bitbit's VirtualTourist Home Page

Send Photo to a Friend

Me!

A little about me

I'm your regular girl-next-door living in sunny Singapore. A soon-to-be-31yr old chinese girl whose dream is to travel round the world at least once in her lifetime.

It's hard even for myself to define my character as I'm really a person full of contradictions. I can be the life of the party - the talkative, funny, crazy and spontaneous one...other times, I am just an anti-social *** - avoiding all forms of human interaction.

My interests are varied too. Apart from traveling, my other loves are photography, pottery, reading, swimming..and (don't laugh!) cooking, baking and sewing (martha stewart will be so proud of me!).

I have a lovely husband who's also my best traveling partner! Together, we have left our footprints in many parts of the world in the last 5yrs of our marriage.

Send Photo to a Friend

Flying in the wind

What traveling is to me

Traveling is experiential learning. Sure, an armchair traveler can learn quite a lot about the world without even being physically there. But without seeing, hearing and feeling (to immerse)...the 'stories' as conveyed by just words and pictures will always be incomplete.

For many people, to travel to one place is to be able to say 'I've done this, seen that, gone there'. But is traveling just about staying in fancy 5* hotels, buying souvenirs, eating at fancy restaurants (often non-local ones serving non-local food), taking many photos just to prove that one has been there???

So, for someone who has just returned from thailand, who had eaten at fast-food joints i.e. MacDs, St*bucks, who stayed in overseas chain hotels, who shopped at departmental stalls selling imports, who visited Grand Palace and took loads of photos without attempting to understand the history behind...would you say he/she is better off than an armchair traveler?

To me, traveling is about immersing oneself in the life of the locals. It's about trying one's best to experience what the locals are experiencing from day to day. It's about interacting with the locals - to learn of the pain and joy of their daily living. Only then will the 'story' be more complete.

A true traveler is not picky about his/her destination. I have had friends who think that only developed countries are worth visiting - I feel sad for them for they don't know what they are losing out. I also know of many asians who are oblivious to the 'treasures' around them - for they only have their sights set on the 'faraway' european and western countries - all these attitudes make me sad.

My travel motto is - anywhere, everywhere, anytime, anyhow!

It had been a rough year for me. It was as if I was going through some kind of quarter-life crisis. I was thoroughly sick of my civil servant job which I had held on to for a good 6yrs.

I felt it was high time I face my fear of change. In my mind, I know that leaving my comfort zone will allow me to grow to be a stronger person and to learn new things.

In July, I finally dropped the bombshell on my boss. Boy, did it feel good! Of course, there were also mixed-feelings - me being a nostalgic gal..it was afterall 6yrs of good and bad memories, good and bad colleagues..it was also my very first job since graduation and where I got reacquainted with my husband.

Since the beginning of the year, I was already on a travel spree. Traveling is a big love of mine and it's my way of stress relieve. It helps free my mind of all the troubles. In a way, it is a very luxurious form of catharsis for me.

Just this year, I had been to many parts of Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, China and New Zealand. Some of these places I was visiting for the very first time of my life, some of the places, I was revisiting for remembrance sake and to find out if anything had changed. My last two travel destinations before Yr 2004 comes to an end are Seoul and Beijing.

Traveling is like the chicken soup to my soul. I feel so alive and living it! And even though I don't have a religion, having to see/hear/feel the wonders of the world around me just make me feel so certain that there is indeed a higher being..for there's no other way/ no other person who can create a world so full of diversities and yet so similar in many ways.

Send Photo to a Friend

Confession of a travel addict

Yes, I'm a travel addict. I made my first big trip when I was 12 years old. My mum said she'd bring me to Australia if I do well in my PSLE, and I did. So, together with my parents and brother, we flew to Gold Coast for a week's long vacation. It made me feel really good and it wasn't long before I decided I really needed to travel to function.

As I grew up, I'd been pretty bored at work and at home. But whenever I'm travelling, I'll feel so alive ? at least for a while. I'm keeping right at it, even though it means that I get poorer after every trip I make. In the office, knowing that I have a pending trip ahead actually helped me work faster! However, if I haven't had a trip in a long while, I would suffer serious withdrawal symptom of extreme ***iness and will scratch anyone who comes within 5ft radius!

I'd sneak out of Singapore for short trips to neighbouring countries over the weekends, but I soon switched to a heavier dosage that included both short and long trips. I also discovered to my horror that the 21 days of vacation leave I had as a civil servant was just not enough. I had to crack my head everytime to arrange my trips very carefully to overlap the weekends and public holidays so as to maximise my leave. Finally, one day I had had it. I had to resign from my '21-day-vacation-leave-job' as I knew I'll never be truly satisfied with the amount of travel opportunities I'd have if I were to continue in that job. Now, as a self-employed, I have as much leave as I'd like to have for my travel expeditions! This is life man! And I'm loving every minute of it!

Year 2005 saw some new expeditions in uncharted waters as well as revisiting some well-loved places of mine - Tokyo (old), Tasmania (new), Perth (new), Adelaide (new) and numerous parts of Malaysia.

Where next in Year 2006???!!!! My wish for 2006 is CHEAPER AIRFARES! ha ha