Life is short, be embarrassing.

A few weeks ago, a friend was asking me why I was not travelling in June. After I explained to her the reasons, she went on and said, “Oh, I am going to miss your crazy travel photos.”

I laughed and went on to ask, “How crazy?”

“Your photos always look like you are having so much fun in beautiful places. It makes me happy just to see them, and the inspire me to save up for my own travel plans.”

Wow. I had no idea. This just goes to prove that we live in a world full of ripple effects. Everything we say and do will somehow affect someone somewhere. We may not realize it but the world is always present, listening and watching us.

When I travel, I look forward to explore places and enjoy myself. I intend to be fully present and live in the moment. I take lots of photos to remind myself of that moment but I don’t want that moment to simply be pretty. I want that moment to be remembered as happy. Thus, I take a lot of goofy photos of myself as well.

For instance, when it was too cold and there was no one to hug so I hugged the wall in Paju, Korea.

Failed jump shots in Jeju Island made me looked like I was tip toeing instead.

Trying to do a Michael Jackson signature dance pose in Dunedin, New Zealand.

Playing soccer and having a wild time in the middle of busy Vienna street.

Dancing with the kids in Jeju Island. I love dance and I love kids so why not!

Being a third wheel in an epic love story in Nami Island, Korea. Hey, I wanna be part of this love story too.

Of course sometimes the bestie who usually travel with me is forced to join me. Thank you for entertaining me haha. Jumping into stream when it was too hot in Krabi, Thailand. We did not have any spare clothes whatsoever.

Pretending to fight in Rotenboden, Switzerland. I figured that there was no way we can make this photo ugly when gorgeous Matterhorn was in our background.

Trying to kick the bestie while she was posing nicely for a photo in Wanaka, New Zealand. Opps.

Of course I did not spare the others who were travelling with me. The more the merrier right? Feeling blinded by the beauty of Chexbres Village in Switzerland.

Doing an embarrassing dance in hanbok, korean’s traditional costume. The hanboks were all so pretty, I thought I looked pretty regardless of how dorky (and clumsy) I was.

Pretending to be a super villain in Sokcho, Korea. Send them all flying. We took a series of photos like this and I swear we laughed too much till we cried lol.

Even when I am travelling with my parents, they are not spared. I love how my dad is so sporting and will do whatever pose I tell him to do. Here is us in rowing boat in the 30s. Thank you people of Penang for not laughing at us. 🙂

Perhaps I have reached this age where I don’t really care about being embarrassing. Don’t get me wrong, I did try to look demure and pretty but it often fails so I thought I would just be myself. I have more fun being myself. Occasionally, I would take a step further by video recording myself dancing in different places. Ah….so much fun. No one, local or tourist has ever stopped me from doing that. Instead, they look at me and laugh or smile. On those days, I brought a little joy to them and that is way more meaningful than trying to look pretty.

As you can see, I am average looking so if I can’t look pretty, let me look funny instead.

I do have more embarrassing photos of myself and my friends but let me stop here for now before they all come charging at me with rotten eggs.

I look at my younger friends and families and often wonder why they are so uptight on what kind of photos are being uploaded on their social media. They also worry on how many likes they get and when it is not up to their expectations, they delete the photo.

How stressful life is to wait for others’ approval!

My advice is chill everyone. No one cares. Life is too short to not live to the fullest. It does not matter if you look imperfect in photos. No one is. I love people who are confident enough to not worry about looking ugly or imperfect.

On another note, I am never boring to travel with. I may suck at directions and lose my way a of times but my photos will always turn out good. It is mainly because it captures the real experiences, real (and crazy) emotions and my real character.  My photos are memories of me and my journey, my photos are not meant to impress anyone.  I hope your photos reflect the real you, instead of reflecting what the world expects of you.