Visiting a Foreign Country

 

Visiting a foreign country is a novel experience. One that leaves you with precious memories and countless tales to tell. In the past, I have visited two foreign countries, Singapore and Saudi Arabia. Back then, when my family travelled to Singapore, we were living in Johor near the border. So when we went to Singapore, it hardly felt like going to another country. As a young kid, going to Singapore was a fun daily trip to me like going to the zoo or a pet store. I knew Singapore as the place where there was no water in the toilets and the place where I couldn’t litter. While I knew it was a different country, I never registered whether everyone else was speaking a different language or whether the culture was different. Maybe it was because Singapore is quite similar to Malaysia in some ways or maybe it was because I was too young to be aware of those things but Singapore felt more like an extension of the city I lived in. 

On the other hand, when my family went to Saudi Arabia for Umrah, it was like entering a whole new world. The weather, the people, the culture everything was vastly different. What I found fascinating was that when in a foreign country, there were many small details that aren’t usually talked about but you find yourself noticing. For example, the roads in Saudi Arabia were unusually dark. They were completely black, while in Malaysia, tar roads are usually more of a dark gray colour. Such a difference came to be because it rarely rained there so the roads accumulated a lot of dirt and car emission making the roads black. It was also extremely dry, to the point that we couldn’t even smile without getting a cracked lip by the end of our trip.

There was also the palace in Mecca, located extremely near to the Masjidil Haram. The first thing that we think about when mentioning castles and palaces is some form of grand architecture heavily incorporated with a culture’s tradition, like the castles in Europe or Japan where we can clearly see the distinct style of their countries’ traditional buildings. The palace in Mecca however was a modern skyscraper. I thought it was a hotel of some sort but it was actually a palace.

If i was ever given the chance, the country that i would like to visit the most is Japan. It has both natural beauty and the attraction of modern cities.  I really like the sceneries that exist in Japan like the iconic Cherry Blossom trees or the beautiful mountainous landscapes. I also find the traditional architecture very beautiful. When combining both the natural beauty and the cultural beauty I think it creates an exceptionally beautiful view unique to Japan. Though after experiencing the winter in Saudi Arabia, which only reached about 16 degrees in the morning, I’m not sure if I could even survive spring in Japan, which has a temperature of around 5 degrees in the morning.