The Liebster Awards
UrbanDuniya got nominated last week for a Liebster Award. Thank you to Elena from Elena’s Travelgram for nominating me!
The idea is simple – get inspired for a interview-style blog post, gain some new traffic to your site, have some fun along the way, and then help get some exposure for another ten bloggers you know!
If you’re interested, this is what you have to do:
- Mention the blogger who nominated you in your Liebster Award post.
- Answer 10 questions that the blogger gave you.
- Nominate 10 new bloggers who have less than 200 followers.
- Let the nominees know you’ve mentioned them.
Make up your own 10 questions. The Liebster Award is a cool way to meet new people in the blogging community, to get to know more about them and to get your name out there!
So without further ado, here are the ten questions I was asked by Elena!
1. What’s the craziest travel experience you’ve had so far?
My jeep journey along the Pamir Highway in Tajikstan
Taking a jeep across the roof of the world in Tajikistan! The year was 2010, and I piled into a shared jeep-taxi to traverse the Pamir Highway, skirting around the north of Afghanistan. It was so isolated, and so far from anywhere, but stunningly beautiful!
2. Top 3 places you’d like to visit before the end of 2014.
I can’t wait to go back to Bali later this year! This is Pura Tanah Lot, just off the west coast of Bali.
I’m already planning on going to Greece, Istanbul, Colombo (Sri Lanka), the Maldives and Bali (Indonesia), but 3 places I’d additionally like to visit? Northern Pakistan, Unawatuna in Sri Lanka, and Chennai, India – I’ve ben to all of them before, but I’d go back in heartbeat if I could!
3. How many languages do you speak? Which one would you like to learn?
Urdu is not the simplest of languages to learn!!
Officially two – English and Urdu, but I’m still learning Urdu. Hindi is sometimes considered to be the same language as Urdu, so I guess I could claim three! I learnt French in school, but I’m severely out of practice. I’d love to learn Arabic and Pashto – they are beautiful languages!
4. Imagine your perfect life. What it would be like? Or are you already living it?
Imagine the perfect life? This one seems pretty good! 🙂 (Photo credit to Aehsun Hafeez)
I’m already living it!! After almost losing the plot at the end of 2012, I decided that I was going to live by my own rules, and I haven’t looked back since! I divide my time between Melbourne and Lahore, teaching English, writing on my blog, studying and meeting new people, experiencing different things. It’s awesome!
5. If you could eat one type of food till the end of your days, what would it be?
A plate of (homemade) biryani!
Hmmm I’m tempted to say chicken biryani, but it would need to come with all the accompaniments – pickle, raita, salad and so on!! I have my own
easy recipe for biryani – click here 🙂
6. Have you ever lived abroad? Tell one random fan fact about the people or the country you’ve stayed in?
Tamil is a completely different language to Hindi. This is a street sign in Chennai.
I’ve lived in India and Pakistan, and spent an extended period of time in Iran. In Chennai, India, very few people speak the national language, Hindi. in fact during my whole time there, my Hindi hardly progressed, because Chennaikers mostly use the local tongue, Tamil.
7. Whom did you want to become when you were a child?
Feeling content at Badshahi Mosque, Lahore, in 2013
I don’t know what was wrong with me as a child, but I never really wanted to be anyone else! I might have wanted to be someone who didn’t get bullied in school, but there was no-one in particular that I tried to model myself on. If I could go back in time though, I’d want my younger self to see how I live now – I am now what I wanted to be 🙂
8. What’s one big life lesson learnt that you’d like to share with others?
Go your own way! Walking through the Karakoram Range in northern Pakistan
Don’t give too much of yourself away, or you won’t have anything left for yourself. Personality is like food – other people are always happy to eat it up, but you need to feed yourself. Be a little bit selfish – but no too selfish!
9. One that book you’ll definitely take on a long flight.
Taking off from the Gold Coast, bound for Japan in 2009.
A travel guidebook to my next destination!! The only thing as awesome as travel is armchair travel!!
10. Name a random quote that you particularly like or that you can relate to yourself.
Homestay family at Sary Tash, Kyrgyzstan
“Double standards in practice are the unavoidable price of universal standards of principle.” by Samuel P. Huntington. I think this reveals so much about why the world is the way it is – so many people apply their own standards to everyone else in the world. my motto is: “To each their own!”
The next step…
As part of the process, I nominate the following ten blogs for the Liebster Award:
Your questions are;
1. What is your favourite country and why?
2. How do you pass the time on long flights?
3. If your favourite city was a person, what would he/she look, act and be like?
4. What is the weirdest form of transport you’ve ever taken?
5. Who is the most interesting person you have met on your travels?
6. Do you prefer to travel alone, or with friends, and why? (And if ‘friends’, then ideally, how many?)
7. What is the most shamelessly typically touristy thing you have done while abroad?
8. Have you ever said ‘no’ to a travel experience of some sort? If yes, what was it? And if no, then what would it take?
9. If you could only travel on one continent for the rest of your life, which one would you choose?
10. Do you think sleep is a waste of time while on holiday?
…and your time starts NOW! 🙂
Thanks Tim for the nomination, Cheers !!
My pleasure! Thanks for dropping by and commenting 🙂