oh hello there. i just came back from my winter tour down south to the mountainous regions and boy oh boy have i come back a deranged man. cause, simple. imagine yourself travelling down south for nearly 7 hours, stopping an hour just for lunch up the mountains; and then travelling another 8 hours down the mountain to yet another mountain; mind you, the timings here are all exclusive of the agonising time spent in the mountains with nothing but mother nature around you. but i must say, the last day spent at the theme park was enough to make everyone forget how horrid the journey must have been.
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speaking of deranged, i just have to write this down. C'MON AND SHOW OFF YOUR MIEN-OR! sorry, i just had to write that down. you know it's those random things you think of on a seemingly unending bus journey.
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there were a few things that i realised as well during this trip. jeremy, the senior medic was telling me the difference between a combatant and a service- serviceman. the difference, he said was, when combatants are faced with something physically and mentally challenging they are the first sot-sot ones to say "Let's go for it la! FUN what!" and i actually believe that the word in capitals is the keyword that defines you to be a combatant. oh wells, this is just a random comment so don't shoot me down you proud servicemen not drawing combat pay. HA!
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the other thing that got me thinking popped into my head when i was at the cultural theme park just a few hours ago. basically this theme park is like a hybrid of genting and err... the maori tribe villages, only that this theme park showcases nine of the thirteen aboriginal tribes of taiwan. so i was just thinking of how tourism actually diluted the pure culture of these tribes. odd isn't it, for me to think of these things in the middle of theme park where kids scream for ice cream and old ones hurridly buying those cones for them just to shut them up? but yes, i was so call me odd, i don't care. but then again, i also realised that we've come or are coming to a time and age where if tourism is suddenly taken away, due to those who fight for the rights of the aborigines and won, what would happen to these aborigines then? will their culture be revitalised again, or for that matter be completely lost forever as they realise that if tourism cannot put food on their table then they would have to move to the cities to work. is this one permanent smear or worse, damage that tourism has done to our society? believe you me, i'm a pro-tourism activist but these things just get me thinking.
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oh wells, these are just my random thoughts. in fact, i'm actually wondering how i'll respond to this ten years from now. or worse. if my kids see this entry. drats.