24/6/2025
This May I spent a week in Malaysia, specifically in Jakarta and Yogya, for YKABF 2026. This trip was really meaning full to me and brought so many emotions, thoughts and friends.
YKABF 2026 was from 8th May till 10th May, but I arriived at Jakarta on the 1st May, with chi Ngoc and Cat Nguyen, to help them with the zine launches tat they were going to do in both Jakarta and Yogya prior to the art book fair. Also the flight was cheaper on that specific day (it might have been because of May Day, which we'll talk about later) and we didn't have to pay for a hotel since we crashed at our friends' studio so it was actually economical and we got to experience the two cities more. This was the first time for me traveling for 'work' under our new collective, Tau Hu Ky, so that was exciting as well. Although I didn't really think about it until chi Ngoc mentioned it later in the trip.
We landed in Jakarta around noon and went straight to Nadine and Ratta's Tiny Studio where we'd stay for the next 2 days. After a quick break, we head out to Kios Ojo Keos where Cat Nguyen will have their first debut of the zine, Returning to Where I've Never Been. We booked a car on Grab and quickly learned how terrible it is to do so. To be fair, I do think we have it easy in Vietnam, but having to wait 30 minutes for the car to come and then drive more than an hour through small alleyways didn't feel good. Once we got to the venue, we met Poppie, the owner of the space and his friends/team who were all preparing for the evening's event, turns out it was a NOISE SHOW celebrating te venue's 8th birthday! And Cat Nguyen's poetry reading will be the only one that's not noise. This slightly took us by surprise since chi Ngoc and Cat Nguyen have never even been to noise show but in the end everything turned out okay. The performers were crazy good, must be the best noise show I've been to and chi Ngoc became a fan. I didn't have my earplugs tho so my ears did ring for a while. It's funny because I snap made the decision to bring my sling bag instead of my normal backpack, which always has my pair of earplugs, the night before the flight.
The best part about this trip is definitely that I made some new friends! And this sound very cringe but I felt like I have made like REAL friends. I've also realized that I've been insecure in my relationships with the people I've met the last few years since moving to Hồ Chí Minh City for uni. Like because I've met most of the people around me through other people, they've always be subconsciously seen as 'A's friend', like not 'my friend', as I myself wasn't the reason they hang out with me or they just simply did't care about me that much. But on this trip, I met some very cool people, again through another friend, but we had such a fun and geniune time toghether that I realized that they just liked me. The few evenings I spent with them are the best thing that happened on this trip. If you guys are reading this you know who you are. Thank you.
Weirdly, somehow this whole trip got me to experience the 'male loneliness' feeling. Like most of the time that I wasn't working I was alone, wondering around without anyone noticing me. And the whole time I just wanted to hang out with my new friends, but we couldn't because they still got work and school and I was to shy to asked them to spend time with me cuz they were too cool and I'm awkward and stuff. So yeah throughout the 2 weeks I was in a constant state of feeling lonely, being alone and craving human interaction from both random people on the street (being noticed) and specific people but not having the ability/courage to ask them. I've understood this experience before in theory, but experiencing it first hand really brings it home.
After Tokyo I spent a few days in Osaka and Kyoto (very touristy I know). Overall, I enjoyed these two cities much more than Tokyo. They were more lively and the quiet places actually had nature or something still happening on, not just housing blocks. They were a lot of tourists here tho and since it was nearing Christmas then, the shopping places (which there were still a lot of) were so crowded. But at least there was chatter and people were actually having fun.
So how do I feel about my trip? I kinda hate Tokyo now. If I had the chance to ever visit Japan again I wouldn't go alone and would spend my time travelling around the whole country, or at least the more rural areas, and visit more nature and historic sites. Initially I wanted to visit Hiroshima on this trip but didn't want to pay for an extra shinkansen ticket so I opted out, I really regret that. But as I've said, I'll still remember fondly the new friends that I've made on this trip. I'll have to somehow drag the out of Tokyo tho.
Oh and the Kaiyukan Aquarium in Osaka is great! Definitely worth the 3-hour wait under the rain.