BY NELSON NG
在我小的时候，在新加坡的姨妈每次一起吃完晚饭后都会问我要不要出去 “jalan-jalan”。“Jalan-jalan” 是马来语“出去走走”的意思，所以姨妈的意思是问我要不要到附近散步；这样可以消化晚餐也可以看看附近正在发生什么。因为出去走走比坐在电视前更有趣，所以我小时候经常出去走走，有时候会和朋友一起散步，有时候还会走到深夜。
我去纽约上大学的时候也保持了这个习惯。
生活在一个陌生的城市，我每隔一天就会去不同的地方散步。有时我会在布鲁克林随便逛逛，而在周末我会探索曼哈顿迷人的街道。我记得晚上在布鲁克林独自长途跋涉，发现街区之间的新区域和生命迹象。每一个夜晚都是一次冒险。生活在这样一个拥有来自世界各地的移民的国际化城市，纽约的每一条街道和角落都感觉像是自己的宇宙。我从来不知道每次拐弯时会发现到什么。能在不同的街道上接触到不同的世界确实是一种享受。而这种好奇心和愉悦感一直推动着我，一步一步地去探索从未去过的地方。
许多年后，我的这个习惯把我带到了世界的不同角落。从伦敦的街道到奈良的徒步路线，好奇心驱使我继续步行和探索。当我搬到不同的城市工作时，我总是走上街头，只是为了探索。建筑背后是什么？桥下有什么？那光是从哪里来的？周围住着什么样的人？这些问题会激励我漫无目的地走来走去，去接受当地所能提供的一切。我很快意识到 “jalan-jalan” 不仅仅是将一只脚放在另一只脚前面，而是保持对世界的开放和好奇心。这个世界充满了令人愉快的惊喜，只要你愿意去发现它们。
后来我想到也许可以用插画的形式来表达我的这个习惯。我决定与来自马来西亚的老朋友和老同事 Radio Woon aka LALA COMPANY 合作。他画的人物又奇怪又好玩，而且来自马来西亚的他非常了解 “jalan-jalan” 的精神。我们一起创造了一个光脚背包客的人物 — 他喜欢用自己的双脚、带着宠物蜜蜂还有自己的好奇心去环游世界。
我选出了一些个人的旅行照片作为背景（曾经自己去 “jalan-jalan” 的一些地方），然后 Radio 会将光脚背包客画进这些地方，用着他自己觉得好玩和以意想不到的方式在这些地方旅行。这个合作的成果就是一本名为《Jalan-Jalan》的旅行绘本。
我们希望你会喜欢这本书并从中受到启发，就像我们喜欢制作它一样。这也是 LOST 的一个新开始：我们将尝试与不同的创作者合作，围绕通过旅行发现自我的精神展开，在 LOST 杂志的旗下创建衍生作品。
每天都是一个出去走走的好日子。让我们去 jalan-jalan 吧！
When I was young, my Aunt back in Singapore would always ask me to go “jalan-jalan” after dinner. “Jalan-Jalan” means “take a walk” in Malay, and so by that she meant taking a walk in the neighbourhood to digest the food and also to see what’s happening in the area. It was definitely better than sitting in front of the TV, so I took many walks back then, sometimes with a friend, and sometimes even late into the night.
I kept this habit of mine when I moved to New York for school.
Being in an unfamiliar city, I would take walks every other day to different areas. Sometimes I would just stroll casually around Brooklyn, and on the weekends I would explore the fascinating streets of Manhattan. I remember talking long walks alone at night in Brooklyn, discovering new areas and signs of life between blocks. Every night was an adventure. Living in such an international city with immigrants from all over the world, every street and corner of New York felt like its own universe. I honestly never knew what I would find every time I turned a corner. There was a certain delight in just walking down different streets to discover whole new worlds. And this sense of curiosity and delight kept me going, step by step, to explore places I had never been.
Many years later, this habit of mine took me to different corners of the world. From the streets of London to the hiking routes in Nara, my curiosity pushed me to keep walking and exploring. As I moved and travelled to different cities for work, I would always head out onto the streets just to explore. What’s behind the building? What’s under the bridge? Where is that light coming from? What kind of people live around the area? These questions would motivate me to walk around aimlessly and just take in whatever the area has to offer. I soon realised that “jalan-jalan” isn’t just about putting one feet in front of the other, but to keep an open and curious mind about the world. The world is full of delightful surprises, as long as you’re willing to look for them.
And so I thought it might be a good idea to express this habit of mine through illustration. I decided to work with Radio Woon aka LALA COMPANY, an old friend and ex-colleague from Malaysia who drew these whimsical characters. Being from Malaysia, he understood the spirit of “jalan-jalan” well. Together, we created this barefooted backpacker who would travel around the world on his two feet with his pet bee.
Using photographs from my own personal travels as the backdrop, Radio would then draw the barefooted backpacker into these places, most of the time travelling in unexpected or unusual ways. The result is an illustrated travel book spanning 116 pages called “Jalan-Jalan”.
We hope you’ll enjoy and be inspired by this book, as much as we have enjoyed making it. It also marks a new beginning for LOST where we’re experimenting and collaborating with different creatives to create spinoff projects under the LOST brand, revolving around the spirit of self-discovery through travel.
It’s always a good day to take a walk. Let’s go jalan-jalan!
ORDER / 购买 JALAN-JALAN:
Shopify (International)
微店购买 / WEIDIAN (China)
