joining in this year's @threadapalooza!

behold 100 tweets of my favorite travel stories from the last few years

here's a photo of the 5 filled journals i'm referencing for inspiration as i write these

1/ I must admit, the experience that has changed me the most through all my travels is undergoing a 10-day silent Vipassana meditation retreat in Bodhgaya, India

It was the somatic and continual experience of "Law of Impermanence": that everything changes, both pain and pleasure

2/ Every day, we rose at 4:00am, held silence in pained isolation, worked on unravelling the ego, and resisted running away

It's one of those things where if I knew how hard it'd be, I wouldn't have done it, but if I knew how much it'd change my life, I would've done it sooner

3/ Serendipitously, the Dalai Lama was holding teachings nearby during the time of the retreat, so I had the honor of meditating with him before and after the 10 days of silence

The difference in experience was crazy

Before = intellectual reasoning. After = full body vibrations

4/ Actually the synchronicity around the entire retreat was staggering

I got horribly lost on my way to there (misguided rickshaw adventures!), and would've been too late to attend

A kind stranger saw me and offered to give me a ride - turns out he had attended the year before

5/ And another funny story I tell related to this experience:

After the retreat, I paid a visit to the Bodhi tree, the place where Buddha reached enlightenment. When I went to go meditate under it, a piece of bark actually fell off and hit me on the head!

6/ Two days after the retreat ended, I made my way to Nepal to start my trek up to Everest Base Camp

The first leg of the journey required us to fly to the world's most dangerous airport. Not only is the 500m runway dangerously short, but the pilots land by line-of-sight only

7/ In the following days, we encountered everything from dodging yak trains, crossing dizzying suspension bridges, and waking up to everything freezing overnight (incl drinking water and contact solution)

Altitude sickness was no joke, and we nearly turned back several times

8/ After more than a week of trekking with 25+ lbs on our backs in the middle of winter (without a guide), my trekking partner and I ascended ~18,000 ft to reach EBC

I am proud to have been able to achieve my father’s deferred dream of wanting to see and step foot on Everest

9/ We were so spoiled by the sights of mountains, and humbled by the grandeur of Mother Nature

How dangerous and breathtaking it all was, and how small we were in comparison

...which reminds me of my 2-week solo backpacking trip to hunt for the northern lights in Scandinavia:

10/ While the aurora is essentially impossible to predict, I was determined to maximize my chances of seeing them

So like the nerd I am, I created an excel spreadsheet to track geomagnetic fluxes, moon phases, weather patterns, and other factors that affected this likelihood

11/ After juxtaposing logistics of travel, as well as time and capital constraints, I decided to go to Abisko, Sweden: a small village in the Arctic Sweden

With a population of < 200 people (and no airport), I somehow made it on the last train ride there from Kiruna (video here)

12/ I had reached out earlier to some research scientists, and they generously let me stay in their co-op with them

I vividly remember our discussion about climate change from their firsthand permafrost research they were conducting in the national park

13/ I awoke at sunrise the next day to explore the park, and saw snow, touched with only animal tracks

I'd never been to a place so still that I could hear my heart beating. I remember being afraid to fracture the beauty of the silence.

It was so pristine, I could almost cry

14/ When the final night came, we trekked out into the forest to see the Northern Lights

The fluxes had then passed and while there wasn't much of a chance to see what I had come for in the first place, I felt perfectly content, surrounded by constellations and new friends

15/ Suddenly, a wisp of green dashed out on one side of the sky, then another

The wisps merged into a vivid arch above us that danced and shimmered like iridescent goldfish scales

No words can describe my emotions in that moment: I just remember us laughing in awe and disbelief

16/ While there were moments that make me appreciate being alive from a place of beauty, there were also moments where I came to the same conclusion from realizing the extent of human fragility

Surviving the Paris terrorist attack in November 2015 was one of those times

17/ I was in the Stade de France, one of the locations attacked, when explosives denoted outside

The ground shook, and panicked people flooded into the field after hearing confirmed bomb reports

This was the first time I truly didn't know if I would be alive to see the next day

18/ The only thing I could think of during this time was to call my parents and tell them that I was safe, and that I loved them

I remember having only 2 potential regrets:
>> I wish I had given people more of my love
>> I wish I could have experienced more of the world

19/ While many people passed that night, I am grateful to still be here today.

I always think to myself that in a parallel universe, I did not make it.

