Not A Revenge Travel

 Revenge Travel was a trendy term in 2023 after all COVID-19 social and travel restrictions were lifted at the start of the year. Unfortunately, I’m not quite infected by this post-pandemic condition and don’t have much desire to fly expensively to places where you don’t feel like being abroad-people yelling in the same language, bargaining in the same manners, abusing food in the same greed, and taking photos in the same pose. I did travel to two places, but the journeys were more like spiritual pilgrimages, with few delicacies to fill the belly and lots of walking but plenty of time to mull over things.

Revenge travel and, more significantly, revenge spending did me a big favour. Before the restrictions were lifted, my favourite pastime, hiking in the countryside, was constantly fouled by queueing at bus stops for a long time with frequent queue jumpers, continuous bawling and giggling from crowds of people, piercing oldies from portable speakers, dangling surgical masks on trees, and not to forget the food wrappings, plastic bottles, cigarette ends and used tissue paper along the trails. Sometimes, you could even smell the stink of urine at some convenient places. A weekday in the week before Christmas, three of us went hiking to a popular destination in the Back Garden of the city. To my surprise, the whole journey was like venturing through a deserted garden. Except at the bus stops, we met about ten people in the whole 4 hour’s trip. It was a real treat! Obviously, most people who flooded the countryside during the pandemic years had abandoned it for tourist hotspots in foreign countries or even cities on the other side of the Border. This year, few people seem to remember the Silvergrass, Sweetgum or Bald Cypress, the stars in the countryside of this city. You don’t see them much on social media. Well, I think this is the best blessing to the countryside after three years of reckless vandalism. Walking along the trail, I kept thinking that nature is so kind to us and that it never avenges the crimes we inflict on it. 

I was overjoyed to find out that the Silvergrass was still waving to welcome us from a distance, the Sweetgum leaves were turning red, and the Bald Cypress needles were just preparing to put on golden jackets. 

The journey was simply lovely!