Best travel moments

Since am just back from a vacation, I am in a mood to recount my best travel moments. Travel for me is as much about self exploration and introspection as it is about discovering the different corners of the world. Actually, these are just moments of insight which people experience anywhere, anytime but I usually experience them while travelling. 

Here are my best travel moments which either had huge impact on me or are unforgettable for other reasons:

1. The most important was while watching the belly dancers perform at a coffee festival at Rock in Sydney in July 2008. I can still recall standing on the bylanes and watching the dancers and slowly the noise of the surroundings, the chittar chatter of the people at the festival started to fade and I felt that the dancer was communicating just with me. As I watched the Turkish dancers move their bodies with gay abandon, what my parents, friends and well wishers were telling me finally sunk in: I had to let go of the past, consolidate my position and move forward. I am not saying that everything changed overnight after that but I started to accept that future will be different from what I had envisioned.   

2. The second was in Goa way back in 2002. I remember feeling a compelling need to be on my own for just an hour or so. I got up at 5.30 in the morning and went for a solitary walk on the beach adjoining our hotel. There were just a few morning walkers on the beach that time and while walking on the beach I saw a star fish on the beach. I picked it up and touched its slimy, almost translucent, surface. There is nothing more to it really but strangely I felt happy and more at peace with the world post this. Will always remember this walk, though it is difficult to pinpoint, exactly why?  

3. This one was in Gangtok in the last century. One morning my father woke me up and implored me to  come out of bed in freezing cold to witness an amazing sight of valley of clouds. All we could see was nothing but pure white clouds between the two mountains. This didnt lead to any insight but makes it to the list of best travel moments just for awe-inspiring factor.

4. This year again some decisions were made over a cup of coffee in the balcony of my room in Genting, Malaysia. The serene surroundings, morning quiet, chilly winds and a hot cup of coffee made me think of some key questions which I had been avoiding about my future, specifically professional future. Have made some key decisions but dont want to talk about them now...I have a tendency to avoid making a decision till I am forced to make one. however, while I am travelling, I tend to face the facts and questions which I normally avoid in regular life.

These are my best travel moments, what are yours?