ABOUT
Why this Blog?
Along the course of my professional life – plus occasional family bonding trips – I have travelled to 32 countries over a span of 32 years. My maiden trip was at Hawaii, USA, in July 1987, while our latest family trip was at Siem Reap, Cambodia, in December 2018. Except for one magazine travelogue, though, I have never published articles about these travels. And my travel notes and mementos – as well as hard copies and electronic photos – are damn scattered in various places at great risks of being lost forever or irreparably damaged!
Therefore, I earnestly need a distinct internet-based platform to chronicle and share my overseas travel memoirs. Hence, this website called Kaleidoscope Views of the World: Sustainability Writer, Roving Academic, Incidental Tourist has been established primarily as a travel blog. Articles are viewpoints from my ‘kaleidoscope spectacles’ – as writer, academic and traveler. I am more of an ‘incidental global journeyer’ who loves to write.
I emphasize outright that this is not the typical overseas travel blog about major tourist destinations, value-for-money accommodations, culinary delights, or cheap airline flights although a few articles cover these concerns. Rather, the website is more of sharing a deeper analysis of my travel experiences.
In addition, non-travel articles are being featured here. Hopefully, both these travel blogs and non-travel articles may offer insightful information, share life-learning lessons and at the very least provide entertaining readings.
Who are the Intended Readers?
Each individual carries with him a variety of ‘kaleidoscopic
spectacles’ to view our complex world. Hence, this blog was created in the hope
of catering to a diverse group of people with varying interests.
Primary intended readers are those who enjoy travelogues,
regardless of demographic profile. Those who seek nicely-written opinion pieces
are likewise targeted as well as those in the academia. Stakeholders of
travel-related industries may also benefit from this endeavor.
Lastly, but not the least targeted audience, are fellow
believers about travels’ transformative effects. Travelling is an excellent
mode of expanding one’s horizon and enriching his understanding of the world –
particularly in our era of ‘fundamentalists’ who claim to have monopolies of
truths and world views.
About my Tag Line
Let me elucidate on the three key elements of my tag line.
Sustainability Writer – As an author, I have produced over 70 publications (mostly scientific/technical papers and occasional creative writing articles). I use ‘sustainability’ to reflect that as an environment specialist, some of my blogs will relate to critical sustainable development concerns and environmental issues.
Roving Academic – Over the last 17 years, I have been a university
professor-cum-researcher. Roving indicates that I am an academic travelling
overseas for conferences, scientific meetings, trainings, networking and
linkages.
Incidental Tourist – My
touristic activities are, except for family-related trips, largely incidental
to my global journeys. As an ‘accidental tourist’, my visits to iconic
destinations happen, if time permits at all, during the last day(s) of my
official/business trips.
Types of Blogs/Articles
There are two types of writings: (1) travel blogs and (2)
feature articles. Within travel blogs,
genre/themes covered include, among others, the following: adventures, customs,
friendship, joyful moments, humor, hatred, heartaches, love, politics, racism,
religions, scary moments, scams, tragedies, traditions and unique events. Feature articles are opinion pieces,
personal reflections or selected write-ups that provide synthesis of my notions
about life, particularly those that relate to my research interests –
development concerns and environmental issues.
Each blog or article is accompanied by photos and/or drawings
to enhance its visualization. Pdf copies may be provided upon request.
Blogs/articles vary in length from 2-page humorous articles to foodies that
contain more than 10 pages.
Navigating the Web Page
Six major tool bars are provided. The Home will bring you to the main page. The WWW-Me provides a description of the web page in terms of background, purposes of the blog, intended readers and types of written articles. The Contact Mike will bring you to the contact details such as emails and Skype.
The Questions & Answers Section provides a forum section for me to publicly share selected readers’ feedbacks including my responses. Feature articles are the non-travel write-ups. The Announcements / Latest Postings pertain to the most recent messages or notices.
There are two ways of accessing the travel blogs. The first
way is to Click link to view all blogs. This will enable you to quickly view all the
blogs posted in terms of summary of article and other elements such as location
or specific genre/category. Given these information, you can go directly to the
blog of interest to you.
Secondly, for country-specific articles, you may simply click such country’s flag. By clicking the Australian flag, for example, you may access all blogs about my Australian sojourn. The Multiple Countries / Across Regions link contains articles that are ‘cross-cutting’ – meaning these write-ups cover two or more countries.
Rejoinder
Writing has been my passion since high school – the only chore that I love indulging on without a cent’s worth of compensation. Through writing, I feel oneness with all my elements: mind, body and soul. I am sharing then my blogs as distillations of my overseas travels and memoirs.
In initiating this webpage, I am inspired by the British author Jim Grant who writes under the pen name Lee Child. Jim Grant popularizes Jack Reacher as a fictional American protagonist of a series of novels, novellas and short stories. To extract from his quote: “Writing is something you should wait until later in life to do… until you’ve seen things. Until you have something to say.”
At 57 – at the twilight stage of my life – I believe that I have seen and experienced more than enough. The challenge to me now is to effectively share these stories. For a summary of my profile, please click this link of Fast Facts.
May you find that I am a worthy story teller and sharer. I do
hope that you would enjoy my writings, and that they are worth your time
reading.
I look forward to your reactions and feedbacks.
