Ivan About Town turns nine!

Nine years ago, I was at the lobby of Trekkers Lodge in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia. Spur of the moment, I decided to start a blog and rented their computer to write my very first entry. Aren't we all surprised how time flies? I usually forget to celebrate the blog's anniversary. But since we're almost a decade old, we're definitely nearing another milestone!

My very first blog entry was written on April 19, 2005. It was during a solo trip to Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia and Brunei. I had just purchased my first digital camera the year before. And all I had was a 28MB memory stick! Here's the story of the blog.

Thanks to my parents, I was introduced to travel quite young. In fact, I wrote my first travel journal when I was just six! Here are some highlights from that journal. And I've previously compiled photos from my early years of traveling, including my first road trip at one month old, my first plane ride when I was five on a Philippine Airlines BAC One Eleven Series 500, our first international trip in 1985, and my first long-haul flight in 1993.

I'll reserve the long post for next year! In the meantime, here are photos of the places I visited in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013. I wonder what's next?! But today, all I can say is thank you for nine wonderful years! Thank you for joining me as I continue to explore!