My Bucket List

I'm an adrenaline junkie and sportswoman if you haven't noticed. I have written somewhere (who am i kidding, its here, actually) of the extreme things i've done and would like to do before hitting 30. Reading an old post 4 years ago, i feel a sense of triumph to see that i've accomplished 2 out of 6!

Catching up with some girl friends, we talked about 2014's goals or what we hope to achieve in our late twenties. Amongst us was a 30-something year old who has a young child. She said she has zero goals or achievements she wants to make, pointing out that her life is so complete and content ever since her baby arrived. Then, another who has a baby on the way listed out travel destinations like Italy and other European destinations she want to visit as her bucket list. She then realised with the arrival of her baby, holidays may have to wait! The last one to comment obviously put more thought into her bucket list. She wants to live and work abroad, move in with her boyfriend and learn pottery to create her own furniture.

I haven't thought of a bucket list but when i heard hers, i got inspired and created one on the spot to share.

1) Live and Train Kungfu in an authentic temple
I grew up watching kungfu films on repeat while eating durians on top of newspapers on the floor. I've had dreams about Jet Li and fantasized about being one of those damsels in Wong Fei Hong. It is no surprise that training kungfu on royal architecture grounds would be like a kid's dream to visit Disneyland (which was already fulfilled by my dad when i was 12).

Mt Wushan Temple

After intensive research, i was pleasantly surprised to find many temples in China offering training courses ranging from days to months and years. They all have good English websites, comprehensive FAQs and even online customer service officers to chat with you! It must be a good source of income from all these foreign tourists with much enthusiasm as me. 

It is also very affordable from SGD 70 a day to USD 350 a week. A typical schedule would be waking up before dawn to train, eating vegetarian then training again before dinner. After dinner, it would be cultural lessons like Calligraphy, Mandarin or Chinese Medicine. Religious lessons are not compulsory. Some temples even take students to pick Chinese herbs in the mountain! It's exactly like the pugilistic novels / movies we normal Asian folk read and watch!

2) Check into a Love Hotel

Still fascinated with Japan and her obsession with kink (wrote much information as well as travel posts on Japan), a return visit for a different experience is definitely in the film making books.

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3) Learn to Survive in a Jungle
While most would like to learn a new language or dance, i think spending 4 days in a jungle in Thailand learning the basics of building shelter, starting a fire and trapping an animal to kill would be useful. You never know when you need these survival skills in the event of an apocalypse facing zombies.

US military soldier drinking cobra's blood.

4) Live like a Monkey
Entering and exiting your Laos treetop accommodation via a zip line, 10meters above ground? I'm sold.