Why do you hike? Why do you sail the vast ocean? Why do you travel? These are the questions I find myself asking when I start travelling and hiking. Why I do this. Why exert effort on discovering places and going to less traveled haven? Why I use most of my salary to explore places? To tell you honestly, even before I cannot completely answer this without thinking deeply, really ellie, why? I could have spent my entire weekend at home lying in my bed watching my favorite TV series and movies or simply reading my pile of books waiting to be read. Was I looking for something? Was I chasing anything? For all the eighteen provinces I’ve been to for the past couple of months and from all the four summits I’ve reached in one month I can now answer wholeheartedly why I do travel almost every weekend or whenever I can. Was it because it was fun? Is it because it is the new trend? Is it because I am bored? Is it because I am brokenhearted?

For the past couple of month I’ve been struggling with what I want to do. With all that is happening to me: emotionally and mentally, I am deeply troubled. But one thing is for sure, when I am on the road, every bumpy ride of the bus going to somewhere yet unknown to me I find peace, I find serenity, an indescribable feeling, I feel calm more than ever, I find the sound of the trees as the wind kisses it alluring to my ears, I find the chirping of the birds and the gushing of the falls in the forest a perfect musical score, it gives me the feeling that I am one with them, that in nature I found my bliss, that it washes away my troubled mind and soul, that in every turn of the bus, in every smile of the local welcoming me, in every beat of my heart I know this is what I want to do and that is to travel from places to another, this is not an escape to reality, because this is my reality, this is my home, this is where I live, and this is why I live, this is my passion, because through travelling, be it going to provinces or climbing every mountain or sailing every sea, I feel more home than ever, I found myself smiling like an idiot, I found myself falling in love more with life that God gave me, I found my inner peace. I found people who shares the same passion.

I may not be able to finish my 81 before 30 challenge for I don’t know what will happen to coming years but one thing is for sure, I will never stop chasing places, I will never stop exploring provinces of my country, I will never stop meeting locals and listening to their stories about life, I will never stop learning and discovering the history of my country, I will never stop climbing mountains, I will never stop something I know that gives me peace. And with all my heart and soul I am willing to narrate every ups and downs of my every adventure be it here on my blog or somewhere where our paths will cross. For the lesson I learned and will learn to coming trips and adventures can be a guide to someone dreaming of visiting places on their own as I am once like them before.

Soon, I will step out of my country and discover highest peaks I never thought existed, vast ocean with no ends and a much bigger roads I never thought of crossing, but before I came to that point I will always remember what our dad always telling us when we were young, that we have to visit first our beloved country and to discover every turns of it and appreciate the home God has put us into before exploring the world. And I am living that words by my Father forever in my heart. Thus my new name of my blog blossoms, for I am sharing to you from now on my adventures From The Highest Peak To The Deepest Sea and All The Roads In Between.