A What Girl?

20 posts into this blog and 1 comment. I am a failed blogger. well, based on the traffic monitor, I seem to be getting more than 1 visitor but you bunch are shy, I get it.   :-p

So, some visitors, for reason unknown to me, writes to me on email instead of commenting. Not what I prefer but some communication is better than none. Therefore, I'll try to satisfy your curiosity here.

Two visitors wrote separately asking me why Kampung Girl? what is Kampung Girl? A friend who visits this blog commented "but you're not a kampung girl!".

I set out to see what people would find if they had no idea what a "kampung girl" is. I googled. And then I find some indication on Indonesian Matters. Image searches gave results from this

to this

Let me clarify. Kampung = Village in the malay language. I am from KL and no one would say KL is a village. It is a big city. BUT... many in Malaysia, even though living in KL, lives in it. The world outside is a mystery.

At least that was true for me. I grew up in a very traditional and gender-biased Malaysian chinese family. As a kid, the boys were allowed much greater freedom than girls. Most often, financial resources were limited which meant priority was always given to boys. My sister and I thank God for not having a brother. We would otherwise not have the chances we had in pursuing our studies.

As a child, my world was small. In suburbia off KL, it does not matter how big the city was. My childhood was defined by the borders of the suburb I grew up in. I did not travel or fly until I turned 18. That was only to get me to university. So I saw the world outside my little "kampung" for the first time, very late in life. Most chinese parents give their kids education and what they think is best. Most neglect to give exposure.

So, as kids, we made up pictures in our minds about the places we hear about and dreamt of visiting. The hunger to travel grew in me. I take every opportunity to travel.

I think travelling like a kampung girl means to travel like I do not know anything about the place and its people. It means seeing with open heart and mind. It means being excited about what is before us and being there entirely.

That was the idea behind the title of this blog.