The Extra Mile

What is this extra mile, what is it regarding? Well for starters, who are new to this blog, Welcome. This piece is about my thoughts that are cumulatively added here without any filter or such. Pre-emptive apologies regarding this.

Extra mile is about feeling one with the country/region you are in, while some people miss out on this beautiful culture on travelling, going the extra mile is all about taking an extra step to immerse yourself in that current culture. Embarking your journey on something you haven’t come across, as they say “Each mile there is a shock of culture that awakes you”, if that isn’t penned down, let this be my first quote, that someday may be used by someone in a normal conversation. Thank you my readers.

I recently had the opportunity not only to travel but also experience it bit by bit, culture by culture. I wasn’t just among them but on the contrary, the people I stayed with made sure I was never felt like a foreign person, they made sure I was accompanied on each small stroll. I.e It can be an evening stroll with me just so that I can visit the nearest coffee shop so that I don’t have another chair staring right at me. The family I was staying with knew that I had been travelling alone for a long time and seen a lot of empty chairs looking right back at me at restaurants. Even though we never shared the same food nor the same culture, their warmth was the bond.

As this was my first COUCHSURFING experience, I never actually felt stigmatised. The first few minutes, my heart just made up its mind and accepted that they are my family for a couple of days. Kudos to them, for making sure I was fed and was drunk on beer.

Hands-down the best interaction I had while staying with the family in Hue(Vietnam), it was mostly spending time with the host’s father, the most heartfelt moment I felt when I got to know he had researched about Indian culture when Phong, the host, told her family about my stay there. It was pretty much only for a day, not even a complete 24 hours, just few hours of day light, but having a homely feeling for those few inadequate hours felt complete, filled with warmth that was longing for quite sometime, being in a foreign land amidst the difference, but still realising the unity or the ubiquitous bond that bind us together was love, in the end what I feared for long was what made it ironically grandiose.

“I suppose, in the end, the whole of life becomes an act of letting go, but what hurts the most is not taking a moment to say goodbye” a quote from Life of Pi that resonated so much in me. It was hard letting go of someone that sheltered you, fed you and clothed you even for their monthly meet. These small things are what you actually hold on to, these heartfelt moments that are reminiscence when you are drunk at home. I could keep going on, writing about it but words won’t justify the feelings.

Just when I was recovering one such feeling, I was drawn towards another, but this time not as a family but more like a brotherly character, as a single child growing up alone fending for yourself in this world selfishly, brought me closer to another “Bim”, he was someone I met in Ho Chi Minh City also primarily known as Saigon by the locals before the great war. 

From what I can gather and what I can showcase on this platform is just words, that just feel what I have gone through, but not what I experienced, it’s a whole different ball game all together. Going back to the title, THE EXTRA MILE, this is what life is all about, experiencing little things that come your way without thinking what next, a life shouldn’t be all about the future, you lose out on things you could have done at that present moment which matters a lot when you look back. This was a wake-up reminder on what I missing out, in the end I would say “Don’t miss out on the present thinking about your future, another approach another story”. This was my story, if you have such small stories, do share it as this will show the gratitude to those beings who helped you along the way.

Special mentions to those who pushed me to head the extra mile: Jonas Curtis, those who made me feel like home when I was at lowest - The lady from Hoi An (Hoi An, Bana Homestay), Mr. Win (Ho Chi Minh City), Lisa Cross (Siam Reap, Cambodia), Teacher Pam (Bangkok, Thailand) and all those who never felt like I was ever alone.