Taking a break from the usual photo-stream, I've decided to participate in an initiative which the travel blog BootsnAll has created. Starting November 1, they launched a project called 30 Days of Indie Travel. They’re inviting bloggers from around the world (including you!) to join us in a daily blogging effort reflecting on our past travel experiences. Each day, they'll post a new prompt on BootsnAll articles. Bloggers can follow the prompts as strictly or loosely as they like, interpreting them in various ways and responding via text, photos or video posted on their own blogs.
Today's theme: Kindness
One of the greatest joys of travel can be the random acts of kindness you’ll receive from total strangers. Have you ever found kindness from strangers in unexpected places?
Kindness is something which can be expressed in many different ways, be it through a generous act, by showing empathy or support, or perhaps just pleasant demeanour. Because of it's diverse interpretations, and the abundance you can find in the world if you actually watch for it, I will just try to focus on one of the more exceptional examples that comes to mind from my travels.
Today's theme: Kindness
One of the greatest joys of travel can be the random acts of kindness you’ll receive from total strangers. Have you ever found kindness from strangers in unexpected places?
Kindness is something which can be expressed in many different ways, be it through a generous act, by showing empathy or support, or perhaps just pleasant demeanour. Because of it's diverse interpretations, and the abundance you can find in the world if you actually watch for it, I will just try to focus on one of the more exceptional examples that comes to mind from my travels.
Making Batiks in the streets of Yogyakarta
I remember, one of the most unique experiences I had, when I was travelling through Indonesia on the island of Java. I had stopped in the city Yogyakarta, a city heavily influenced by the arts, with loads of batik shops lining the streets and theatres around every corner. One day, while minding my own business, a boy just a year or two younger than myself, approached me on the street. At first I had my guard up, with the typical North American big city attitude of "They must want something, try to ignore them" (I hate that attitude by the way, yet sadly have fallen victim to it on several occasions). The boy broke the barrier down by calling to me "Hey.... Fred Durst?!". I laughed, as I was wearing a backwards ball cap and baggy jeans. It turns out he just wanted to see if I'd join his friends skateboarding just a couple blocks away. He thought I looked like I needed some friends in the city, since I had been walking by myself. We all had a great time, and shared some laughs, and they gave me a temporary tattoo of a dragon on my back. All in all, this would have been a great day as it was, but it was about to get much better.
Skatin with the posse
After the busy day, the original new friend said that he was from a small village close by, and that I should come meet his family. Throwing caution to the wind, I thought this would be an incredible experience not many would be able to share in. I packed up, and we were on the road. Close by turned in to a 9 hour train ride, followed by a bus up a hill, followed by some tuk tuks up some crazy switch-backs, only to find myself in a village that seemed lost in time. Very quickly I was welcomed by the family, who took me in for a couple days as if I was their son. I was fed well, helped around the house, and taken to some of the local attractions that only a local would know about (ie Jungle waterfalls, beautiful valleys, local buildings, etc). Their kindness to this unkown foreigner was only paralleled by their ear to ear smiles, seemingly a genetic feature of all the villagers.
Overlooking a valley near the Javanese village
A strong believer in Karma, to repay my gratitude, I took their son with me further across the island to climb Mt Bromo, an active volcano. I remember him telling me he didn't know his own country held such beauty. It was a simple thing to do, and cost nearly nothing on my behalf, but it was the experience which was priceless.. for both of us. This kindness was truly a risk on his behalf, taking a stranger in - yet I think it just came without any consideration. Something I found all over Indonesia, in fact.
There's been many acts just like this, be it having a stranger I just met nurse me back to health from Malaria while stuck in a remote village in India, to the 4 day drive I was given by one person while hitchhiking across Canada, to being offered a place to sleep for the night in Bangkok because I stupidly misread my bus ticket, missing the last bus of the night. The occurrences are endless, and not all of them will be as grand scale as some of those, but they exist all around us. Often we just have to open our eyes, ears and hearts to what's happening around us, and others will do the same right back to you. If you carry a shield, it will deflect good things that come your way - in fact, it may even attract more bad than if you didn't have it in the first place.
"Kindness in words creates confidence, Kindness in thinking creates profoundness, Kindness in giving creates love." ~ Lao Tzu
There's been many acts just like this, be it having a stranger I just met nurse me back to health from Malaria while stuck in a remote village in India, to the 4 day drive I was given by one person while hitchhiking across Canada, to being offered a place to sleep for the night in Bangkok because I stupidly misread my bus ticket, missing the last bus of the night. The occurrences are endless, and not all of them will be as grand scale as some of those, but they exist all around us. Often we just have to open our eyes, ears and hearts to what's happening around us, and others will do the same right back to you. If you carry a shield, it will deflect good things that come your way - in fact, it may even attract more bad than if you didn't have it in the first place.
"Kindness in words creates confidence, Kindness in thinking creates profoundness, Kindness in giving creates love." ~ Lao Tzu
RSS Feed
