Emma: one thing I read for pleasure

Asian Geographic
Issue 01/2020 No. 140

I love to be told stories, both fiction and fact, as they trigger my imagination and fuel my hopes. One day, after long hours of working at my hospital, I found a good read at Asia Book Store—it was Asian Geographic Magazine. Even though it was not my typical type of reading, the sub-title of the magazine ‘Elements of Life, Colours of Asia’ really caught my attention—I fell in love with it at first sight. It contains interesting stories of Asia, including arts, cultures, heritage, environmental issues, exploration and travel, which are not something I used to read when I worked at my last job at the bank. Before I started working at the hospital five months ago, I had worked in the banking industry for 13 years and I would read a lot of business, economics and finance. However, after I discovered the magazine, I found that these topics are not interesting anymore. Recently, I have been addicted to the stories and images in Asian Geographic Magazine, as it reflects my interests on travelling, Asian traditional beliefs and my experiences on CRS projects that I did many years ago.

 For starters, the fantastic stories of Asia in the magazine fulfil my desire to visit more countries in the region. I think travel is necessary for us because we can learn and transform ourselves through this kind of experience. Unfortunately, over the course of my life, I have visited only one country in Asia—Singapore. Many years ago, at my last job at the bank, I used to travel to the country to attend conferences and visit clients. Although I have been in the country seven times, I have never visited some tourist attractions such as Singapore Zoo or Universal Studios Singapore, because I used to be extremely busy with the meetings and I would end up spending most of my time at the hotels and the clients’ offices. During my short visits to Singapore, I could see that the country consisted of people who have different races and cultures. For example, at my bank’s office in Singapore, I think more than half of the employees were foreigners—they are from all over the world. On the streets, I saw many foreigners who are both Westerners and Asians based their appearances and the languages that they were speaking. I did not know what was happening in the country until I read an article from the magazine explaining that Singapore is a multicultural society—I think it is different from the multicultural society in my country, Thailand. Had I not visited Singapore, I would not have experienced the social phenomenon happening in another country. When I read the articles about the history, heritage, cultures of countries in Asia from Asian Geographic Magazine, I realized that each country is unique and I like the way that the magazine presents the diversity of Asia. I want to visit the Philippines, China, Japan, Lao, Vietnam and Indonesia soon.

Moreover, I love when the Magazine provides its readers stories on Asian traditional beliefs, and the most recent issue that I read is about Wu Xing: the five elements philosophy which is prominent in Chinese thought and practices. I think most people are familiar with the concept of the five elements, which are water, wood, fire, earth and metal that explain the states in nature and in human bodily organs. However, what interested me the most is that the magazine also tells its readers how the other Asian cultures use the concept of the five elements to describe the nature around them, which uses are quite similar to each other. In addition to that, I enjoy reading about how Wu Xing corresponds to the zodiac that describes the characteristics of an individual. According to the article, I am a ‘fire tiger’ who is optimistic and independent. I quite agree with it that I am independent, but I am not sure that I am optimistic as many times when I am in difficult situations, I get stressed and depressed easily. I have got advice from my colleagues and friends that I should get enough sleep.

Finally, not only does the magazine have interesting topics about travel, but it also promotes environmental awareness through its informative articles. I really enjoy reading something that shares my intention on protecting the environment. I used to be a youth activist in environmental campaigns at university. I think that we, humans, are just a small part of the huge systems of the Earth. If the world that we live on gets sick, we will get sick too. At home, I started the environmental campaigns by trying to reduce waste, reuse what we can reuse and to separate the waste that can be recycled from that that cannot. At university, I would create advertisements with such signs and activities to raise awareness on the environment issues. It was successful when some of the students at the university separated the waste for recycling. 

        In conclusion, recently I have read Asian Geographic Magazine for pleasure, as it provides me with interesting articles about places in counties in Asia that I really want to visit and Asian traditional beliefs that I am keen to learn more about. I also get inspiration on protecting the environment when I read the informative articles of the magazine.

Landscape Category June 2021 Finalist,
taken in Huangshan Mountain, China by
Sinsee Ho from Malaysia,
captioned, “Surreal Winter Beauty”