I really missed my holidays

Contributed by VP Hui Hui

This is my second week of my new job (regional analyst) in an IT company. What to say? I had this dread feeling that I won’t be taking any annual leave for at least six months. Well, this is the price you had to pay if you job hop. Sob! Sob!

Reason was I really need to venture to a new environment and new industry. My new role is an analyst dealing with regional marketing staff in other countries. New terms like Route to market, Websphere, Geocore sounds foreign to me although I was working in the finance and accounting role in an ICT industry for two years. Thinking of the word ‘regional’ I really missed my long holidays entitlement each year between work.

Looking back, how busy I am, I had always find time to venture to a new country with my family and friends. Work-life balance is a must. To those who know me well, I am a traveler at heart. I do not fancy expensive holidays in four/five star hotels with good food. Budget travel is the most preferred choice. To me, traveling is an opportunity to expand your horizons and experience different country and cultures…even, it will bust my resources. Really, I always feel recharge after coming back. I felt happy even I am tired working back the next day.

To enjoy traveling, you need these essential requirements. Please tick if these points apply to you:

a) You are able to doze anywhere even in a bus. If you get insomnia sleeping in a new place, traveling will be a pain, trust me.

b) A good strong stomach. If you are so used to home cooked food, please don’t backpack because you may not survive…

c) At least able to walk fast and climb stairs. In short, try to be fit.

d) Able to have cold bath if the water heater breaks down. I had experienced that after spending a night at a rest house before scaling Mount Kinabalu, Sabah next morning.

e) Able to shop till you drop (for ladies only, if you had spare cash and have to be fit as well.)

So far, the countries that I had visited are within Asia Pacific region. Here are the countries that I had visited since I started working.

Hong Kong & Shenzen: I was there with my mum for prayers, but got the chance to venture into China border from Hong Kong by foot and worried that my belongings will get lost. Love the Hong Kong Tim Sum. Sadly, Disneyland HK was not set up yet.

Thailand: Went to Bangkok and Haadyai with family and friends. It is a shopping and eating haven.

Bali, Indonesia: Beautiful beaches and lovely ancient temples by the sea.

Nepal: Beautiful and awesome scenic, virgin snow capped ranges of mountains that are the highest in the world (Himalayas and Mount Everest). You won’t see this high range of snow capped mountains in Europe. Try to go there by plane. As you are approaching Nepal, you will see snow capped mountain next to your window seat.

Vietnam: A country with such sad history. I was in Ho Chin Minh (Saigon) and I came back, feeling grateful for what I have. I did not take the picture of a mutated fetus caused by Agent Orange (a ghastly chemical released during war which caused horrible mutation to the local people)

Cambodia: I climb the ‘Staircase to Heaven’ in Angkor Wat and marveled at the carvings. I enjoyed the ancient temples and learned again history about early civilizations. I went to the capital, Phnom Penh and walked on the ‘Killing Fields’. (Again, a horrible history of the Khmer Rouge massive killings of the people in 1975)

Perth Australia: I went there under my company sports club trip for five days for cost less than RM2000. There were kangaroos and koalas (not koala bear: I was corrected by the park rangers). It was a cold dry climate but the troublesome thing was lots of flies everywhere at the dessert. I managed to try sand boarding-using a surfing board and slide down from the sand dunes. It was fun.

Right now it is payback time for me to work hard and plan my next country of destination.

So far, my next dream is to backpack to Europe and US. Any takers? Probably, I would join my club president Toh and take up scuba diving and dive in foreign seas worldwide.