31 things to say for a month - Day 27: The Pursuit of Happiness

Day 27: Happiness at different stages of your life

This post is an interlude of my previous posts on my Europe trip. I have wanted to write on this topic for the longest time ever since 2013 but somehow it got saved as a draft and was never published. I am currently reading a book titled, "The Pursuit of Happiness - an economy of well-being" by Carol Graham and had so much insights that I wanted to revive my discussion on this topic.

Carol Graham mentioned two types of happiness - Benthamite sense and Aristotelian sense. Jeremy Bentham's concept of welfare was hedonic utility: maxmising the contentment and pleasure of the greatest number of individuals as they experienced their lives. Aristotle thought of happiness as eudaimonia, a Greek word that combined two concepts: "eu" meaning well-being or abundance, and "daimon" meaning the power controlling an individual's destiny. [Source: Carol Graham]. In simple terms, the former is associated with contentment in day-to-day living whereas the latter looks at the opportunities available to lead a fulfilling life.

For a certain period of time, I did feel very upset with what was going on in my life and how I felt I seem to be drifting away from my long-term goals and what I had EXPECTED myself to achieve. Though I had a lot of leisure time to engage in activities that I enjoy - sports, music, watching dramas, reading, etc. and I had sufficient income to support myself on a daily basis, I did not experience an improvement in my well-being. Sometimes, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling frustrated and upset about what I had done to my life. Neither money nor leisure kept me happy which was odd since economics has taught me that both are key sources of utility that keep people going. It was after my adventures to Europe that I returned with a fresh perspective of life and figured out my next step in life and two months after the new year has begun, I can be very sure that I have been putting my time to good use.

So after reading this book, I have a better sense of the source of my unhappiness or happiness. In the book, the author cited empirical data of how people's happiness or well-being level is a U-shaped function of age. That's why people love to reminisce about their childhood and when they enter retirement, they are also happier. For me, I guess is because I emphasise more on Benthamite sense of happiness as a child/ teenager whereby my needs were pretty simple - food, sleep and fun. However, as I age, I start to focus on searching for a meaning in life. Someone told me that I should ignore my ideals about life and just think about making as much money as I can while I still have the energy and capability. I replied the person with certainty that even if I have loads of money, I will not be truly happy. At that point in time, I had not figure out the reason but after reading this book, I guess I have found the answer.

It was mentioned in the book that there are many causes behind why certain people emphasise Aristotelian sense of happiness (like I do). It could be due to personality, upbringing, personal experiences, agency and capability, etc. People without agency are more likely to be contented with a decent lifestyle on a day to day basis and do not think so much about whether they had led a fulfilling life in their lifetime. There is no right or wrong as to which sense of happiness is more superior since our circumstances could also pretty much shape our ability to search for a particular sense of happiness. So the book mentioned the happiness irony of the "happy peasant vs frustrated achievers". I think a few months ago, I was at the stage of my life whereby I truly felt like a frustrated achiever and that was my main source of unhappiness. Knowing the cause of your own unhappiness is key to helping you overcome your frustrations, IMO. So I cannot ask for a more appropriate timing for this book to appear.

At a certain juncture in my teaching career, I did wonder why I do not foresee myself teaching for the rest of my life though I really enjoy the interaction with the youths and seeing them make progress in their studies and academics. Besides graduate school, I really do not know from where had I found the courage to quit my job and chose to be unemployed instead. I took a pay cut switching to another sector but at no point in my life had I been so sure that teaching is not the route for me for the rest of my life. I guess the joy and satisfaction from teaching is one of Benthemite sense to me and they are unable to fill me in the long term. I dream dreams and I want to accomplish them in order to truly lead a fulfilling life and I am sure I have the ability and determination to realise them if I continue to be steadfast in my pursuits and not give up in the face of setbacks along the way.

2015, you have been a fantastic year thus far and please continue to be! Rather, I will make it happen!

