Travel Bits: April 2023

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Changing tastes...... 


As time passes, we all grow older and hopefully wiser and richer. But that's not the topic for this month's Travel Bits. Rather, the topic I am writing about is about changing tastes. Now, tastes can mean anything from the food we eat to analogies of our take on other aspects of life, from culture to the arts. And also the mundane like personal hobbies.

So, how do all these changes in tastes connect to travel? Plenty! Even if we travel back to the same city and same town every year, our change in tastes such as the food we like, the hobbies we take on and so forth, will likely lead us to discover "new" things in the same old city or town that we think we know so much about just because we have been visiting for the umpteen time.

In my case, my recent interest in fountain pens has led me to look for shops to view and purchase pens to add to my collection when I travel. I have been to Hong Kong numerous times and each time on my visit, I will always take the MTR (a.k.a. subway or metro) to the Sham Shui Po area. Previously, I only went there to buy and eat my favourite egg tarts. But in my upcoming trip to Hong Kong in about 2 weeks time, I will also be looking for a pen shop in the same area. Prior to taking on this new hobby, I had no care about any pen shops anywhere. But now, more than 3 years since my last trip to Hong Kong, I will still be going to good old Sham Shui Po. However, this time, it's not just for food. I will also be looking to buy pens. Finding and "discovering" the pen shop in Sham Shui Po in this upcoming trip will be something "new"  for me despite that according to my fellow pen collectors, this same pen shop has been there for many years.

My point is, even if we travel back to the same place year after year, our change in tastes will always lead us to discover something "new" about the same place. Travel is thus always refreshing and always exciting, wherever we go and whatever the duration of our trips.

Enjoy your next trip and go discover something "new" even if you are re-visiting the same place.

Food and shopping, Sham Shui Po, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China (2019)


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