Discount Traveler

Sharing Stories - A Glimpse into Another's Life - The Real Courage On The Road

lyndsay — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 22:45:58 GMT

First afternoon in Mandalay, I was just hanging out at the hostel’s lobby since they cut off electricity in Myanmar for 3 hours everyday. The manager started talking to me about the tours but I told her that I have arranged a tour for the next day. Ma Nyu Yee was so nice and helpful, she offered her help with almost anything not just to me but also to the other guests.

I was a bit bored that day so I asked about ‘Moustache Brothers”, political stand up comics that caused them to get imprisoned for joking about their government and performing in front of Aung Sang Suu Kyi. She then talked to the Xychlo driver, Koo Yeh, he quoted 3000Kyat to go there and back for the service. It was a bit expensive and on the map I can walk to the place, so I told her that I will just walk to go there. Few minutes later, I talked to her again saying, “I know I can walk to the place, but I think I’d rather help the Xychlo driver and take his service to bring me to the Moustache Brothers’ place”. She was surprised, trying to hide her tears, she happily went out and yelled Koo Yeh’s name to give him the news that I decided to his Xychlo service.

I know I did the right thing helping him, at least to get by for a day or two. I realize that not all backpackers will hire a xychlo driver to that distance since backpackers are trained to walk miles to save money. I just couldn’t turn my back on that because I remember how it was like ages ago, and it reminded me of the haunting memory of letting one old man starve for his dinner way back. Story of frustration not having a courage to help out someone in need. It was a sad story but I’d still tell you.

One night, I was queuing at a local bakery back in the Philippines for my turn to buy something. The old man before me was trying to get a packet of noodles handed the lady his 5 pesos. The lady gave his coins back saying,”It’s already 6 pesos, price has gone up”. A poor man’s dinner is usually a pack of instant noodles and maybe some rice if they are lucky, family of 5 or more shares a cup of rice and noodles. Disappointed that he will not have his dinner, I was crushed, thinking why I did not give him a peso? I was there for a higher reason but what? Why didn’t I reach out to help? It would have been nice to help someone not to sleep starving. That moment is marked on me until now, the reason why I continue to try and help people that needs a hand I come across.

Photos: Backpacking Round The World

lyndsay — Thu, 3 May 2012 11:48:00 GMT

Photos From All Over The World

My Scholarship entry - Giving back on the road

lyndsay — Sun, 8 Apr 2012 08:45:37 GMT

What's the importance of giving back on the road? What does that really mean to you? As a traveler, I consider myself blessed not because I am privileged to travel around but courageous to decide and just do it.

Most people think traveling is a privilege and needs more money to do it, depriving themselves a lot of possibilities and knowledge to gain along the way. With that opportunity, I believe it is nice to give back something on the road. How? As we travel, we get to see different places, face different culture and traditions, meet people, and experience amazing things we never thought we could. It opens our mind that there are more things than what we used to see, what we used to live with, there are more than what we thought we already know.

Traveling makes you understand that no matter how different our race, our place, our culture, and way of living, we are all the same. We all have our needs to survive, we all have emotions to feel, and dreams that is waiting to become a reality. For people who have no enough resources to make life easier, needs more effort for them to achieve it, and I believe as a traveler who is there to witness or have the opportunity to do something to help those people is one great way to give back on the road. It will inspire them to strive and not lose hope to make their dreams come true.

More often than not, we are bound by beliefs we grew up with, sometimes, wrong conditioning which molds our perception, and that perception becomes our reality. This is why it is important to give back on the road, share what you have learned, inspire people that they can turn all the negative things around them into something better with careful choices. I am not saying I know everything, but the fact that we are learning and that knowledge is helpful to us, it is not bad to share them to people. It may not work exactly how it worked the first time but it will at least guide them on the next step they will make for their journey.