I’m continually amazed by the blog-ness of the internet world. I can spend hours in semi-voyeuristic rapture reading random blog upon random blog. And just like actually “meeting” people in the real world, you run into the good, the bad, and the truly horrendous. Some make you scratch your head and wonder how they ever made it out of high school (or even GRAMMAR school), others, scintillating amazement by their artistic content and expression. It’s a veritable smorgasbord of ideas, experiences, and lives – and every once in awhile I feast, like it’s Blog Thanksgiving.
Recently, in an effort to do some research on my hopeful trip through SE Asia, I’ve been reading up on a number of expat blogs in said SE Asia. No offense to any current, potential, and or past expats, but generally speaking, it’s a population of some very eccentric (sometimes icky, for lack of a better word) people. With that said, I’ve come across some really amazing people who are just “doing there thing” in one country or another. When reason proves impetus enough, I’ve commented thankfully on those blogs who share some very impassioned ethics and insight in their current expat lives. It’s wonderful to know that the world is globalizing, but, more oft than not, there tends to be an annoyingly ingrained sense of cultural superiority – which sometimes infuriates, but more likely, bores the hell out of me. This, in itself, is topic enough for an in-depth digression into “how people can be absolute morons” in foreign countries (at times, I include myself in this category).
—————————
I watch my mother prepare for her trips – she goes to the library and checks out all the travel book staples; Fodor’s, Rick Steve’s, Lonely Planet, Frommers all laid out on the kitchen table. Notebook, highlighter, and copied pages in hand, she goes meticulously through, searching for her mystic adventure. As paths wind through rainforests, and biking trails turn to carabiners and ruck sacks, she guides the guides through a maze of natural wonders, and artistic monuments, splaying the cultural wealth of each nation she yearns to collect in her collage of countries visited. She’s the consummate middle aged adventurer, a traveler, a sojourner, a modern day explorer, with eyes and heart often bigger than physical ability, but she always finds a way, her way, and destinations are conquered step by inexorable step.
From the plateaus of Machu Pichu, to the currents of the Amazon, from hospital beds in Illocos Norte and Cebu to rocky faces along the Dolomite ridges of Northern Italy, she’s faired more seas than many, and has an imagination for many more. Father in toe, and a strong sense of fortitude, often less than accurate sense of directions, she’s never put off by the potential for something new. She has stories to tell, and she has advice to give, dozens of countries, hundreds of experiences – what a blog she could have to read!
——————————-
I think I’ll try and keep a better log on my blog while I’m on my trip – it’s cool how the “narrative” traditions of old, have been developed into this cyber storyland, where anyone, and literally ANYONE and their pet dog can be authors of some sort.
Hooray to us bloggers!
