GETTING TO KNOW THE LESSER KNOWN

It all started with an idiosyncratic post-trip ritual of listing in my travel journal the five favourite places in every city I have visited.

It dawned on me much later that more often than not, lesser known sights – usually scoring only scant mentions in travel articles and guidebooks – have claimed a place on my lists, while the more famous landmarks have fallen on the sideline, as they turned out to be either too touristy or less than awe-inspiring.

Take Kuala Lumpur and Taipei. The world-renowned Petronas Twin Towers and the Taipei 101 may have put their respective cities on the global atlas; yet, these mega-structures seem rather ordinary, probably because advanced technology – with its omnipotent power to erect structures that scale greater heights – has robbed these skyscrapers of their magnificence and significance.

Instead, what make these cities magical are the out-of-the-way nature spots, charming neighbourhoods and almost-forgotten less-mammoth historical monuments – each sharing an impenetrable bond to the city’s past (even present and future), each revealing a different, sometimes contradicting, trait of the city’s soul. (For the curious traveller, pictured above is the Dom Pedro V Theatre in Macau.)

There is bound to be more disagreement than consensus with the inclusions and omissions in any countdown list. But isn’t travelling as an experience always something personal and therefore, subjective?

In the same vein, the frequent haunts in our favourite cities cannot be determined by some scientific research methodology. Instead, the very places that leave an indelible impression in our mind are often the pleasant surprises that change the way we had originally perceived a city. Sometimes, a place may seem nondescript, even lacklustre at first sight, but upon learning of its story and symbolic meaning to a city’s residents, we develop a newfound appreciation for it. These places too are what we remember of our cities.

At first glance, cities countdown may seem like just another travel website devoted solely to sightseeing in the city. But underscoring the thoughtful selection of the best five sights in each city is a message of ecological and heritage conservation: the unique allure of a city can be “excavated” from its layers of history and “inhaled” in the midst of its leafy sanctuaries, rather than being “consumed” in nightspots and shopping malls.

On another level, cities countdown is a response to the factual, neutral and detached descriptions too many travel articles and guidebooks are prone to churning out. In this online travel magazine, there will still be facts because they add to the layers of meanings and stories that define a particular place.

More importantly, the voice of cities countdown will remain inspired and evocative, because if you live to see the world, you can’t help but develop feelings for the cities you have dreamed of visiting and finally did.

Sim Jui Liang, founder of cities countdown