When my wife Nazma and I told our friends, co-workers and relatives we were leaving our jobs to travel, we neatly divided them into two camps:
Group A: “That’s great! I’m jealous.”
Group B: “That’s insane. You must be crazy.”
Group B mainly comprised our parents who, to be fair, are now very supportive following their initial incredulity. You have to understand: we’re both professionals with decent jobs, and we’ve have both hit the ripe old age of 28.
Add to the mix that Nazma is South Asian (with East-African-born parents) and I am ethnically Chinese. Our hardworking parents prize well-paying jobs and lament the continued shortage of grandchildren; by all rights, we should be buying a house and picking out strollers. I’m sure a part of them still wonders, “What did we do wrong?”
But Group A understands the itch: the need to run away from home, cross oceans and continents, and immerse oneself in another world. We’ve lived the suburban, rat-race existence for a few years now, and we both feel there’s too much out there to see in annual, manicured 2-week chunks, or to leave until retirement. Besides, we’re young now, wide-eyed, and still (relatively) uncrusty. “You’re only young once,” says Group A. No mortgage + no babies = opportunity!
Still, even with these quixotic notions in the back of our heads, we’ve been finding ourselves seduced by the security of the Golden Road to Adulthood, and we were beginning to believe the opportunity-cost of leaving our jobs would leave too gaping a pothole.
Then one day, I had a fateful run-in with a seat sale, and rather suddenly, everything crystallised. When both our workplaces decided they wanted to keep us around, and offered us leaves for the next few months (rather nice of them), things finally fell into place.
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So now, with all that settled, and an incurable travel bug, where do we go? We’ve been very fortunate to have visited countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and yet the “Far East” remains a black hole.
We’ll be travelling through Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia and Vietnam. These countries can be all things to all people, and they’re deservedly pretty popular destinations. Southeast Asia is a natural choice for us, for a few reasons.
1. The roots
We’re as Canadian as it gets. Our sensibilities and social mores have been shaped by Canada, our home and the country of our birth. And yet, we wear the faces of our ancestors, no matter how distant from their birthplaces we may be.
Having grown up ambivalent about being “different”, we’ve come to a point in our lives where we can celebrate that extra dimension in us. And having found a fellow hyphenated-Canadian in each other, we’ve come to appreciate Asian cultures more: each other’s, and our own.
Our first stop will be Hong Kong, where my parents are from, and where many of my extended family still live. It’ll be a wild introduction for Nazma to a whole side of my family she’s never seen, and for me it’ll be a reintroduction to relatives I’ve seen only four or five times in my life. We’re looking forward to interacting with people who, though close in blood, will have been formed by a totally different cultural background.
Also, much has been made of Canada—and especially Vancouver—being a paradise of pluralism, and it’s all true. But while we pat ourselves on the back about Canada and diversity, ethnic Indian and Chinese populations have lived in Southeast Asia in (relative) harmony with the indigenous Asians for hundreds of years. We’re very interested in seeing how the local culture has evolved under these diverse influences; with their head start, they may portend a future Canada.
2. The food
On a lighter note, we’ll definitely miss the all-you-can-eat sushi here in Vancouver, but come on: mango sticky rice! Pho for breakfast, at pennies a bowl! Non-stop nasi goreng! A different curry for every day of the year!
Fundamentally we both prefer conversation and a good meal over crazy exertion, and we’re not planning on too many physical feats of daring-do, so we’ll be eating our way through Southeast Asia. Bring on the crispy fried grasshoppers! (Okay, maybe not.)
3. The significance
We’ve always been compelled by history and people; beaches and scenery alone aren’t enough to draw us to a place. Southeast Asia has some of the richest history in the world, encompassing eras from forgotten prehistory to 20th-century turmoil and renewal.
The countries in this region carry so much weight with their names: mention Cambodia, for instance, and mental images of Angkor Wat mingle with Khmer Rouge killing fields. And more than anything, the people here have witnessed, and survived, so much—most recently last year’s horrific tsunami.
So it’s not just about the awesome wats and temples, but also seeing how the peoples in this part of the world live now, after the eyes of the world have left; after political isolation has turned to indifference; after tsunami fundraisers have vacated. As trite as it may sound, we’ll be looking for volunteer opportunities on the road, to connect with and help out local people however we can.
4. And because anyone can do this
We’re not looking to become torchbearers for a new “Leave-Your-Job-and-Travel” movement, but for any number of reasons, a lot of people our age don’t think they can do what we’re doing.
We here in Canada make up a tiny fraction of the world’s population. Why wouldn’t you want to be a part of the larger world? And having answered that, what’s stopping you? To even be able to contemplate this opportunity, we Canadians are incredibly fortunate, compared to most.
Anyone with the itch to go can make it happen. It doesn’t take a vow of poverty! It involves a lot of planning and budgeting, and some sacrifice, but we’re not richer or braver than anyone else. Group A, you don’t have to be jealous!
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Ultimately, we’d be crazy to think we’ve seen it all after this one measly trip, so this is (hopefully) the first of several trips to explore Asia. Central Asia, India, China and Mongolia – watch out!
And going as a couple, we’ll be (perhaps severely) testing our ability to travel together. But we’ve done shorter stints before, and if we can navigate steamy antagonistic temperatures, creepy touts, and day-long bumpy sweaty bus rides for 4 months, we should be able to navigate the rest of our married lives just fine.
