I’ve been a big traveller since I was a child, and my parents brought me to all the places that I’ve never dreamt of traveling to. They did everything possible to let me learn and explore outside of the classroom, and I would have to say that, I did learn so much from going to all different places and looking at all different people. A few years ago, I weren’t mature enough to realize the point of traveling, and I simply took it as a way of enjoying life. However, after all these years, I came to the realize that traveling is far more than this simple enjoyment, but it’s more about exploring the unknowns, learning the world, and finding yourself. Travel is far more than buying a plane ticket and booking the hotel, it’s about planning and getting your hands on those things that you would otherwise never have the chance of experiencing.

I’ve travelled to so many places in China, and even in Asia, but I could say that out of all of these trips, the ones that I think are the most memorable are those that I actively involved myself into the planning process, and those that I actually learned something about people and life. It’s more than likely that you’re going to forget some scenes during a trip from 5 years ago, and maybe you could only remember how amazed you were by these artworks of nature, but it’s nearly impossible for you to forget the experience and knowledge that you took from this trip–those that have become part of you.

Among all of these places that I introduced to you, where I’ve actually been to, the one place that I remember the most clearly about is Aden Daocheng. It was definitely not the most relaxing and fun trip, but it was for sure the most important one which let me reflect on myself. Comparing myself to the bikers I saw along the streets, I seem to lack something–maybe the strength and perseverance of doing one thing. Why couldn’t I do it? I felt like that I was too afraid of it, and I was scared that I would give up in the middle. I was too vacillant about also making a decision. These things are the weakness of myself that I would otherwise never realize unless someone else tells me about, but this trip and the people that I met along the way enabled me to look at myself right through someone else’s eyes.

It seems not as much a big deal where I travel to as what I could learn from one trip. I agree that we need the real enjoyment in life sometimes, but we’re really going to realize at one point in our life that happiness lies far beyond the physical enjoyment. The intellectual enjoyment is the one that could truly grant you the longterm happiness, and this happiness is never going away even after the happiness of the physical enjoyment has gone away.