05.30.07
the melody travelfiles
So I’ve found a new goal to motivate myself to save money, ergo, not shop. I have decided (my epiphany hit me this morning while I was brushing my teeth, as some of the best realisations come–when you least expect them) to travel.
Honestly, screw studying some more, I beh tahan the idea of being stuck in uni for the next two years. While I know I have the results *flutters eyelashes*, I am honestly very sick of studying. Study so hard also for who? Myself? Obviously, but I want to go out and live a bit first, not be a loser adult stuck with some lameass curfew. My mother? Most definately, she’s the academically-driven one in the family who will not stop till we all have to refer to her as Dr. Mum.
I just want to take a month or two off, and travel cheaply.
Alone.
Not very smart right? But I am kind of wanting to do this.
I was just telling my dad this morning how one of the girls at the Summit Rock Climbing Gym went to Everest Base Camp alone. Can meh? I said. Why not? said he. I know they’re all like a big community up there.
I want to go can ah? Alone? I ventured. Go lah! he snorted. Anywhere in the world….? I snuck him a glance with a cheeky grin.
Needless to say i think he means anywhere but Australia. Pfft.
I know it’s wishful thinking but if I were allowed to travel come year end, I really want to go to:
- AUSTRALIA! (hee hee hee hee hee)
- India (hello, Aanchal in Bombay!)
- A Buddhist pilgrimage to the eight sites: Lumbini (been there, but spent too little time for my own liking), Buddhagaya, Sarnath, Kusinara, Savatthi, Sankasia, Rajagaha and Vesali. All except the first are in India, so I suppose this falls under #2. A spiritual pilgrimage, oh wowee.
- Vietnam
- Portugal (hello Joana in Barreiro!)
- Santiago de Compostela in Spain–yes, Coelho’s influence.
- The Vatican City in Rome
- Greece (I want to see the Oracle at Delphi!)
- Chile and the Easter Islands
- Israel? Haha maybe this one a bit the cari maut la, but I’m seriously interested in going.
So there! My top ten places I simply must go to. Observe how I did not insert posh European cities. That one I’m saving for my honeymoon (hahaha nolah, actually I’d much rather go and bum around on some isolated beach resort in a tropical paradise like the Caribbean)–I’d secretly really love to go to Europe again and soak up the culture, but expensive lah!
Though I suppose this being Visit Malaysia Year I should be encouraging foreigners and bloghoppers to Visit Malaysia, Truly Asia. We have it all, from good food to cheap shopping to more good food, beaches, some of the oldest rainforests in the world, the highest peak in South East Asia…actually a more viable thing for me to do would be to have a cross country roadtrip, no?
Food for thought. We could drive up to Ipoh and eat our way up to Penang, drop by Sg. Petani and bunk with Jolene, go all the way up to Bukit Kayu Hitam, stop by in Perlis and…err….I dunno, what does Perlis have? Then drive to the East Coast and gorge ourselves silly on seafood and budu (never tried it!) and keropok lekor and all that… stay in Taman Negara for a few nights then go to Kuantan (I really like Kuantan for some reason), check out Tioman or all the rest of the little islands and national parks, drive down to JB and maybe Singapore, head over to Melaka, The Ninth State and then to KL (must spend a night there like a tourist!) then back to good old Subang!
ZOMG I’m getting excited now. Who wants to come roadtripping with me? At least two or three weeks la…one or two nights at each place.
Brilliant idea, no? That way I can be ‘home’ and not truly home 
Rosalyn said,
May 30, 2007 at 12:11 pm
when are you planning to go????
meldee said,
May 30, 2007 at 1:18 pm
roalynnnn! ahahaha end of the year. will you be back? jom kita pergi. i need a car though lol.
Jayelle said,
May 30, 2007 at 4:48 pm
bwahhahahaha.. if it doesn’t clash with my module 1 exams…then count me in man!
rachel said,
May 30, 2007 at 7:20 pm
ur life plan at this point sounds pretty great to me….i support u all the way..if it does work out,do share the stories..but i think ur right..keep the goal realistic at this point..start from malaysia..do people backpack around m’sia?oo…u should go to kelantan…(see how the PAS govt run the state)
Sush said,
May 30, 2007 at 8:08 pm
heh woman. you’re supposed to be around lahhhhh in dec!!!
:(
i’m definitely going up to penang when i get back for a few dayss. AND melaka for a day at least, to gorge myself on food.
anyway, wanna go up to penang with me? hhehe. and we can hit melaka too!
would love to hit the east coast islands with you babe. sighhh. been to them already tho, and i’m pressed for time back home….
meldee said,
May 30, 2007 at 8:27 pm
jo: woots! bring along your house keys to SP ok lol.
rachel: haha thanks for the support, now the one major barrier to overcome would be the parental units…sigh! yeah our country is pretty famous with backpackers (or so i like to think), and c’monn, as locals they can’t rip our arses off, no?:D and i’ve been to kelantan…i think. my family are very big on cross-country roadtrips, but the last time i went i was like…14.
sush: eat eat eat. not scared fat ah?
hahaa i told you already, let’s go penang la! day trip to melaka also can. oei, i don’t have that much money to go too much ya, you realise i mean budget travelling all the way…haha no 4-5 star hotels ok!
teMMe said,
May 30, 2007 at 9:46 pm
eh count me in!
it has been a dream for me to roadtrip around peninsular m’sia with friends.
and i could bargain with my parents for the extra car…
Sush said,
May 31, 2007 at 9:00 pm
Hahhaha. of course lah! accommodation will be free in penang la wat you talking about? got car there somemore.
only thing will be going up. hehee. i hope air asia has got some good flights.
meldee said,
June 1, 2007 at 9:08 am
ooooh tems i shall come visit you in penang, pick you up and blast off into the sunset. hehe.
SUHSIEN YOU TOO MUCH LA TAKE FLIGHT ON A ROADTRIP?! *scold scold*
Sero said,
June 1, 2007 at 10:07 am
you could make a documentary of your entire trip =D your very own “visit msia video guide” for newbies xD
Sero said,
June 1, 2007 at 10:07 am
make that “video guide” for cheepos ^.^
meldee said,
June 1, 2007 at 7:04 pm
ahaha good idea. but i’m too cheap to buy a videocamera. ahahahaha how would that work now.
Sudheesh said,
May 27, 2008 at 3:26 pm
Hey, it’s me again!
haha…after i finished my honours i worked for 2 years and then quit my job in kl n went backpacking in india for 2 months..i went to sarnath, stopped by gaya too briefly and spend some time up in the himalayan mountains…it was cheap and exhilarating…there is something about the air and imagining that you are walking on the same soil that the Buddha and other luminaries had once walked on….sigh. now i just revel in nostalgia. So my point was, you should go!
Oh and im going to europe for the first time in my life next month for 5 weeks on the pretext of conferences! yay!
i was 17, heh…not exactly at the height of my spiritual awekening.
meldee: oh wow, that’s totally awesome! i had that same feeling when i went to lumbini gardens…but we were totally rushed through it and i was too young to really comprehend!
thank you sudheesh! yay, europe!
have an awesome time.