Singapore might be known to be a technological and financial hub but it also has another persona. Aside from having the Marina Bay and the Universal Studios Singapore, also known as USS, it is also a country that is a melting pot of Malaysian, Arabic and Indian and other cultures. Its nooks and crannies are colored in different facades, aromas and accents.

Most people do not talk about the Indian culture in particular, or if they have, then I have not heard of it prior. It is a bit obscure, so I was astounded by what I had discovered.

Move over subway. I would not be talking about the diversity we encounter when we hop on a subway in Singapore. When I visited Singapore with my aunt and cousin, can you imagine we had an ultimate Indian culture immersion? It was when we explored a most obscure part of Singapore.

Our adventure started when I booked a hostel named Vintage Inn in Little India as this was the one that captured my fancy at the time. It is a quaint hostel situated literally in the midst of aromatic Indian restaurants near Little India subway station.

We arrived a little bit early -- actually just before the sun rose on the horizon. The place we were looking for is just in front of a main road with lots of Indian restaurants left and right. They are all closed at the time and some with chairs upside down tables. We walked up a narrow unfinished stairs to the second floor (hostel lobby). The smell of curry dominated the area. I thought it was just because of the restaurants. I started to worry that my aunt would not like the accommodation because of that smell. Sure I had a choice of picking a nice hotel instead of an inn but out of complete curiosity, this is the one I picked.

The entrance was still unfortunately closed. We rang the doorbell a few times thinking since it is a hostel at least someone must be up already who could open the door for us. It took us a few hours when someone finally opened the door. It was Vino. (Like wine, maybe -- or maybe it is Vinu but

This is a nice transition from all the physical travel notes I have been writing to some different kind of traveling...

Maybe it is from the Goop's IG post or from Rachel Zoe's but it doesn't really matter now -- time just stopped when I saw these words on IG: "Protect Your Magic". It felt like I found this long lost piece of jewel buried in my golden chest. So what is protecting your magic?

Maybe one needs to define magic first as it differs from person to person. And magic is something we all have and is only unique to us. For me, magic is who we truly are and what our purpose is. There is a saying "We are stars wrapped in skin". 

Too many times we forget who we are -- we lose our track, we lose our magic. It is all too easy to get side-tracked as there may be too many distractions along our paths -- it could be people or circumstances which could make us believe we are something we are not to the point we eventually forget who we truly are.

From personal experience, I am once again, navigating through the eye of a storm, so to say. Things at home seems to be getting out of hand -- and I will not tell the details but to be honest, I feel like I am weak, that I cannot go through this anymore, that I am alone in this, that I don't know the answers -- I can go on but all these negativities are simply not true. 

The truth is, if I just reach out to my deepest core, I will realize that I have this inner strength, that I am capable of overcoming things, that I know where to get the answers from, that I am not alone in this -- I have my God. I just need to reconnect to my innermost self.

The lesson is to realize my purpose and protect my magic.