Dix-neuf: French Rivera

#19: Nice, Eze Village and Monaco

After the freezing climate in Iceland, I headed south to the warmer Mediterranean. My first stop was Nice, a place which I have wanted to visit for the longest time but often put it off because I thought it would be more suitable to visit during Summer. Nevertheless, I am not really a beach person so I decided to visit during the off-season this time round. A smaller crowd also meant cheaper accommodation. From Nice, I explored the nearby village of Eze and then Monaco. I would love to go to Cannes (where the famous film festival is held annually) as well and other parts of the French Rivera but I had wanted to go to Marseille so I decided to skip Cannes.

Left to Right (Top): (1) Main plaza in Nice, so nicely lit. (2) Train station in Nice - I like all the train stations in France because they are all so artistic that one will never imagine it to be a train station. (3) Port in Nice - pales in comparison to the port in Marseille but seeing all the yacht and boats docked in the harbour is such a pleasant sight.

Left to Right (Bottom): (1) As usual, I rented a bike and cycle along the coast, enjoying the breeze and the constant roaring of jet engines. (3) Apparently, Nice is one of the few places that you can see the plane take off by the coast. I have had the experience of being so up close with planes at Changi Airport when I cycled along that one road next to Changi Airport's runway. I used to go there with one of my best friends to watch planes take off and land late at night. (2) The main beach of Nice. The clouds look fake in the pictures but there was absolutely no filter. Oh well, nature.

Eze Village

Eze Village - Hundreds of houses on top of the mountains and one has to walk thousand over steps to get up. There was a garden right at the top of the village and I had a hard time finding my way up. There were no clear directions or signs so I simply took one of the routes. When I hit a dead end, I would then go back to the previous crossroad and take the alternative route. It took me about 45 minutes to get right up to the top. Looking down from the garden and across the horizon (pictures above).

Monaco - where the rich and famous reside

Facts about Monaco: The people speak French but it is not a city in France. It is an independent state and I seriously wonder what drives its economy. No agriculture of any sort due to its limited land space (probably smaller than Singapore). Key industries are Casino and Sports - I believe everyone must have heard of the Monte Carlo casino. It is home of the F1 race and many tennis players reside in Monte Carlo as well. You see quite a number of sports cars. It reminds me of Hong Kong whereby you see high-rise buildings being so densely packed.

I met a Korean lady who was travelling and we then explored Monaco together. It was fun walking aimlessly in the city and taking pictures of anything that amused us. There was a marathon ongoing at the port and also a funfair. It brought back a lot of my childhood memories when my dad would bring us to funfairs. We were too young to take those thrill rides so we went for the kiddy ones like Ferris Wheel, flying elephant, etc while Dad would go for the roller coasters, X-ride, etc. Now that I have grown up, our roles have definitely switched. In addition, my brother, cousin and I would then try to create our own funfair back at granny's place - we set up games station and played the games that we set up on our own. :)

Korean names are really difficult to remember so despite the lady telling me her name, I had cleanly forgotten it. Lol! However,  it was good having to meet her because she could speak English quite fluently and through her, I got to learn so much more about Korea. Over the years, I have made about 4 different group of Korean friends while on my travels and every single one of them warmly invited me to visit Korea and promised to show me around. However, I am not a big fan of Korea - nothing really interests me and so have been putting off my visitation.

#18: Photoblog - Iceland

#18:

It so happens that I am writing this 18th post on 18th February 2015, which also happens to be the Eve of Chinese New Year. This is definitely one of the most look forward occasions, a day when we think about what we want to achieve going forward and at the same time reflect on the previous year. As Chinese, we give thanks on this day to our parents for all that they have done for us and moving forward, they continue to give us their blessings though we are no longer babies. :) 

For this last photoblog of Iceland, I bring everyone to the South coast of Iceland, to the largest glacier in Europe - Jokulsarlon Ice Lagoon. We decided to do a 2-day tour instead of a 3-day one which includes an entire day of ice caving. Kinda regret but many factors intertwined and led us to decide to do a 2-day tour. Our main agenda was to do glacier hiking and I am really glad that I had a go at this. Simply amazing feeling! 

Let the pictures tell the story..... 

 Seljalandsfoss (Above: From the front); (Below: behind the waterfall) - It was a good experience walking behind a waterfall and feel the water cascading down. 