It has completely shifted the way I live life now: a greater emphasis on the present, as the future is never guaranteed.

20/ Another one of my paradigm shifts happened in Copenhagen

I was on a midnight bike ride under the full moon, when the bike chain slipped off. After several unsuccessful attempts to fix it, I gave up and started walking back (~10 miles away from my accommodation)

21/ It wasn't until much later when I realized my phone was missing after reaching for it to check where I was

It not only held my digital map of how I could get back, but also my ID, credit card, my line of contact, etc

No luck finding it, even after hours retracing my steps

22/ Not sure what to do, and starting to feel my fingertips go cold, I started crying near the side of the road. Before long, a girl approached me and asked me if I was okay

We ended up in a long conversation about life: our desires, our fears, what it meant to be human

23/ I was very much in an existential state then, deeply questioning what my purpose in life was.

To find inspiration, I would ask people what their goal in life was, and her answer was one that has left the greatest impression on me to this day:

"To become a child again."

24/ As we got up to start walking again, she pointed at my bike and asked if it was mine

She turned out to be a bike mechanic and fixed it in 2 seconds. THEN while she was walking me back to the city, she found my phone on the path

To this day, I am convinced she was an angel

25/ I am continuously astounded by the amount of kindness I've received from complete strangers through my travels

Particularly from the community on Couchsurfing. It takes a certain kind of person to share their home and life with you, especially if you've never met them before

26/ These people generally seem to more open-minded, and also seem to attract a high degree of serendipity

By spending time around them, I felt the second-order effects and the lens of my world also soften and expand

27/ Depending on the amount of uncertainty / randomness you want to invite in your travels, you can construct your living environment accordingly

>> Hotel: pure monetary exchange, good for family bubbles
>> AirBnb / Hostel: more integration (travelers and locals)
>> Couchsurfing

28/ What also stands out to me in Couchsurfing is that while there is no currency exchange, there is a richness that comes with cultural exchange

Many locals I stayed with said that letting people stay with them felt similar to traveling, but from the comfort of their own home

29/ The first family I stayed with was in Budapest, Hungary. We cooked pasta together, and ate cheese and bread while listening to jazz and sharing travel stories into the night

It felt warm and cozy, and like we had been old friends for a while

30/ Sharing and creating food together has always been one of my favorite ways of connecting with people, as well as a culture

This brings me to the time where I spent a month learning about macrobiotics and cooking with Madonna's personal chef (and her friends) in Japan

31/ Macrobiotics is the study of energy and food: how it's made, how it's consumed, and how it relates (to not only yourself, but also to the ecosystem at large)

Macrobiotics is as much a way of life full of gratitude and appreciation, as it is a technique or chemistry

32/ Because digestion starts as soon as the chef cuts into the ingredient, the chef must be in a well-balanced place, in the same way that a therapist must be

I meditated in Zen temples every morning during my time in Tokyo, surrendered myself to the fullness of each moment

33/ It was an interesting dual process to go deeper in presence from both a food and existence standpoint

Eventually, I came to the conclusion that food in itself is an opportunity for appreciation and gratitude 3x a day

Fullness of texture and flavor as a form of meditation

34/ I love trying out and making new foods whenever I go somewhere new, not only because of the novelty, but actually because it reminds me of how similar we are than we think

cue David Chang's unified theory of deliciousness: https://www.wired.com/2016/07/chef-david-chang-on-deliciousness

35/ What we consume are different isomorphisms of the same repeated patterns

I've always had a theory that intaking the same chemical compositions of nature (food) replicates similar somatic sensations

Therefore increasing empathy from a physical first, then mental level

36/ However, at the end of the day, it's not about the places we see, but about the people we meet along the way

Some highlights that have stuck with me here:

37/ Hiking my first mountain with a fearless stranger in the Adirondacks (upstate New York)

S picked me up in a Chevy truck with a giant metal canoe strapped to the top of it, embodying adventure

At night, we sang and made songs with a guitar and 2 didgeridoos

38/ Met an Olympic-qualified surfer in Malaysia and asked how he trained for the sport

"If you want to be the best out there in the water, the only person that can save you is yourself"

He would carry sandbags up mountains to have enough confidence to save himself in the waters

39/ Trekked through snowy forests and ended up hotspring hopping from Montana through Idaho. Never a dull moment with S on our roadtrip across the state

