It’s a week through the fresh new year of 2024. 2023 was like my second full year since I moved back to Sabah. It was not the most eventful of year, but at least it was a big jump from those gloomy and dark years when the pandemic was still very much in control of how the world revolved and worked.
Travel-wise, I managed to go to three countries, which was still above the targeted average of traveling out to at least two countries per year. Of course, the highlight was my very first trip out to China. It was so modern and beautiful just I had expected it would be, at least at the two major cities that I went to, and wish I could explore more of the giant country but of course I couldn’t do that since I was there on an official job where the itinerary was pretty much pre-arranged.
Then I returned to Manila to fulfil the promise that I made to myself, which was to take my every family member to some kind of pilgrimage, visiting churches and all. It was the last of three batches and I was so glad that my mom managed to join me in all the three batches. When she contracted Covid when this deadly virus was still all over, it was quite bad that it did come to me that she might never get to travel with me any longer. She survived, but of course at 75, it took quite a great deal of effort to convince her that she still had the energy to go out traveling. And she did.
Then I travelled out to Yogyakarta to fulfil the long overdue plan of visiting the Borobudur. It was quite a last-minute self-arrangement. Borobudur was great, but visiting it once is probably enough for me, unlike Angkor Watt where there is much more to explore and is always worth to come back to for more. At least I got to retrieve my solo travel mojo again, and everything just went into place and was almost effortless. Going solo was always my favourite type of travels and it still is anyway.
Half way through last year, rumours came around that my office might have to close doors due to what I saw was more of a political demand. Staying based in Sabah didn’t seem to be quite an option at that point of time. Things went quiet chaotic because it was quite sudden, but still I came up with a list of places and activities that I aimed to go and do before I got transferred back to the Peninsula. Quite in the rush, I managed to tick quite a great deal off the list, until I was told that our office would still be there to stay for at least another couple of years or so. So things just slowed down a bit, and I’m continuing ticking things off the list to 2024.
Career-wise, I don’t think I did any better than I did in previous years. I just did what I was paid to do. I was still trying to get used to working in my own homeland of Sabah after spending so many years working in the Peninsula. The job environment itself is pretty much convenient, logistic-wise at least except for all the traveling and long gruelling road trips that I had to endure through to get my job assignments done. I have to admit I enjoyed it in the beginning, then it became quite too much. The nature of job required me to go running around to get things done, and time just flew past before I knew it. I’m not quite sure what lays ahead of me this year, but somehow, I’m not really worried of any possibility, including getting transferred back to the Peninsula. I think at this stage of life, I’ve been through quite so much that any possibility no longer worries me, at least career-wise.
So that was about it, and somehow I know that 2024 is going to be a BIG year for me, or at least I’m planning to make it one, traveling to more places and climbing more mountains. I seriously need to get my mojo back.