I think I grew a lot this year. I had my first overseas trip with my friends earlier this year in January, and I think that was a fantastic experience for a first timer going out. I chose Japan as the first destination since it has a lot of similarities in terms of the society's norm, in my opinion.
Going out of Malaysia for the first time opened my eyes on how lucky I am being born and raised in this country. How there are a lot of things I took for granted because I was never lacking of it in Malaysia, and then I went to Japan and found myself thinking, "Huh, so it was a Malaysians thing".
It wasn't a complaint, but rather a discovery. Things like how Halal is a common thing in Malaysia, we have halal foods everywhere that it was harder to search for non-Halal places. You actually need to put an effort to find non-Halal restaurants actually. But it's a complete opposite out there. I remember me and my friends searching for specific ones months and weeks prior, and still end up eating boiled egg and Maggi Hot Cup that I somehow managed to cramp into my luggage.
And in late September, I went to USA for work purposes. Oh well, that opened my eyes to even more things. Like how I took for granted the hand bidet, or bidet in particular, in both Malaysia and Japan. I lost both throughout my three weeks stay in Texas. It was crazy. Not to mention, people there are not as familiar with Islam itself, so I ended up getting recommendations to clearly non-Halal places (they serve pork and alcoholic beverages in the same shop, it was a steakhouse). Of course, I did not end up going in the end.
Although in Texas, there's more Muslims compared to Japan, my options for foods and drinks were limited to Middle-Eastern cuisines. I ended up discovering a Halal Thai place there, and ordering two out of five times per week because I was so tired of Shawarma and Cheeseburgers.
This leads to me being really, really thankful once I touched down in KLIA again. I was on a binge-ing spree for a while each time. Oh, I also have transit in Hong Kong and Seoul, but I found myself struggling to find food there too. I ended up having lunch in HKG at this place which advertised as Halal, but they serve wines and non-Halal food too. I was starving and shaking at that point and did not have any other option so I chose whatever they said was Halal (I asked to make sure).
If I were to summarize what 2026 was to me, I'd say it's both growth and self-discovery. I used to think I am not that strict when it comes to Halal food, I only made sure there's Halal logo on packaging. Whichever the country was, I didn't care much. But now, I think I fall into a slightly stricter Muslim diet for sure. Hahaha.
Until next post,
Adios.