During one of our hikes, we stumbled upon hieroglyphics in a cave

40/ Met Z (photojournalist covering the Middle East) during quiet hours of a hostel in Guilin, China

Talked about consciousness and until the blue light of the morning filled in, then traveled to a different city together and ate nothing but ice cream and noodles the next day

41/ Meditated with a monk in Chiang Mai (Thailand), who continued to ask me "Who are you?" time and time again, regardless of what answer I gave in return

Until I reached a point where I felt my ego break, and had no rational semblance of who I was anymore

42/ Met an extremely late-stage cancer victim E in Bangkok who had stared death straight in the eye for years

He told me he was thinking of ending his life because he didn't want to burden his wife anymore

But until then, he would hang on and see the beauty of the world

43/ In Cambodia, I crossed paths again with someone I had seen in Vietnam

We celebrated our reunion by bringing swimsuits to a waterfall, dove into the cold waters, and sat under the rushing current

44/ Dude with a neon tank top and giant Osprey backpack sits next to me on a flight. I immediately think: "This person has interesting stories to tell"

I ask which travel story has changed his life most, and vowed to do it

His answer lead me to: https://twitter.com/michellehuang42/status/1338984791979515904?s=20

45/ I let someone who worked at an amusement park in Copenhagen try on my Google Glass, and he told my friends and I to go to the Swing Ride for a "surprise"

They let us in for free - and we spent the next bit in the air, seeing the city lights 100ft up, laughing in the swings

46/ Had a very eccentric Airbnb host in Japan

He performed in a rock band but also studied literature (went to the same college as Haruki Murakami, one of my favorite authors)

We would spend hours debating politics and reading old vintage Japanese comic books together

47/ Another thing I love about traveling is getting to understand a cultural psyche more through a variety of contexts, be it in psychology, linguistics, or even architecture

Some examples below:

48/ I spent 4 months living in Prague (Czech Republic), which made me realize how much culture extended into both the physical and mental architecture

49/ This was the first time in Europe, as well as my first exposure to living in a place that wasn't America or Asia

So it was one of my first times being to able to bear witness to and observe a culture I was truly unfamiliar with, while dually immersed

50/ In general, I've observed more of an element of "play" and "flow" in European culture

In Prague, my colleagues would take lunch breaks seriously, talk about how beer is cheaper than water, and warn me about more businesses being closed on weekends

51/ There were several interesting conversations on the absurdity of Czech advertisements as well: a certain bluntness / eccentricity mixed in with humor

It makes me wonder what kind of reactions they were aiming for when making these

52/ In fact, the fastest way to get an intuition for what a culture values is by watching the ads

When you think about how much money and time is spent on R&D to understand the psychology of collective "wants", and condensed into a 30 second clip, it's quite substantial

53/ Also seeing the embedded architecture in the city is analogous to looking at historical developments, similar to that of sedimentary rock

In the Old Town Square, you can see Roman Catholic, Gothic, and Baroque structures, indicative of styles from previous occupiers

54/ Funnily, in the corner of the Town Square, there's a McDonald's -- a structure that seems to make its way into the architecture of every country, despite the cultural differences

Ultimately, capitalism is the dominant culture that others often assimilate to

55/ Side note: The golden arches are the most recognized symbol in the world

(yes, even more so than the cross)

56/ There are also many correlates to how influences in culture diffuse through a language as well

I learned that in Czech, an "ova" suffix is appended on the last name of every woman, but is also a suffix you add to possessive adjectives in sentence structures ("belonging to")

57/ This kind of nuance hints to a patriarchal society, in the same ways that Chinese hints to a hierarchal society in China

You can't specify a sibling ("sister") without specifying whether or not that sibling is older or younger than you ("older sister")

58/ There are many subtleties in language that are oftentimes untranslatable, that bring embedded attention and emphasis to what a culture or speaker deems important

Even structures (e-prime) within a language (English) can change ways of relating https://twitter.com/michellehuang42/status/1338593923900567555

59/ Or specific words for specific states of being

E.g. within the first hour of landing in Tokyo, Japan, I had someone fall asleep on me while riding the midnight subway

As overworking is a common phenomena, the Japanese even have term for it, "karoshi", or "overwork death"

60/ Cultural context is also appreciated from a musical or artistic lens as well

A friend gave me this advice as I packed my bags for a Cuba trip: https://twitter.com/michellehuang42/status/1333195726600495104

