Why is traveling so potent and powerful? The kind of traveling that I meant, is the one that 'feels up your senses'. Every bump on the road, every detail on the buildings, every line creased on people's face and shapes and colour stands out, asking me to discover them. I get so much buzz from traveling, like an adrenaline rush which begs me to pack my bags and just go. I cannot just do that impulsively now. I have my PhD to complete and to curb my wanderlust bug.

I cannot help comparing traveling with being in love. You want to know everything about the one that you love. The history, the place where your beloved came from and every aspect of your beloved's physical, emotional and mental being. You want to search and find out as much as you can, as this need to understand comes from your very being to meet your beloved.

What has conservation got to do with being in love? If we get to meet and understand our beloved, we take the next step in trying to protect our love interest. I would like to think that I am not stiffling my beloved or place the person in a cage. No not at all. But conservation has that principle of protection where I cannot help but see some similarities with being in love. Is it true to say that we want to conserve what we love?

Am I dealing with two different subjects now? Conservation, on one hand and Being in Love on another?

There are many dimensions to one and another. One belong to the realm of the world and the other in the realm of a human being. The connection exists in the dimensions that cover the senses. Sense of beauty, sense of wonder, sense of awe, sense of seeing, hearing, touching, all senses...

So when conservation is devoid of life and is just cosmetically done up and pose as an object with no life and no use, that's all it is, a museum piece, an artifact. Surely there will not be love in that!

Could one be in awe just looking at a conserved piece of artifact? Would that be enough. That is when conservation and being in love differ. Awe is not love.

Hence, senses are not enough to connect conservation with being in love. Senses are not enough to connect the world and the human being. Senses borne from being in love, is not love itself. Love is more than just senses. It has a mind of its own.

You can take the girl out of the kampung, but you cannot take the kampung out of the girl... Love beckons, and love grows. The longing to return is great.

Does this makes any sense? If it does, good. If not, please do not get frustrated.