Do you just want to annoy your mates back at work and show them how much fun you're having at Ko
Samui or do you want to offer more than that. Do you want to offer not only them but also yourself a part of you that you have kept hidden and write about the good times, the bad times and the real ugly times. I'd probably leave out the part about waking up with a She Male the morning after the Full Moon Party but hey, we all write 'honestly' in a different yet honest way!
I guess for those who want to simply annoy their mates, use Facebook that way you can also send each
other hundreds of annoying 'Facebook' things each day.
I began mine simply for my family and some of my friends who seemed interested in my adventure. When I left Australia I knew I wanted to live in China and I knew I had no intention on returning home for a long time. What I didn't know about was blogging. I never really thought about sharing my life with others or that others would actually be interested. It wasn't until I travelled to the Tiger Leaping Gorge in Yunnan Province that I found out about the world of Travelpodding.
I was travelling with two girls from Ireland and one of them mentioned updating her travelblog.
Thankfully I overheard her and asked what it was.
From then on a new experience was added to my life's adventure and one where I get to actually show not only my friends and family how beautiful and crazy China really is but also people I have never met. I
could have continued with Group Emails but like most people I really hate group emails and the time it
takes to attach photos to them. Why is that after you have sent it and deleted it from your account
someone always writes to you asking you to send them the photos you sent the other day? Over a period
of time I began receiving emails from people I had never met and that list continued to grow. It was then
I actually realised that people really were interested in the life I was building for myself away from my
motherland.
Some of these people either desired to do the same or to travel with me from their armchair.
I think that is why my writing style changed rather quickly. One month it was short, not so descriptive and used mainly to show my family and friends back home where I was living. Then after waking up to the fact that people were actually hungry to see what the 'real China' was like I began using it to do exactly
that.
Remember that each country you visit will always offer so much more than what most already know.
It is up to you to find an interesting way to offer the hidden gems you find. If you show them in a not so
exciting manner your hidden gems will remain just that, hidden. They will be passed over for a more colourful and exciting blog that shows boring Big Ben in a way that you never thought to show that ancient
walled city you come across in the northern deserts that no foreigners have ever visited.
In a lot of ways this helped me find not only my own style of writing but also my own style of travelling.
I wanted to see as much of the real China as possible and most of the people I met weren't interested in going off the beaten path. So in a hissy fit I stamped my feet in frustration, went all independent and went in search of 'the real' China alone (much of the time anyhow). Although most of the places I go now are 'for me' they are also for those who want to go there but probably never will.
In other ways I use it to introduce China and the world of travel to new Foreign Teachers and also to
travellers out for their first adventure in either the world or in China. Many of them speak of their dreams
of 'leaving it all behind' and joining those like me who are living their dreams and living 'overseas' etc. I try to also use my blog to capture this dream while it is still fresh and to show them that their dream can
easily be made real. When they get home they can sit and look over their photos of the places they
visited and from there I hope that things 'click' and they will realise that they can actually do the same.
And lastly I also use it for me.
I want it there for when I am old, wacky and a more loony than I am now. So, much of my blog is about
just that. There are many entries on my bike rides, all in rice fields and mountains. To many maybe they
look the same. But to me they don't look the same at all as each of them was found in a different way and took me to a different part of China. I guess others get to see how beautiful some of my rides are
but there is more to it than meets the eyes.
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