Road Trippin'

Music: Aqui Te Traigo Una Rosa by Victor Jara

Yesterday I was in PD to attend a 1-day workshop, and in the morning I drove 79km (on the highway) for 50 minutes, paid toll RM8.30 in total.

On the way back, I decided to take the old kampung road instead. At first I was just planning to drive until Seremban and then continue on the highway. Upon reaching Seremban, I decided lets go a little further before I proceed on the highway, just to check out the city that was my home for 5 years (eventhough I rarely go to town back then but oh well). As it turned out, I decided to 'go a little further' everytime after I reach a small town. There were many opportunities to rejoin the highway, many exits towards the PLUS and LEKAS Highway.

So in the end, I drove all the way from PD to Bangi on the old road, passing through Lukut, Seremban, Mantin, Nilai, Beranang, Semenyih, Dengkil. It took me 2 hours and no toll. But the relaxing drive and surrounding view through the 'countryside' was what I was looking for. I thought about why this is so throughout the journey. I came to the conclusion that I must be unconsciously still missing the atmosphere in Siem Reap, I just got back last weekend for a 4 day trip. The laid back town life, the drives through the paddy fields and rural villages.

Its really not characteristic of me to want to drive on old kampung roads which will extend the duration of a journey, usually I'd want to reach a place ASAP (when in Malaysia). Its just that I surprise myself a little, sometimes, with my decisions.

I just finished reading The Motorcycle Diaries, written by Ernesto Guevara in Spanish, translated into English of course.  Che Guevara, as he is better known world wide, recounts his stories and adventures traveling throughout Latin America with his good friend, Alberto Granado. One can see his formative years, his way of thinking and can imagine how he finally became a fighter for revolution. Seeing things and meeting people outside what you are used to, in other worlds, traveling, really does change how you view the world. But it also depends on what you decide to see, believe and accept. Che's travels definitely stirred some strong feelings that in some ways or other, in part, eventually lead him to become the person that he was.

So anyway, it was surreal to read the parts where he wrote about his visits to the places that I had myself visited earlier this year. Standing at probably the same spot, basking in the same view, experiencing almost the same thing... Obviously I did not go to the small towns that he went to, the overlapping places were Cuzco, Ollantaytambo, Macchu and Huayna Picchu, Lima, Santiago..

Guevara and Alberto travelled on their bike monikered as La Poderosa II - The Mighty One, which broke down beyond repair by the time they entered Chile, and then continued hitch hiking on trucks. Reading the descriptions during these part of his journey, I felt like something was missing. There is a way to make this experience (reading) more complete. Thinking hard, I figured it out finally, Victor Jara!! He's a singer from Chile assassinated by Augusto Pinochet and sang about revolutions etc and was famous back then especially amongst the miners. The taxi driver who drove us to Colorado, a small skiing town on Andes nearby Santiago, was listening to Victor Jara and somehow I started to enjoy the tune, mainly because of the acoustic guitar in most of his songs, or maybe because the surrounding and feeling at the time, its undescribable really (masa tu still can't believe I was there). Long story short, taxi driver told us all about Victor Jara and seeing me and TH enjoying the music so much, he gave us his cd before we parted.

So anyway, I continued reading Motorcycle Diaries until finish with Victor Jara playing on my iTunes. Baru lah in-the-zone and feel sikit bila baca. Hahahaha. I'm still listening to the album now, a collection of his hits.

I'm gonna watch Motorcycle Diaries the movie now, downloaded it last night.