One thing I noticed after 555 days on the road in Oceania and South Asia. My travel speed is getting slower. I can stay more than a week in destinations where only a few days, maybe even a few hours, is enough.
Getting to know the city or town I am in better, exploring not only familiar places but also the streets, mixing with people, getting to know the environment better. … This must be the biggest reason why I stay for a long time in a place that seems pointless.. Another reason is this blog you are reading and the interest I should show in the photos I took.
I have no complaints about my condition.. This being the case, sometimes I feel more like a person living in the country I am in than a traveller, which is a completely different experience, I like it.. Being alienated from the language I speak, the people I know, the repetitive habits and even our delicious food like miss. It was actually a way of leaving the routine work and home life behind and opening the door to brand new experiences.
Now I am a stranger; to the life I left behind, my home, my belongings, habits, even friends.. My past experiences oscillating between fantasy and reality. Sometimes when I think of experiences, I doubt their reality.. Was it me? Did I experience these?
Well, I was a happy person in the past (or so I thought, who knows), but whenever I think of something about the past, I find myself pushing it away from myself and his thoughts.. Is this an escape? I do not think so. This ignoring, ignoring was actually the desire to alienate the prejudices (habits) that the past filled my mind.
I am successful in clearing my mind from the outdated experiences of the past. I am so successful at this that my life is just the road right now and what the road brings, I feel like I would have switched to a hippie life without this blog, and at this point I understand hippies very well. I have become one of those people who never hesitate to live what they believe with their souls that do not belong anywhere.. On the way, I can realize how contradictory the concepts of belonging and freedom are with each other.
When I spent 7 months in Asia, it’s like I became local here. This frequently questioned sense of belonging must be starting to develop in me towards Asia.. No matter which country I go to, I don’t feel like a foreigner there.. It feels like I’m moving from one city to another city. Maybe I am adapting very quickly due to my greatly developed flexibility… Who knows!
As someone who thinks of “Belonging” feeling as an obstacle that we created on our own, my situation is neither good nor bad. I add something. I just know I should be on the road. No matter where the road leads.
Day 555: Thailand:44, Bangkok. Saturday, February 11, 2012