After blogging about anything and everything about my life for a year now, it's time for me to blog about something I love and enjoy in particular. Travel is a big part of my life. And I believe it helped shaped me to the person I am now.
There is one memory of my childhood etched in my mind never shared to anyone. My mother donated a portion of her land next to our little house for our village church to be built on. When the church was built there was a little corner on the side of the building directly from the pew I use to go to for a few reasons. It could be that my father scolded me for something and I'd ran away to find my own space and be left alone. Or maybe we had visitors I did not like or want to see. Or during summer time when it is too hot inside I would go sit under the tree nearby and spend the rest of the afternoon there to enjoy the afternoon breeze.
My little special corner where most of my childhood dreams came alive. There was no fence that separated it from the rice farm, just a hedge of camia or white ginger (Hedychium Coronarium). It is also sometimes called mariposa because its flowers resemble the shape of a butterfly . You can click here to see what a camia flower looks like. It bears white flowers from a cone that shoots out from the centre of the plant. The flowers itself do not last very long but what sets them apart is their fragrance. Just thinking and imagining myself sitting on the steps has my olfactory nerves working to clone the fragrance so much so that I can almost smell that familiar fragrance right now!
It was in this little corner where I got the chance to watch the local commercial planes pass by. This is also the route taken by most international commercial planes heading towards Hong Kong, Japan and the rest of the world. Growing up in my village did not promise any chance of me getting on a plane. So I accepted that would just be a dream because as far as my life was, it just revolved within our region except the odd times my family took me to Manila.
This was the first seed of the wanderlust in me. The second seed came from the books I use to hide (they were my auntie's romance pocket books which she forbade me to read at then my age) only to be returned once I have my fill of reading them. Through these books I became acquainted with Royalties, of Palaces and Castles, amazing Gardens and Towers and Landscapes, White Christmas, canals and loads of history. These books influenced my imagination more than anything.
Travel posts will follow soon...
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