Above: I do not know the name of this waterfall because it was not part of the tour. The wind was extremely strong on that particular day (they call it gust) so our mini-van faced a lot of resistance while moving forward and it slowed us down a lot. We had to skip parts of our itinerary and instead our guide brought us to this non-touristic waterfall. It pales in comparison to Selfoss if you were to just look at it from its front. However, the surprise lies behind the cliff that precedes it.

Above: Skogafoss - considered by many to be one of the most beautiful waterfalls in Europe because of its height but for me, the previous one was better.  

Above: If the first time you actually took any serious interest in Iceland was because of the volcanic eruption in 2010 and 2011 that caused multiple flights in Europe to be cancelled, welcome to the world of Eyjafjallajökull - the largest active volcano in Iceland. Apparently, the Icelanders have a way to forecast volcanic eruptions and though they may be living in the vicinity at the moment, they are ready to evacuate anytime an eruption happens. They have many safety protocols in place to deal with volcanic eruptions. I bet they have a love-hate relationship with volcanoes. As much as it is their energy source and the ash spewed from the volcano during eruption supply them with fertile land, it causes much disruption when anticipating an eruption. After this trip, I have one more to-do on my bucket list and that is to see a volcanic eruption taking place, be it from a distance or from a helicopter. Probably costs me $500 but I am sure it will be worth it. :) 

Above: Lava field of Eldgjarhraun - apparently this lava field is the size of Singapore - 700 sq km! 

Above: Jokulsarlon Glacier - black sand beaches with huge icebergs being washed ashore. The wind was so strong it kept pushing me forward even though I tried to resist it. Caution: If you want to visit, please try to put on weight otherwise I really cannot imagine where you will end up at if you are below 45kg. 

Below: I have tons of beautiful pictures of this glacier lagoon. It was simply amazing! Ever wonder why they are blue? They are compressed at below 0 degree celsius which is why they give off this blue colour when sunlight shines on them. 

And finally (below) - Vatnajokull National Park - Glacier Hike - Rainbows have been greeting me in all my travels this year from Great Ocean Road to Hokkaido and now Iceland. See the "U-shaped" valley? The guide explained that valleys carved by glaciers are always U-shaped. They start off as V-shaped valleys but as the glaciers cut through them, they slowly become U-shaped after the ice thaws and recedes. My experiences with nature always make me wanna read more into Science and Geography. Other times, I would be happy to read my Economics and Mathematics books. :) 

Below: Moulin - Looks like a circular hole (hollow) within a glacier through which water leaves the surface of a glacier. One has to be extremely careful not to fall into one of these because you cannot tell the depth of the moulin from looking at it from the surface. It could be a few metres to a hundred over metres deep. Water carried through the moulin reaches the base of the glacier and eventually exits to a sea or river. I term it "timbuktu" - means leading to nowhere.

Below: Fitting the crampons - feels so good to be using them to walk on ice. :) 

Caption this: Don't confuse your path with your destination. Just because it is stormy now doesn't mean that you aren't headed for sunshine. 

And I end off this post with an image of the Northern Lights that greeted me on my very last night in Iceland. My takeaway from Iceland is that always be prepared to face Murphy's Law. We did not manage to do the boat ride to sail on the glacier lagoon as the lake was frozen by the time we were there despite it only being early winter. The weather in Iceland is erratic whereby it can be sunny now and cloudy half an hour later. So there is a famous saying in Iceland, "If you do not like the weather, just wait 5 minutes." 

We planned to chase the Northern Lights every night while we were there but I was sick one day and the weather was extremely bad on two other. Snow and thunder storm all night and there was practically nothing to be seen. I wouldn't say that I was not disappointed but I overcame it more easily than I expected. It also struck me that I should apply this mindset to all other aspects of my life. One should have expectations of what to come so as to mentally prepare yourself to face it and use it as a drive to accomplish what we set out to achieve but do not confuse expectations with reality. More often than not, reality falls short of expectations so we should be positive, laugh at it and move on and work harder the next time round. 

Happy Chinese New Year, everyone! 

#17: Photoblog - Iceland

#17: Reykjavik

After 2 days in Akureyri, it was time to take the propeller plane back to Reykjavik and continue our Northern Lights hunting. We caught a glimpse of the NL on our second night and saw a sky full of stars and a shooting star. I shall not elaborate on that as I had written about it previously. In Reykjavik, we went on the Classic Golden Circle Tour covering the three main attractions.

