Versatile Blogger Award (of Mine)

Recently I got this rather surprising yet pleasant news from a fellow blogger, Sony, who nominated me to receive the Versatile Blogger Award. Actually prior to receiving this award, I have known about this Versatile Blogger Award thing. But being nominated for the award itself is somewhat I never thought I would get. So, I thank again to Sony who has nominated me for this, and oh, the way he told his readers about What an Amazing World! makes me humbled, indeed.

Anyway, according to the rules, I have to share 7 random things about me. So, here they are:

  1. I am the only child in my family and when I was a young boy I never really went anywhere by myself (let alone traveled to faraway places). But now, I have traveled solo to a few countries (and still counting!). This contradiction always makes me smile every time I think of it because I never pictured myself traveling alone to explore places in other countries.
  2. My first travel abroad was in 2007 when I went to Europe to attend my cousin’s wedding. I really enjoyed my time back then because I got the chance to explore those small cobblestone alleys and visited hidden but very nice restaurants in some of the cities which I visited. Most of the time, I did the stroll with only a map and accompanied by my uncle who doesn’t speak English at all.
  3. (Still related to number 2). Nevertheless, it is my trip to Singapore  which started these series of travels that I have done for the last 12 months or so. When I arrived at Changi airport, the smell reminded me of airports in Europe, and as soon as I ended my short trip to Singapore, I opened AirAsia’s website right away and booked a flight to Kuala Lumpur, which happens to be the first time I went abroad as a solo traveler.

    A Red Fountain at Marina Bay, Singapore

  4. Okay, enough about me and my travel. Let’s talk about my daily life. I am not that good at sports. In fact, I suck at sports. But, if I have to pick one kind of sport which I love doing, it would be swimming. Actually some of my friends mocked me for this because even though I tell everyone that I love swimming, yet they swim faster than me. In the end, that brings a clear conclusion: I am lame at sports!

    A Swimming Pool on A Hill in West Java

  5. Astronaut, spy, architect and graphic designer are some of cool jobs that I have ever dreamed to be (I wanted to be an astronaut after watching Star Trek, and a spy after watching Mission: Impossible).
  6. I love singing! But I don’t know why I always sing well when I’m alone but it turns awful when I sing at karaoke with my friends. I believe my voice is as good as Michael Bublé’s when I sing ‘Home’. Okay okay, please don’t throw up! Well,  I must admit, he sings slightly better than me (now you can punch me).
  7. I love National Geographic magazine (come on! who doesn’t?). In my opinion, it is the best magazine in the world. I have the complete National Geographic magazine collection since its first edition (in DVD), and I also have the complete collection of National Geographic Indonesia since its inaugural edition back in April 2005. The magazine is also one of the reasons behind my wanderlust.

So, those are 7 random things about me. Also according to rules, I have to pass this award to 5 other bloggers. Actually there are great blogs out there, but in this occasion I would like to nominate some new blogs (the first three blogs) which I believe have a good potential to become great blogs one day and two more well-established blogs. Here they are:

rob.in.the.blog by Robin. He shares the same passion with me, especially in traveling and photography, and in my opinion he writes better than me (in fact he also writes some poems in his blog). When reading some of his stories, I could feel the atmosphere that he brought to his readers through words. Check his photographs of Bangkok and Ayutthaya and also some older photographs of Bali. Simply beautiful!

glovecompartment by Reza. He is the first solo traveler that I know in personal since he happens to be one of my colleagues at office. Before knowing him, I have only read stories about people who travel around the world solo. Soon after I met Reza I learned that he has visited Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City all as a solo traveler. Then I thought that this solo traveling thing is much feasible than I previously thought. And it is, indeed!

Captures on Life by Liesha. She is a very unique woman who loves so many things in life and has a rather different taste from other women that I know (for example, she has a wedding cake which looked like something that belongs to Willy Wonka!). In her blog you can read about her musings and enjoy her photographs. I happen to have spent 2 days with her on a very short vacation on an island off the coast of Jakarta which I must say was a very fun experience.

So Many Places by Kim and Brian. They live in Oregon and in the near future they are about to do what most people can only dream of: go on a Round-The-World (RTW) trip! The stories on their website bring us into their world and make us feel how it’s like preparing everything for their dream. I must say, they have endured some really tough life experience though by making hard decisions and sacrificing some things in order to reach their dream for traveling around the world. No gain without pain.

Nomadic Notes by James. In my opinion he is one of those lucky people who can work and travel around the world at the same time. Recently he has visited a new country for him which also happens to be one of the top-list countries in my list: Iceland. Personally, I like his post about Borobudur in Indonesia which is less known to most people than other great places on earth. Enjoy his stories!

Category : ASIA, EUROPE, Singapore
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