The Journey
My Trip Around the World
I am just another guy who is curious about the world and planning to take time off a few months to travel the world from Aug 2nd 2009 till don’t know when yet..
I figured that by writing a blog, I can share some of my experiences with families and friends as well as keeping a journal so I won’t forget about the things I see and do. Some friends said they hated me when they heard that I am making this trip so I just want to share some of my experiences in the blog. The other reason is to prevent me from being lazy while traveling.
Some Things About Me
I am 26, have been to 20ish countries before this trip, some of the trips were with my family when I was young and some were backpacking trip that I did in college. I enjoy traveling because traveling gives me a broader view about the society and provides more color and context in life. I studied financial engineering in graduate school and didn’t have too much exposure about cultural stuffs and history when I was in school, so hopefully I will learn more about this area in my trip.
“You only live once”, a guy just told me few days ago when he bought my car. Even though I heard that a lot but it really sinks into my head this time. This is a good time to travel since I have some time on my side, have some savings, my youth and not missing out a lot from the current economy situation.
I guess for budget travel, it’s like an optimization problem where the main goal is to maximize his or her utility function with a number of constraints such as time, money and energy… Everyone’s utility function and objective is different. The best way to do this is to use some street smarts, spontaneity, flexibility, an open mind, willingness to suck it up when encounter uncomfortable situation, risk taking and good planning. Budget travel is exciting where every day is a brand new day with new encounters, especially in developing and isolated countries. Finding ways to conserve capital and prevent wasteful spending are a challenge by itself.
My objective is to look at how people live; get a first hand view of society’s way of life; learn about cities’ urban planning; experience and see some craziness in life, understand a little more about the background, history, economy, politics of countries visited and more importantly is to learn how the locals view the world by making friends and interacting with them.
Thanks for reading.
My contact: warren.lwj@gmail.com.
This is what I have in mind, a big picture before starting my trip…North America, South America, Europe, North Africa, Middle East, Central Asia, China, South East Asia.
I am planning to spend one month in South America, my first stop will be Bogota, Colombia on Aug2nd. Since Santiago, Chile is quite far away I will then fly to Santiago, Chile then travel across Argentine, Uruguay and Brazil by bus or ferry.
My next flight will be from Sao Paulo to London. I am planning to stay there for 2 days then fly to Cairo, Egypt. Everything is open from Cairo. From Cairo, I will try to get back to Malaysia overland by bus or train passing through middle east, the balkans, eastern europe, middle east again, central asia, china and south east asia.
My route was something like this.. Bogota,Santiago, Valparaiso, Mendoza, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Foz Do Iguzcu, Rio, Sao Paulo, Cairo, Luxor, Dahab, Aqaba, Petra, Amman, Beirut, Damascus, Aleppo, Palmyra, Beirut, Athens, Tirana, Kosovo, Skopje, Belgrade, Sarajevo, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Bratislava, Krakow,Warsaw, Cluj Napoca, Budapest, Bucharest, Sofia, Istanbul, Ankara, Goreme (Capadoccia), Diyarbakir, Dohuk, Erbil, Sulamaniyah, Tehran, Esfahan, Yazd, Mashhad, Ashgabat, Mary/Merv, Turkmenabat, Buhkara, Samarkand, Tashkent, Osh, Bishkek, Karakol, Almaty, Kashgar, Urumqi, ShiHeZi, Dunhuang, Turpan, Lanzhou, Xining, YinChuan, HohHot, Erlian, Ulan Bator, Beijing, Harbin, ChangChun, ShenYang, Dalian, YanTai, QingDao, Jinan, KaiFeng, ZhengZhou, DengFeng, LuoYang, Xian, WuHan, ChangSha, ShenZhen, GuangZhou, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Singapore, Batam, Jakarta, Padang, Bukit Tinggi, Lake Toba, Bangkok, Siem Reap, Phnom Penh, Vientienne, Ho Chi Minh City, Hoi An, Hue, Luang Prabang, Ponsavon, Hanoi, Halong Bay, Sapa, Kunming, Dali, LiJiang, Shangri La, ChengDu, ChongQing, NanChang, FuZhou, Xiamen, Taipei, ShangHai, NingBo, HangZhou, ShenZhen, Hong Kong, Seoul, NYC.
Background
New York City, where I lived and worked before my travels
My home town Penang where I grew up.
Some promotions for Malaysian tourism, my home country which is a melting pot of cultures with amazing scenery.
[mappress]
My English is so poor – –
I hope you remenber with me
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Yes, we met on the urumqi-beijing train. Thanks for stopping by.
Good luck in your Journey!!!;)
you’re awesome, my friend, hope to meet u this coming CNY in penang!!!
Are you spend all your time travelling? How about work?
I am taking a break from work currently, but the break is longer than what I originally planned.
great for you!!! Enjoy the travelling while you are young- you can expereince everything!
Hi traveler, nice blog! nice to meet u too!