Left Top/ Bottom: Thingvellir National Park: I only remembered a few stories about the place such as it is where the parliament commenced, tectonic plates pushing each other away and a river with loads of salmon to be caught. The guide's voice was a little too sharp for me who was sitting right under the speaker and nursing a very sore throat. It was the worst day while on my travels because I was extremely sick and basically did not eat much the entire day except kept downing coke with salt.

Centre/ Right Top: Gullfoss - I have to say it is one waterfall that can match up to the beauty of Niagara Falls. Still, Niagara Falls is my favourite. Wait till I get to Iguazu Falls or Victoria Falls to see if I can change the rankings.

Bottom Right: Strokkur geyser - It was funny how everyone stood around and waited for the expulsion of water round after round. Everyone either wanted to take a video or a good picture in front of it or have both. The whole thing lasted probably 30 seconds or so but you have to wait 15 minutes for the next wave of action. On hindsight, you should just try to take a good picture. You can find videos online anyway. Since it was so cold, it is hard to hold on to your camera and wait for the first instance the water gets expelled and reaches the highest point for the perfect picture. So you have to observe the movement of the water and see if the expulsion is gonna take place soon. So many a times I was tricked by the bubbles coming up.

Towards the end of the day, we also visited a church and the geothermal power station. Previously, I have mentioned how is it that Iceland is a very green nation. 96% of homes are powered by natural energy. They have pipes connecting their home to the hot pools (geysers which are a source of hot spring water) and cool spring water. So there is absolutely no processing needed to supply hot or cold water. The lava field which the water runs through is a filter on its own. The reason the water is hot is because of geothermal heating (heating from the Earth's core, related to the large number of volcanoes in the country). However, the hot water has some sulphur in it so when you turn on the tap to get cold drinking water, it is advised that you let the water run for a while since hot and cold water runs through the same pipe to get to your tap and a tiny bit of sulphur might come through the tap. But no worries about wasting water, since that water is recycled and generated to your house once again. Yay! to FREE water and it really helped me to save a huge sum on buying bottled water.

In addition, their main sources of energy are geothermal energy and hydroelectric since they have plenty of waterfalls as well. Haha! I did not enter the geothermal power exhibition because I figured that I could read online. Nonetheless, I am not an expert at Geography and shall save myself the embarrassment of explaining any of these. Do google if you are interested to find out.

p/s: The pictures do not do justice to the beauty of the landscape that stood in front of me. They are way more picturesque in real-life. You have to be in the moment to capture the best memory with your eye and brain. Perhaps I need a better camera. :)

#16: Photoblog - Iceland

#16: Akureyri

I shall begin the series of the photos of the places that I have visited during this trip after all the sharing about the people, things, and experiences. As you can see, I have very selective memory so this post is to help me to recall the places that I have been to when I re-read my posts a few years later.

And so I took 4 flights in a span of 2 days right at the beginning of my epic trip.

Singapore - Zurich: ~13 hours
Zurich - London: ~2 hours
London - Reykjavik: ~ 4 hours
Reykjavik: - Akureyri: 45 minutes

By the time I arrived in Akureyri, my entire body had gone haywire from all the constant change in pressure from being on land and in the air. The flight to Akureyri was especially bad because it was a propellor plane and it was so windy that the air stewardess had to stop serving all beverages. Despite the constant shaking, I was able to catch some sleep because I was DEAD BEAT. We took a cab from the airport to the hostel and the 10 minute journey costed us SGD30. The very first thing I did after we checked in was to shower and then grab dinner. We then went for our Northern Lights hunting. Unfortunately, the weather was so bad (snowstorm) and we saw nothing but darkness and snow. Our guide was really nice though and recommended us a really nice restaurant for dinner the next day.

Small town of Akureyri

Surroundings - an endless stretch of mountains covered in snow

Classic jumpshot!

