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She had a very cheerful disposition. As she chirped excitedly away about Venetian history, she exuded a bright, positive vibe. It was a stark (and much needed) contrast to the dismal weather. It'd been raining endlessly for the past 48 hours, not exactly the ideal climate for exploring the narrow, maze-like zigzags of Venice. It was uplifting to see that our tour guide wasn't the least bit discouraged by it.

But there was a kind of weariness about her eyes that not even her picture-perfect smile could not conceal. It wasn't fear - it was more of the knowledge of a saddening inevitability. Venice may well be falling apart, quite literally. It has always been sinking due to rising sea levels, but more recently, that process has accelerated considerably, possibly due to global warming and the melting of polar ice caps. Also, due to geographical reasons, the walkways and tunnels are getting narrower and smaller.

She explained how more and more shops are becoming increasingly difficult to maintain, causing Venetians to abandon the place. It didn't help that there was a concurrent rise in the rental costs of the Venetian shop-lots - I can't remember the exact figure, but I recall being absolutely staggered by the amount.

When you walk around Venice, you'll be bombarded by amount of tourist-y shops, most of them selling pretty much the same thing: Venetian masks, ornaments made of Murano glass, lace and other souvenirs. She sadly told us how it used to be different; there was a time where it seemed more like a home, where the shops sold to meet the everyday needs of the people. But with an overwhelming proportion of tourists to Venetians at any given moment, most caved in and ended up selling up tourist goods instead.

I took a moment to consider how heartbreaking it must be for a proud local as herself to watch her beloved home slowly ebbing away. It's a very saddening thing to think about, even for me, an outsider.

I thoroughly enjoyed my trip in Venice, despite the bad weather (thankfully we had two days with extremely lovely weather - the final three days were worse than London!). It's certainly a place with many unique stories and mysteries of its own; my only regret is that I did not take an effort to read up about the place before I went there.

I've decided that the next time I'm going to travel somewhere, I'm going to make it more than just a casual trip - instead, I want it to be a learning experience. To use one of those annoying karangan idioms, tak kenal maka tak cinta. And how very true. Enjoying a foreign land must surely lie in some measure of preparation to first understand where it is exactly you're going. I can't believe I did not realize this sooner.

My next major stop is Istanbul, next month, with Jian Wei. I've always been fascinated by Turkey, so I'm really looking forward to it. It should be fun! :)

Meanwhile, here's a Malaysian cover from me. Zainal Abidin's classic Hijau. :) Forgive the crappy loghat Kelate! I triedddd.