“Paper maps or google maps? Both!” but it shouldn’t be that hard to choose. As everything in life, nothing remains the same forever - not even paper maps. Wei Ting was born in Singapore and has visited Australia, The United States, Paris but visiting Morocco was one of the greatest experiences of her life. “It’s mind boggling how open they are” she says, and who would’ve thought…
“Can we do this really quickly? I have ballet classes today” she said while waving her hands in a sign of desperation and excitement at the same time. Her eyes blazing while words came out of her mouth like a bullet coming out of a gun, straight to the point. Wei always seems to be worried about everything in life - an university project, the internet in her house that is not working, her coffee that wasn’t hot enough. And also what looks like the urge feeling of wanting to do everything at the same time when you know you have to reserve some time to sleep. “I want to travel” she says, “I think travelling is about discovery but also about escape”. Ironically - or not - her life has now become her own escape. Walking around London, she takes pictures of everything. Anything is worth taking a picture even in the city she’s been calling home for a year now, “When I travel I try to do the same things locals do, it would be a wasted trip otherwise” but even so she still might come across as the typical tourist with a heavy professional camera holding onto its neck taking pictures of every single thing they see “I can get into a total tourist mode” she says.
Ting seems to forget about her ballet classes when she starts talking about the most exciting place she’s ever visited, “Morocco is magic” she says, “but Barcelona and Gaudi’s influence on the architecture there is simply breath-taking”. The trip to Morocco was the first time she travelled with friends and it became the subject of our conversations for weeks. “Me and my friends backpacked on a shoe string budget and met loads of fellow backpackers in a situation that people bond very easily as we are throw together into the unknown” an episode that she remembers very fondly - almost with a nostalgic, wanderlust desire. She, herself, is a Gabriel Garcia Marquez (her favourite writer) character. An entire chapter of a book that envolves around life, love and experiences; a character that is never fully satisfied. Having spent 2 weeks in Morocco, she didn’t feel like it was enough to emerge into the country’s culture in a profound way, she needed more. “I don’t really believe in going on trips because you just don’t experience the country very much. If I could I would spend at least a month living in a place I really want to get to know” she says. When asked if being lost is a great excuse to seek different places, Ting sighs. In a way, she’s a person that likes to be in control of everything in her life. Even the unexpected. “Getting lost can be dreadfully perplexing” she says whilst her fingers run through her touch screen phone, “I can’t find the ballet studio. I going to get lost!” Time to go.