Really good ice-cream! :) 

You feel warmer when you eat Iceland in cold weather. Science can explain it but I suck at the subject so I cannot explain the rationale. Eating ice-cream when I was in Akureyri reminded me of the times back in Stockholm when Kim & I had our first Gelato in Stockholm and were so busy trying to blow air out of our mouths to see the "smoke". Those were the times!

I simply cannot remember the name of the restaurant but I remember the food. Really good beef carpaccio, sushi pizza and cod fish. Damage done: 45SGD per person. 

Town of Akureyri from the other side of the river

Boots made from fish skin!

Iceland is a really green country - clean energy, recycling waste materials. Apparently this barrel has been made into a chair. 

As per our guide, the light blue shade in the sky is due to air pollution. What kind of air pollution? Various gases from a nearby volcanic eruption.

Godafoss. It was really beautiful. The entire surrounding was covered in snow. 

What you see is what you get. Dimmuborgir, lava labyrinth. Lava stones of various shapes and up to you to imagine what they resemble. A lot of stories about the 3 wise men and some ugly Santa Claus but I cannot recall all the details. 

The two tectonic plates that separate Europe and America. The only way to cross two continents without border control. :) What a joke by our guide.

There is a difference in these two types of lava rocks. One was much heavier than the other. Reason: can't remember as usual. :)

Interesting facts about Iceland:
- one of our two guides can speak 5 different languages and is an opera singer, at the age of 40 years old.
- Iceland only has a population of 320,000 and 18,000 live in Akureyri.
- Icelandic is the least spoken language in the world. C'mon, only 320,000 speak it! :) but still, I think it has to be preserved!
- all Icelanders can speak at least 3 languages - Icelandic, English and Danish (Iceland used to be a colony of Denmark). Some will pick up German or French or Italian. German seems like the popular choice as the 4th language.
- Many of you should have heard about the Icelandic banking crisis that swept the country in 2008 and caused their currency to plummet and become worthless. Instead of bailing out the banks, the government simply let them declare bankrupt and according to our guide, the people have more or less recovered their wealth since then.
- So apparently, a lot of Icelanders think that they do not require a government since they are so small. Let the free market run the country.

p/s: Akureyri was beautiful and some scenes in Game of Thrones were actually filmed in Akureyri. In particular, those scenes which depict "life beyond the wall" was filmed in Akureyri. :) How amazing. I am waiting for the 5th season!

Fifteen

#15: Every visit is a new one

On my travels lately, I revisited a lot of the places that I have been to previously, such as Paris, London, Manchester, and Munich. However, it seems like I have never been to any of these places before. I find the things that I come across familiar but I have already forgotten most of the landmarks and directions. This is when I realise my memory can be pretty bad at times. Or perhaps I am just being selective about the things that I want to remember.

I shopped so much when I was in Manchester the last time, going to Arndale and spending three to four hours there and yet when I was trying to give my friends directions on how to get to Arndale, I simply cannot retrace the steps that I took. However, when it comes to the walk to Old Trafford from the tramway, so much memories flooded back. Despite having gone down that long walk at least five to six times, each time I make my way to the stadium, I still feel the adrenaline rush and the excitement about watching a game live again and that it was only yesterday that I had just walked down that street.

When it comes to London, I have transited via Victoria Coach station numerous times but when I had to figure my way to the railway station, the tube and the coach station, I still find myself like a first-timer. Nevertheless, I vividly remember the much coveted Oxford Street shopping. Lol.

Lastly, it is Munich. One of my many inspirations behind my desire to live my dreams is this one friend whom I had who visited Europe back in 2005 on a backpacking trip and a photo that he sent me while standing in front of Marienplatz in Munich. I remember falling in love with Munich the moment I arrived back then, with Hofbrauhus, Marienplatz, etc. Yet when I went back to Munich again this time round, the place looks different and it seems like I have never once laid foot there before.

My selective memory - how ironic.

14th

#14: Noisy passengers on Swiss trains

Every country is famous and infamous for certain things or behaviour. The trademark characteristics of a Singaporean are 'Kiasu' and 'Kiasee' i.e. afraid of losing out and afraid of dying but damn efficient (partly because we are 'kiasu' so we want things to be done fast!). I used to take this very seriously and am very conscious of such behaviour be it when I am at home or overseas. However, the more I travel, the more I realise that everyone, regardless of their nationality, is kiasu. It is just the degree that differs. The only country that I find an exception is Japan. Their need to conform to a group identity makes them less likely to overreact in situations and they are the most polite and considerate people that I have ever met in my entire life.

