The evolution of the young traveller

Written by Lestari Hairul
Photograph by Peter Glenn Rapiz

     The pre-dawn flight to Manila got me questioning myself about what I’d gotten myself into as our ears were assaulted by the voices of the way too spirited members of our group. I was the cranky, seasoned traveller who was rolling her eyes at the antics of the younger, less-travelled students.

    Several mistakes were made through the trip. Small, slightly unnoticeable ones that would have landed one in trouble if we weren’t in such a big group. Perhaps it was the strength in numbers that emboldened them or perhaps the absence of parental presence but whatever it was, I’d chalked it down to the wide-eyed inquisitiveness of youth just recently released into the wider world.

     I am reminded now of what Dr. Yeoh said in his closing speech during the Cultural Night at the Cinematheque in Iloilo. We are a bunch of privileged kids. We come from widely different discursive backgrounds from the people we encountered in the Philippines and unfortunately, sometimes we tend to blunder about with our privileged blinders firmly clasped over our eyes and ears while flinging about, flaunting how much more fortunate we are.

    There were too many - way too many - awfully snide remarks about how things are here, but what made them so reprehensible was how innocently they were delivered. Blame them not, for they are young, uninformed and brought up in a completely different background. Breast-feeding a child in a person’s own space is considered uncomfortable and disturbing to the young traveller intruding upon the space of the young mother. Chirping about the prices, completely forgetting the fact that the money we brought here for a 12-day trip is worth more than several months of pay for many local Filipinos.

     But again, these are the sins of youth; one can scarcely fault them for their myopia. I was confronted by my own prejudices on the very first day when my bag was picked up by someone else leaving another one in place. I had absolutely no fear and while I’d like to attribute this fearlessness to my general disposition, the truth was that I was fully revelling in my status of a ‘first-world’ passport-bearing traveller. I was unafraid of what happened because I knew the bag would be recovered and even if it weren’t, I had my money and cards; I could just replace everything in a matter of hours. It is these slimy vestiges of privilege that so disturbed me during the trip.

    With that said, as my experiences have proven to me again and again during my travels, we will always be confronted with this dark side whenever we step out of our little circles of existence. And how one weathers this confrontation will either force you to grow or remain stuck under the coconut shell, to borrow a Malay proverb.

    Thus it was with great delight that I started hearing comments centred on the realisation that we have very fortunate lives. I was humbled by the collective sobering up particularly after the day we visited the urban poor of Iloilo.

    It was wonderful to witness the changes happening to every traveller as each one weathered the trials that were thrown our way, however big or small. My only hope is that we all leave with a greater level of self-awareness and that we don’t touchdown in Malaysia with only the good memories, but also the realisation that all life, all experiences, and all of existence aren’t confined to the closed off, amazingly fortunate circles we were brought up and revolve our daily lives in.

Us young'ins, will we graduate as, the legend goes?

Blogger Profile
Lestari just completed her first year and is determined to make her second year even more exciting and interesting. Lestari also likes reading, writing and 'rithmetic.