Clifford Pier, Singapore

This past weekend, Singapore celebrated its 50th year of Independence on 9th August. It was a time of reflection as well as of dreaming…in the sense of imagining and aspiring towards more to achieve  in the future.

I thought…since in the past year, there have been countless lists of 50 (for e.g. 50 things to do and see in Singapore), I would create my own list of 50 things that I still want to do in my life… all in the spirit of dreaming.

It’s quite easy to do this – and I totally encourage it. Just sit down, grab a pen and in say…20 minutes, write down 50 things that you haven’t done yet, and you would like to do. Anything that comes to mind, really.

Here are my random 50 THINGS – and I realise that the bulk of these 50 THINGS pertain to travel, languages, culture, cities, history and writing – so I know FOR SURE, that I’m the right author for this blog (phew!).

I suppose I shall endeavour to achieve most of these in the next 50 years of my life. =)

1. Ride a camel
2. Travel the Silk Road
3. Read Rumi in Persian
4. Learn the tango
5. Find a quiet spot and just sit there for hours
6. Ride a motorbike
7. Walk the Nakasendo Trail in Japan
8. See Vienna
9. Go white water rafting
10. Go to the River Safari in Singapore (Yup, still not been!!)
11. Take a course in art history
12. Make a movie
13. Make a music video
14. Visit my ancestral towns (the port cities of) Fuzhou and Quanzhou
15. Complete my next album (of songs) and finish recording the previous one
16. Relive how bards travelled in mediaeval times
17. Learn Balinese dance
18. Spend more time with family, especially my grandparents
19. Lose ten kilos and get a six-pack
20. Ride a dune buggy in Dubai
21. Go diving
22. Visit Syria
23. Go to an Indian safari
24. Take an art and architecture tour of Berlin
25. Brush up my Japanese
26. Re-start my Arabic
27. Pick up Malay
28. Grow a vegetable patch
29. Walk around Singapore – really walk, and observe and photograph
30. Visit old friends all over the world
31. Paint a picture – my very first one!
32. Research the history and architecture of Tang China
33. Research Byzantine history and architecture
34. Research Abbasid Baghdad history and architecture
35. See Macchu Picchu
36. Publish my book on the Treaty Ports of China, Korea and Japan
37. Publish my book on Ports and Palaces of the Indian Subcontinent
38. Write (and publish) a novel / novels
39. Volunteer for an arts or heritage organisation
40. Invent a board game related to travel and history
41. Be a receptionist for a day at a hotel
42. Be a waiter for a day at a restaurant
43. Go to South by Southwest SXSW
44. Go to Comic-Con
45. Learn to Kickbox
46. Design a shirt
47. Return to Berkeley, California for a visit (I haven’t been in almost a decade!)
48. Spend a month in the English countryside
49. Have an absolutely mind-blowing meal.
50. Have an absolutely mind-blowing bottle of wine!

Happy 50th birthday, Singapore!!

And here’s to LIFE and 50 more THINGS to do with it!