Miumiu's travel thoughts
This is not the usual travel photographic album of the internet. This website is intended to document the detailed cultural and historic aspects of the places that I have been to, and to add a bit more value to the travels. I even go as far as reducing my appearances on the photographs, as this is not the point about me travelling. This is a blog to answer Why, not What. This is a blog to extend our education from my school to the public domain, hence I include elements of etymology, food, history, custom, as I said, the 'Why' of a site, which most of the time we tend to neglect.
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Everyone who knows me take that I have a fetish towards UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation) World Heritage Sites (WHS) and more recently the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). This is my bucket-list, full-stop. Whenever I travel I try my best to tick it off my list as much as I can. First thing first, I am not a professional traveller and I travel for work mainly. Whenever I travel work or leisure, I probably sneak out a few days to explore the areas and try to connect to an WHS if ever possible. I have no intention for now to and cannot afford to become a professional traveller honestly.
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I genuinely enjoy travel as it enriches me as a human. I am a cultural man, ​and when I travel, I don't just go and take a picture with a V-sign and run away. Many of us do that. I did that too in my early days, and of course even now many a times I don't really understand or appreciate the site when I am there until I return and start reading and blogging more about it. Now I try to understand the history, story, the culture and everything behind a site. I learn (and in fact a lot) from that site. This makes our travel more rewarding and educational, and by the way this also makes this blog live. The blog is continually being added with new information about a site, as I get to know it better.
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I have a mantra: When I travel I become part of that country, I try to speak their language, eat their food, acquire their etiquette and obviously respect their culture. I believe the travel site is a temporary extension of my home which I must respect.
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The question is why the WHS and ICH? The two lists do render us an appreciation of humanity, culture and history and most importantly it has a large storybook to tell about us as human. Story-telling is an important element of our perpetuation and hence I value them. At first it was just about travelling and I focussed mainly on the WHS, but as I travel more I have come across a lot of interesting cultural elements that should also be similarly appreciated.
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Of course not all WHS have gotten me excited, I have often just uttered DUHHH upon reaching a site (I am looking at my journey to Lake Neusiedl...) after spending so much time and effort to reach there. By and large, however, there is always a good chance of a story than just shopping fridge-magnets... Similarly I have been living with a few ICHs with my upbringing without even realising their cultural importances... Kinda cool when I think about it.
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Are all WHS worth it? It depends on how you view it, but it does vary. Size-wise some is so massive that you might be there without even knowing it (Wadden Sea). Some is just a statue where you might see every here and there (Holy Trinity Column in Olomouc). Some of us are living in one (Rome, Macao, Brasilia...). Many of them were just stunning when you see it with your own eyes (Grand Canyon, Yellowstone...), while my response to many of them was 'Is that it?'. Some of them have taken me a multi-transit convolution to reach a site (like Pattadakal), and when I reach there I do question the return of investment (ROI), so I am not sure if everyone will follow me. Having said that I did enjoy even the journeying part to reach a WHS.
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Similarly we also live with a number of important cultural heritage that we may not even notice. I still remember the time when I detested Yueju so much, as it was noisy and lengthy, but clearly I did not appreciate its history back then. Some of the stuffs that are part of our daily lives carry a strong cultural identity worthy of perpetuation. As mentioned, some can be mundane, like what I learn about Chinese calligraphy, but again who am I to judge history?
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Many people have asked me whether I intend to complete all of them. The answer is a simple no as it is probably not even possible. Instead of answering the question directly, I would point you to a website that I particularly enjoy reading as I see a lot of parallel philosophies of travel with him (Everything Everywhere Travel Blog). I would refer the readers to visit his site especially on the reasons why we simply cannot reach all WHS (The 12 Most Difficult To Visit UNESCO World Heritage Sites).
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As I said I probably cannot afford to become a professional traveller ever. Turns out that there is a real measure of how great a traveller you are (Most Travelled People). The top-ranked WHS traveller is Bill Altaffer who has an astonishing 1043 out of 1199 in his pocket! I am currently ranked 331st with close to 300 something in mine. I shall persevere.
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Some abbreviations used in the blogs:
BCE - Before Common Era
CE - Common Era
UNESCO - United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation
WHS - World Heritage Site
ICH - Intangible Cultural Heritage
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