Learning through Travelling

This professor, whose class I attended, said that in order to keep on learning, we should go out and travel. Only then we will see the world and experience what the reality is like. He added that he thought he knew what poverty was; until he travelled to Third-World countries and saw people living in such impoverished conditions with so little in life.

As I sat there, listening to what he said, I recalled about the trips that I had made in the past. As much delight as I get in seeing the breathtaking sceneries and exploring new things, I realise that I have learnt the most from those trips when I made an effort to talk to the people: those souvenir-sellers, taxi drivers, hotel staff, fellow travellers etc whom I met during my trips. The conversations with those people enabled me to enter the world which I would not have been aware of, if otherwise and also allowed me to widen my circle of friends or acquaintances.

During a trip to Vietnam, I was surprised to find a French chef, who runs his own restaurant, seemingly being not too particular about the kind of food. In fact, he seemed to have a great appetite for everything that had been served on the table and quickly emptied his plate; much faster than we all did. All along, I had this notion that French chefs would be very much particular about fine dining and food.

During the same trip, I was amused and surprised at seeing two British men - probably in their 50s - travelling with a group of bikers from one city to another, riding bikes for like three to four consecutive days. Upon seeing my look of amazement, they further explained that they have been bikers since they were young. My image of bikers with those devil-may-care-looks - so often seen in movies - was completely blown away after seeing those two men who looked more like grandfathers and also talked in a somewhat grandfatherly tone at times.

On a trip to Thailand, I met an interior designer who designs furniture and other decorated items out of coconut shells. When he told me about how they have to cut each piece and glue them together to make furniture, I was so amazed at the sheer amount of work and detail involved in making a piece of furniture. No wonder his pieces are so expensive! The creativity as well as the work that has been put in, definitely justify the price, I feel.

Like the professor, on one of the trips, I have also learnt - through the people whom I came across, the environment which I encountered - what it means to live in poverty and to live a life without much hope. Only then I realise how I have been living in my "comfort-zone" all this time. How fortunate life has been for me. How shameful it is to complain and feel depressed at the slightest difficulty I come across in my life. But before that trip, those difficulties almost seemed insurmountable in my own terms.

I guess it is human nature that we tend to forget about difficulties in life when we are enjoying life. As we ride merrily along the "ups" in life, we unwittingly become oblivious of those who are less fortunate than us; or worse, some of us even choose to shut them out.

I am indeed glad that I have made the best out of those trips and learnt something. After all, if I didn't keep on learning in life, I would certainly feel that I have lived my life in vain.