a moment in malacca

This is one of those trips that is not your first choice, but you end up loving anyway.

I booked a flight to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with the intention of visiting Penang because of my interest in their art street. It was much later when I found out that the travel setup going to and from Penang (9-hour overnight train ride) is too long for the trip. Here comes Malacca offering an escape from the hectic city life in KL with a shorter travel time (3-hour bus ride).

We arrived in KL late in the afternoon and boarded the bus as the night came.

Have you ever had that moment in life where you know you are exactly where you're supposed to be? I had this moment in the bus ride to Malacca. It was dark, everyone is asleep, me in the window seat. The only thing I see are light paints from other vehicles' headlights, swooshing past in pitch black (see this in 00:54 of my travelogue).

In that moment, for a long time, I didn't want to escape.

Sunset in KL International Airport

Midnight Malacca Stroll

Teh Tarik, My Love

Home is not where you are born; home is where all your attempts to escape cease.

~ Naguib Mahfouz

this is how i see it

"This is how I see it. As an artist, it is my responsibility to not have a boring life. To feel deeply. To listen to the stories of strangers. To try new things and go new places. To say yes. To question everything. To find beauty in the commonplace. And to fall in love. Over and over. Because through the highs of love and the lows of heartbreak I truly know what it is to feel."

~Nirrimi

no one cares if you do

"You don't have to write, no one cares if you do, and you won't be remembered. But if something inside won't let you off the hook, just do it."

- Anne Lamott 

STUCK

"Thank God we can't tell the future, we'd never get out of bed."

DERAILED

An MRT train recently got derailed on its way to Taft, Manila, the route I ride in every day from the office. A lot of issues has been raised since then, which reminds me of a famous quote from Enrique Penalosa, Mayor of Bogota in Colombia: 

"An advanced city is not a place where poor move about in cars, rather it's where even the rich use public transportation."

Photos are from BTS in Thailand.

IN HEAVEN

"Practice kindness all day to everybody and you will realize you're already in heaven."

AND THE MOUNTAINS ECHOED

Khaled Hosseini's latest book took a different path for me compared to his previous releases that I've read, The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns -- which both ripped my heart apart. The setting moved a lot, almost every chapter, which inevitably made it hard for me to focus and invest only into one character. Of course it didn't take away the fact that it is still a good story, and that Mr. Hosseini is still one of the best story-tellers that I've come to know. His choice of words are simple and relatable, yet so perfect and skilled in fleshing out the emotions present in the story, one thing that is truly admirable.

It's a funny thing, but most people mostly have it backward. They think they live by what they want. But really, what guides them is what they're afraid of. What they don't want.

CHASING LIGHT

There's a crack in everything. That's how the light gets in.

 ~Leonard Cohen

BREATHE AGAIN

I was swept away by a surge of workload last week and thought I'd drown in the waves of stress, pressure and self-doubt. Luckily, weekend has come to save me, and I'm happy to be breathing again.

"Find an honest way to express yourself clearly." ~Anonymous

DWELLS WITHIN THE HEART

IL BEL FAR NIENTE

Exactly a month ago..

I still don't know what virus I caught from the previous night that I woke up in the wee hours of morning with a fever. Lucky for me, there's nothing much of activity that day. Nothing but to lounge and/or sleep in these beach beds.

Pretty much my definition of relaxation: lying down while listening to music, with leaves of trees shadowing overhead and a great blue ocean presented before me. Best moment!

"The beauty of doing nothing."  :)

PACK UP AND LEAVE

"Do you ever just want to pack up and leave out of the blue without saying anything to anyone like, just leave and start a new life?"

LOST IN TRANSLATION

"I tried taking pictures, but they were so mediocre. I guess every girl goes through a photography phase. You know, horses… taking pictures of your feet."