Most people have this idea that the westerners are very chillax and are the least kiasu people around. They are very gentlemanly and considerate as well. I want to correct this stereotype in this post. While travelling on the Swiss trains on this trip, I met two different groups of Swiss nationals who were extremely rowdy in the train cabin, talking, screaming, laughing like the entire world was deaf to their conversations. Once, it was early in the morning at 8 am and the other time was around 8 pm at night. Even when I put on my earpiece and blasted music up to a volume of 80%, I could still hear them. They might be the black sheep among the lot but still, people generalise. Only a handful of Singaporeans are kiasu and kiasee but it has become a label on the people from our country. After this trip, I no longer think that these Europeans are considerate or superior in behaviour to us.

Next, while flying, there were so many instances of them rushing to queue up to board the plane and after the plane has landed, they were all rushing to stand up and open the overhead compartment to retrieve their belongings to disembark. The worst experience, IMO, is their inconsiderate act of squeezing their coats into the overhead compartment. Isn't the overhead compartment meant for cabin bags? A coat does not have a fixed shape and can be easily placed on one's lap. If you find it uncomfortable to hold on to the coat, think about the next person who has to carry his or her cabin bag with him or her throughout the entire flight. That happened to me. Just because my cabin bag was a bag pack, I had to carry it with me because this one passenger refused to remove his coat from the overhead compartment and allow cabin bags to be placed instead. It is not that people in Asia do not behave in a similar fashion but that thankfully we never have to carry big coats with us while flying.

My conclusion is that these people are so kiasu because there is a price to pay for losing out. Circumstances shape a person's behaviour, not the country of origin. The westerners have enjoyed way too much comfort and freedom for way too long when they have strong economic fundamentals and financial strength to back them up. They can afford to be chill about things because they have never had to compete.

I am not pro-Asian or anti-Westerners or whatsoever. I strongly believe that every country has its own culture that we must respect. We must appreciate a country for both its good and bad. My point is that if we all behave in the same way, why do we then choose to despise our own races and celebrate the superiority of another?

That said, I am not complaining. I just wanted to share positive and negative things that I have come across during the trip and not paint a picture that life is a bed of roses. :)

Unlucky 13

#13: Getting close to nature - Glacier hiking

I had my first try of glacier hiking while in Iceland and though we did not go very deep into the glaciers, I am glad I had the experience of putting on the crampons and hiking on the glaciers. It is an amazing feeling because the view that you get is simply amazing. Light blue icebergs lay in vast in front of you and all you had to do was to proceed with each step cautiously. Not to forget, you see rainbows at the end of the horizon and if only you could lie among those icebergs and not slide down or get into some moulin.

Every time I get so close up with nature, I feel so intimidated yet in awe that our Earth has so much to offer. Although tourism has caused much damage to our environment, I personally really value all these changing experiences that tourism can bring to a visitor's life. We should not stop tourism just because one or two of those tourists fail to abide by the rules and preserve whatever they come across. In fact, we should promote responsible tourism and enable the best of nature and a country's culture to be shared with the world. I love travelling because it has made me become a better person after every trip, to learn more about the world so that I can play a part in preserving it and sharing it with many others. In fact, I kind of disdain people who see travelling as a way of showing off their passports and bragging about the number of countries or cities that they have visited.

In Chinese, travelling is known as 旅行 or 旅游. I personally prefer the the former term because it means a journey whereas the latter has more of a fun connotation to it. The latter properly requires staying in fanciful hotels, indulging yourself in the best cuisine and bringing back precious loots. In every city or country that I visit, I always try to bring back something that represents the place, be it something that can be used or merely an ornament. To me, that is a momento to remind me of my experiences in the place. Some of my friends chide me for buying such useless stuff but to me, it is not a bad spending habit or whatsoever. It is just my way of living out my favourite travel quote, "To travel the world - leave nothing but footprints, kill nothing but time and take nothing but photographs".