61/ Following the music led my travel partner and I to learn salsa dancing from strangers (and their mothers!) in restaurants

It led us to road trip across the entire country with people we met in gas stations, and allowed for plenty of laughter along the way

62/ Cuba is also interesting because of the impact tourism has on cultural values too: another example of capitalism as the dominant culture

The average monthly salary in Cuba is less than $40, which is insane given that it's the amount that people will tip for fine dining

63/ One of the locals told us that tourism was so lucrative, that people started to leave their professions as doctors or engineers (or drop out of universities) to participate in the tourism industry

Observing how money is spent also gives insight into what is valuable or not

64/ Or what supply is created to meet demands in society

I once stayed a night in an internet cafe in Japan, a modular room with a computer and cushions

Because the island country has limited real estate, there have been admirable efforts in efficiency and utility

65/ Even the cars are more compact / boxier, and rooms in houses are oftentimes multi-functional and minimalist

Tatami mats act as both beds and flooring

66/ On the other hand, cars can serve as signifiers for expression in other countries. To this day, Germany is known to be the country of premium cars and car culture

On the Autobahn (German highway), there are actually certain regions that do not have a speed limit

67/ In fact, Germany is one of my favorite countries in Europe - extra to Berlin

My first foray into the country was Oktoberfest in Bavaria

Essentially a Disneyland for adults, I was welcomed into a table full of complete strangers, 'prost'ing over beer and chicken

68/ Although I don't really drink anymore, alcohol often serves as a unifying factor across cultures

In Vietnam, I loved hiking through rice terraces (albeit occasional mud slips), and celebrating with some rice wine with the indigenous people of Lao Cai at the end of it

69/ Vietnam is filled with hidden gems. Once I snuck into an old abandoned water park en route from Hoi An to Hanoi

The water had turned into a swamp, where alligators poked their heads out. It was hauntingly enchanting

70/ One of the moments I'll never forget was making my way on the back of a motorbike through one of the most scenic ocean mountain passes in the world: the Hải Vân Pass

71/ My first experience with motorbiking was in the Philippines, quite accidental

Right when I landed in Manila, as I was taking an Uber to my hostel, my driver strongly recommended me to go to Puerto Princesa (Palawan)

That night I bought a flight for 6 hours later flying out

72/ When I landed on the new island, after some rudimentary research, I found out the best way to see the island in its entirety is to motorbike

Despite never having done it before, I went to a rental shop and spent the next 11 hours driving to El Nido

73/ The next few days were incredible: exploring secret beaches, silently watching vibrant sunsets, and feeling the expansiveness (and slight terror) of staring down into the endless dark blue of deep lagoons

74/ I've been trying to describe this kind of "expansive" feeling, and the only other phrase that feels right is "in-between" moments

Where although nothing is really happening, you can feel the spaces between seconds elongate, testing the phenomenology of time

75/ Oftentimes it involves some presence of negative space, or some kind of awareness to complementary or "unsaid" parts of the world

Sometimes quiet, sometimes electric, but always resounding

Some memories that bear similar association below:

76/ [Helsinki, Finland] After a sleepless night, I took a ferry to Suomenlinna, climbed a sea fortress island right at sunrise, and yelled secrets from the edge of the island where the cannons were, into the sea

Felt like extreme liberation with wind blowing gusts into my hair

77/ [Enoshima, Japan] In a different country, yet still another island, I was among the last group of people let into a lighthouse before it closed

On one side of the observation platform were the brightness of city lights; on the other, just a complete sheet of ocean darkness

78/ If you were to imagine the darkest shade of black, then 5 shades darker than that, you could start to see what I saw: a vacuum of light

While ominous and terrifying to look into, as I stared, I felt in some way I was looking into a mirrored part of myself, the shadow self

79/ The terror transformed into a sort of comfort and acknowledgement, then into a powerful and alluring gaze right into the eyes of Mother Nature

If you listened close enough, you could almost hear the subtle whisper "do you dare?"

