Hop into the Year of Endless possibilities..well Hello 2023!

Well hello 2023! Now that 2022 has left us behind with a rather spectacular eventful of serendipity and a mixed baggage of emotions, let me recap some of the finer epiphany that came knocking my medula oblongata just few months ago.

I like to call it as a pleasant delivery that arrived after I have been placing in my 'life cart' yeah if you love online shopping then you know the gist. Those items that you wanted to purchase but it has always been a 'should i' or 'should i not' purchase kinda feeling. Sometime we keep this items in the cart like forever and one fine day when your mind finally come into a realization that you need to get that stuff. Wait no more. So it was the same concept that i have couple of things I've always wanted to do but it was kept there somewhere in my memory bank while some I wrote it in my journal book that I hardly look into it lately due to busy schedule. Then some incident happened that it came to my senses, alright no more excuses and wait no more.

Finally last September I made a point to put aside everything, take a pause and press that SUBMIT 'life cart' button. Long history short, some calculated risk and feeling fear involved, I made a point to go ahead and do it anyway.. life is one heck of an adventure right? Absolutely. so here I am in the land of unknown, foreign and alien but the it has been delivered right - so i just need to brace myself and go ahead to start figuring it out what I want to do next. It was super scary at first, to be honest at one point I was thinking to myself..Are we really doing this , D? i guessed my support system around me are super convincing that no matter what happened, i will be fine and somehow that assurance gives me 80% confident, 20% doubt haha.  

Growing up I always know that i am up for something big out there. I meant, I am always curious to know and experience new territory, environment, vibe, opportunities and all the likes but it has been 3 years real life put me on hold from venturing all that. Oh man, it was hard and i don't even know myself during those period. Probably it was a wake up call. Enough is enough. So that was when this #D44Project was formed. I only told to my closest loved ones and they were supportive. D is my initial and the number 4 has been a significant 'luck' number to me ..but oh well.. u know things that we called luck right. You gotta make your own luck. I noticed that in order to materialize and make things happen, you need to first of course create a dream list, then manifest it, and finally act on it. Small progress is better than no progress. I'm always a believer that if you want something so badly, you need to do something greatly. 

44 days of things that I do repeatedly will become a habit, 444 am is the time that I frequently look into when I have great ideas come into my mind. yeah weird but it does. Coincidently I have been alive in this world with that favorite number, yeah to me age is just a number. Anyway there are 44 newness that I want to experience and explore and that include to have 44 countries in my list by end of 2023. As I am writing this, I have another 13 countries to go. let's see! these are 44 list of newness that i would like to achieve in this #D44Project :

1) Take sabbatical break from life

2) Celebrate White Christmas

3) Try Snowboarding

4) Hiking on snow

5)  

    

Sri Lanka - The Sultry Senorita

Hye 2019! 1 year passed by just like that. People often called the world as she/her so as I am fortunate enough to fly to a beautiful Island nation at the south of India in the Indian Ocean early this year, i would rather called Sri Lanka as the Sultry Senorita!. The diversification landscapes of this place range from lush green rainforest to captivating highland to sandy beaches and rocky mountains are something that traveler like me are always hunger for. 

My style of travels have always been impromptu / spontaneous / adventurous and some even last minute (yeah i love the thrills..sometime). Only certain occasion it was semi-planned (never well detailed plan because I would eventually discover or explore something out of the itinerary). Because my mind is always open for a new adventure, new experience and how I perceive every moment as a new beginning. My principle in life is to always find new thing to do or new place to visit at least once a year. But the habit has now multiply and it can be quite addictive..haha..but for a good cause so i believe it is still alright. 

Anyway one of the reason why Sri Lanka was chosen as my next destination was simply because one fine day as I was swapping my Astro tv channels, suddenly i stumbled into a cooking show (yes you got me right..i dont normally cook) but when renowned chef, Peter Kuruvita was cooking on top of a mountain overlooking an amazing backdrop of another mountain, it caught my eyes and ears. Yeah..So I keep watching and was totally flabbergasted when he was explaining about Sigiriya Rock behind him while he was cooking openly at the peak of Pidurangala Rock as pictured below. 

Source from http://www.peterkuruvita.com/2011/05/peter-kuruvitas-sri-lanka-with-sbs-food/ 

Then my curious mind started digging about Sigiriya rock. I saw all this images that I've decided ok its about time D, you need to get yourself to be there!

So I managed to get quite a good deal under MAS Airlines during public holiday stretch (26/1/18-3/2/18) which was even greater deal for working people like me. Long story short, my #beboks gang was informed and before we knew it, we ter'pressed' the 'Buttons'. Did our visa via online - fast and efficient at this link: https://www.eta.gov.lk/slvisa/visainfo/fees.jsp (fee USD20, RM3.94 @ USD1 in Jan 2018) , managed to get a local driver contact and did some research on the accommodation and places we want to hike and visit, boy we were so excited when the time finally arrive!

Formerly known as CEYLON, Sri Lanka is a far off island nation at the south of India and famed for its ancient Buddhist ruins with many historic diversification. Our 7 full days itinerary was filled with long drive, enchanting sceneries, crazy hike with 5,500 steps one way, meeting new friends, fun photo and video shoot, laughter, someone getting sick, tried varieties of local food (pedas/spicy!), went lengha shopping, experience the local National Day parade, getting close to ancient Buddhist historical site, my soul was gripped with amazing wanderlust especially the small town of Ella. 

Our Journey was from