People

More Alike Than We Think: A Tribute to Korea’s Independence Day

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To walk through a new country, pick up its words, and lose yourself in its culture is to realise that home is not just a place—it’s a feeling. The warmth of strangers, the kindness in shared smiles, and the quiet understanding that, beneath it all, we are more alike than we think.

Our differences? Striking. Our similarities? Unexpected. Both, worth celebrating.

And so, on this day, as Korea marks its Independence, a simple wish: May we all keep moving forward, embracing the unfamiliar, and finding pieces of home wherever we go.

Happy Independence Day, Korea! 🇰🇷

thailand travel

Thailand Diaries

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The American author John Steinbeck wrote a line that left an indelible imprint on me. “People don’t take trips, trips take people”.

After yet another trip, as I download my pictures, dust my shoes, clean up my suitcases and unpack my memory, how small the world is. How similar we are and yet how different. The richness in our differences gives us numerous opportunities to learn and rejoice. This time around the trip was to quieten the mind and take the opportunity to reflect and renew. Much of the trip was spent doing nothing. Or just shuffling my feet to street corners and vaguely staring at the world go by.

Only that the world doesn’t go by vaguely, if the world happens to be Thailand! Its sights, smells, voices can be arresting to energise every pore. The world comes to experience ‘Amazing Thailand’ for that very reason. The land has much to offer. Especially so, if you are able to go past the richness that is on offer and dished out on a plate to anyone who lands there. To be able to transcend that richness is an ask, I must confess!

But beyond what lies on the surface, there is true pageantry to the soul. A wistful energy in the eyes and an authenticity in the smiles. Talking to people on the road will expose the smiles in their heart and somehow a certain unpretentious completeness in their way of life and livelihoods.

My Thailand Diaries are full of random scribbles and rapid notes. Deciphering them is going to take a while. Few pictures are here.  Over the next week, I hope to have at least a couple of blogposts up on my experiences.

As always, do let me know what you think! 🙂

Thailand Travel vendor

Thailand travel shopping

Thailand travel market

Cotton, Clips, and Colours: A Lesson in Childlike Creativity

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Swabs of cotton, clothesline clips, and a splash of colours. In the hands of kids, that’s all it took for magic to unfold.

No TVs, no tablets, no digital distractions—just pure imagination at play. The kind that turns ordinary objects into extraordinary stories. The kind that reminds us that creativity doesn’t need a screen, just space to roam free.

All it takes is a little belief—in kids, in their boundless curiosity, in their ability to turn the simplest things into something wonderful.

Yes, magic. That’s the word. And kids own it.

(at Bangkok, Thailand)

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It takes a whole lot more to ask, than what seems apparent. A whole lot more!

To swallow pride to be able to ask for something to eat, is a thought thats difficult for me to digest. But that is the grim reality of several lives.

We wilfully turn our eyes off. Then we automatically go blind with our eyes open. Then the brain goes numb that we stop feeling in the quest of something more important. Finally, we stop caring.

Maybe we should pause and ponder what all we miss seeing with eyes wide open. Maybe thats something we should go around asking for.

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She is beautiful. With piercing blue eyes that are intense. I stand there, transfixed at her unbridled elegance and charm. Her wrinkles show up in large numbers when she smiles. She smiles often.
As the busy market in Cairo bustles by, she tells me her story. In broken English accented with an intact spirit.
Of sons, daughters and grand children. She has lead a very happy life, I can tell. She sells trinkets by the roadside.

As I prepare to leave, she takes a key chain from her beautiful collection and thrusts it into my pocket. “For you, my friend”, she says. With a charming smile and a bit of a wink adds, “ The friend who took the time to listen”. I couldn’t have stood there for more than 10 minutes, I think.

I insist on paying.
She insists on giving it to me for free. “Choose the right keys my friend”, she says and moves on.

People, their kindness and their wisdom is available to us always. Travel and discovery are good keys to open doors of the mind.
What roads are you on today?

#travel #traveller #instatravel #instapassport #blogger #travelblogger #blogging #travelinsights #traveladdict #traveltheworld #story #truestory #Cairo #Egypt #people #culture #kindness #wisdom #joy #listening #life #keys #lategrams (at Cairo, Egypt)

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Locks of Love.
The couple literally lock up (their love) and throw the key into the river.
It is an irony, isn’t it, to see locks standing in for love. But the redemption, if it were, is with the keys thrown into the river. Perhaps snared by it for safekeeping. In full flow.
After all what good is love if it cannot flow? And what good is flow if it cannot breach?
I wrote about it here : https://www.kaviarasu.com/2015/04/locks-of-love/

#Love #LocksofLove #LoveLocks #Travel #travelblogger #Europe #river #bridge #EU #sights #Signs #symbols #culture #people (at Brugge, Belgium)

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Locks of Love.
The couple literally lock up (their love) and throw the key into the river.
It is an irony, isn’t it, to see locks standing in for love. But the redemption, if it were, is with the keys thrown into the river. Perhaps snared by it for safekeeping. In full flow.
After all what good is love if it cannot flow? And what good is flow if it cannot breach?
I wrote about it here : https://www.kaviarasu.com/2015/04/locks-of-love/

#Love #LocksofLove #LoveLocks #Travel #travelblogger #Europe #river #bridge #EU #sights #Signs #symbols #culture #people (at Brugge, Belgium)

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Charles Karel Buls became Mayor of Brussels in 1881 and remained in office until 1899. His statue reminds the casual passerby of his stature, in his intense look and remarkable countenance. He sits close to the Grand Place with a book in hand.
He was a world traveler and writer too. But amongst these tufts of information lie hidden his efforts to bring reform to Brussels.

Several of these changes have changed the contours of the city. Much more than they are recognised now. Such is the nature of passionate work. Results that live on, long after the effort is done.
#traveler #travel #Blogger #travelblogger #Brussels #people #Passion #writer #statue #history #Europe #Memory #archives (at La Grande Place Bruxelles)