80/ [Oslo -> Bergen, Norway] Beautiful and scenic railroad trip of Norwegian woods occasionally shrouded with mist: lovely, dark, and deep

A journey fast forwarding through time and elevation: the same trees overlaid with different lens of climates and seasonality

81/ In some way, transportation is _always_ a form of time-travel

When you are in transit, you feel remarkably the same, but have still changed from the start and end of the journey, regardless of how short it is

Even sleep is transportation, moving through time but not space

82/ [Japan] Once I spent an entire day on the subway, continuously riding end-to-end, without really doing anything but people watching and living in a certain self-prescribed metaphor for life

A subway is essentially a perpetual coffee shop with a revolving door of strangers

83/ While the space between people is wider than at coffee shop, and there is no table, drink, or bill, it still is a collective space of human interaction (or non-interaction):

You sit across from another person and see them their natural habitat / state of mind

84/ In the mundanity of daily commute, guards are more let down. In this reflex-like embedded ritual, I found an intention of heightened awareness

When else can you truly face and observe the quiet boredom? Or see what things people busy themselves with when space is empty?

85/ [Denmark] In these very pockets of everyday existence, there is an even greater potential for beauty

The image I most associate with "joy": a sunny day biking in Copenhagen. As a biker-friendly city, the streets are filled with bikers, weaving in and out of lanes

86/ In the same way blood cells fluidly move through capillaries and into larger veins of the body, I felt as if I were a part of this city

I remember mild euphoria and effortless kinesthetic connection with others: swarm intelligence manifested in a physical dimension

87/ [Nice, France] The sound I most associate with the word "happiness": squeaky shoes, splashes of water, and laughter

This comes from a memory of seeing kids running through sprinklers, joyful and dancing through rays of sun, with families chatting together on the sidelines

88/ [Vang Vieng, Laos] Sunsets also do something interesting to my brain; perhaps the juxtaposition of the transience of its beauty, yet the opportunity to witness it daily makes it feel both valuable yet abundant

Here I am floating between clouds and colors in a hot air balloon

89/ But the most beautiful sunset I've witnessed by far was one on a beach in South Thailand during a particularly intense psychedelic trip

In my journal, I wrote "I am happy to be alive, and here in this moment", nothing else

It felt like raw and unfiltered awe and inspiration

90/ [Qingjing Farm, Taiwan] Sunrises are equally beautiful. I lived in a trailer in the mountains when visiting a sheep farm and saw this the next day

"There is a sunrise and a sunset every day and you can choose to be there for it. You can put yourself in the way of beauty."

91/ [Santiago de Cuba] During our Cuba travels, our last stop was to climb Pico Turquino, the tallest peak in the country

While we were supposed to hiking around 5am, due logistical strugs, we arrived at 8am. Our flight was the next day, so this was the only chance we had

92/ While the guide who led us originally told us "No es posible", we were still determined to get to the top

We basically ran up for the first half, drenched in sweat. After seeing our spirit, the guide started to rally behind us too, and said he would take us to the peak

93/ This was yet another reminder of my human optimism, where ambition and hope can sometimes defy logical reasoning (or expert opinion)

In fact, emotions seen as "irrational" and sometimes unpredictable are meant to do just that

94/ Similarly, large groups can ride on this collective energy to achieve feats that are seemingly impossible

This reminds me of the story of Angkor Wat, also known as the Jungle Atlantis in Cambodia

95/ Angkor Wat was the capital of what was once the largest metropolis in the world - but was suddenly abandoned 600 years ago and left to wear out with time

Still, it is a wonder how it was even possible to build such a large complex given the tools at their disposal

96/ As I walked into the stunning temples, and learned about this history, I could not help but see parallels between the brevity in creation and destruction of worlds today

This has been escalated with the rise of digital worlds: transient cities on a time-lapse slider

97/ Our own computers are now these residential units that have the ability to cluster together (and also dissemble) artificially, and at a much faster pace than what can be built physically

TBD what this means in terms of culture preservation, historical richness / disruption

98/ Doing this @threadapalooza reminded me of how expansive and wonderful the world is, with so many varied ways we can experience it

While there were moments of action, treading the edge of where life meets death, there were also moments of expansiveness in non-action

99/ Mostly, I feel grateful to have met so many people along the way

I've only shared a fraction of stories where others have impacted my life. We are mere guests of this world, and I hope to continue to intersect other paths in the same way they did mine, brief as it may be

100/ When I became a citizen journalist at age 9, chronicling the happenings of the world in my diary,

it catalyzed this yearning to discover, explore, and experience the constant, yet ever-evolving world

And ultimately, to share it with others.

So thank you for tuning into this mega-thread

Hope you had as much fun reading it as I did writing it!

I appreciate each and every one of you

Thank you for existing.