So here I am.

Lying in bed at home after gulping down a nicely cooked pesto spaghetti from a local food truck, wondering whether is it worth it to start blogging again. My last blog started out as a mishmash of random thoughts and ended up as a repository to store list of movies I’ve watched throughout the years (which is pretty useful to this day).

But that was 2007.

Now, seven years after “Not Danial’s Problem” was first published, I’ve decided to give it another shot. Only this time, I’ll be talking about one passion that I’ve cultivated ever since I made my maiden solo voyage to Penang way back in 2006: traveling.

Be it taking long-haul flights to far-flung places or a two-hour drive to a town you’ve been meaning to visit, traveling is something that I cannot do without. It presents an opportunity to dive into another culture, understand the lingo, appreciate architectural beauty and most importantly, sample the local grub. Traveling and backpacking has greatly influenced me to be a more open, empathic, outgoing and tolerant person – it does so by giving a part of it to you to bring back home and taking a part of you to keep it there. Home is where the heart is but that doesn’t stop you from leaving bits and pieces of yourself on the busy streets of San Fransisco or the tea plantations of Cameron Highlands.

So, to kick-off this blog I’ll share you a quote by one of the grandaddies of traveling, Ibnu Battuta:

Traveling – it leaves you speechless, then turns you into a storyteller.

Looks like I’m done being speechless; now is the time for my to be a storyteller.