not traveled their own country.

    There’s a missing link there. I hope the Monkeys can fill it 🙂

  • Marcky says:

    I love this post!

    Oh wait, I wrote it.

    I hope everyone’s enjoying the read. I enjoyed sharing. Now for some shameless self-promotion: if you enjoyed the read, you might wanna enjoy the reads on my site as well, mostly about food, lifestyle and the little things in between.

    • naomi says:

      so true..i’m still discovering Malaysia..there is so much to see.It’s a paradise!!!shame i had to live out of it for ages before i could truly appreciate it as you have..great perspective there!Refreshing =)

  • this is an interesting post, he highlights the importance of seeing things at home rather than going abroad. personally seeing things at home dont fancy me coz its not a challenge to see them but things abroad that is something

  • minchow says:

    True, and quite a timely reminder for me too. Travel isn’t about charting airpoints or mileage at all, it’s a journey that begins from home. To put $$ where my comment is, I’m going to turn this year-end trip planning on its head and throw domestic destinations into the works… whee!!

  • Marcky says:

    To each his own, thought I must say my Mount Kinabalu hike (where 2 of the pictures in the post were taken) was nothing close to easy. But yeah, I can see your point as well.

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