Colouring Malaysia a mile at a time

By Tan Zhi Inn

 

“A dream is a plan which can be accomplished, as long as you have the courage and perseverance to do the things you want,” Low Ley Soon said. The 25 year-old architecture graduate from Taylor’s University recently finished his eight-month bicycle trek across East Malaysia for a project he started, Colour Malaysia.

 

Low may not be the first person to travel across Malaysia via bicycle, but the way he toured was unique. Throughout his journey, he distributed colour pencils to children and adults in rural areas and taught them to draw in exchange for personal stories.

 

Low was born in a small town named Ulu Yam Lama where his parents own a small restaurant frequented by tourists. “Listening to the stories of the different people who came to our restaurant, I realised the world is so big. That’s where the thoughts of exploring the world started to enter my mind,” Low said.

 

At 22 years old, he went to Taiwan for a backpacking trip during one of his semester breaks. He gathered his courage to cycle around Taiwan. He spent 15 days cycling around Taiwan on a budget of only RM2000. “If I did not step out of my comfort zone, I would have missed out on this incredible experience,” Low said.

 

“While I was in Taiwan, I figured, why not do this in Malaysia? There are many attractions at home that are just as beautiful the ones overseas,” he said. Low then embarked on his first bike ride around West Malaysia, that took a total of 38 days. Despite being able to see more on a bicycle because of the slower pace, he noticed that his journey lacked human interaction and the photos he took were mostly images of food, sceneries and landmarks.

 

During his next trip to West Malaysia, Low stopped by towns, villages and plantations in rural areas. He aimed to interact more with locals and wanted people to share their stories with him through drawings. That’s when he started trading boxes of colour pencils for drawings by people that he kept as a memorabilia.

 

“I think drawing can help children express themselves creatively. Through their drawings, I’m able to get visual interpretations of their thoughts and emotions,” he said. He spent RM5,000 in total buying colour pencils.

 

After graduating last year, Low felt that his Colour Malaysia project wasn’t complete without taking it to East Malaysia. So he continued his cycling in Sabah and Sarawak. Throughout his excursion, he drew postcards that portrayed his impression of the places he saw and sent them home. 500 drawings and eight months later, Low went back to West Malaysia.

 

By sharing stories through the drawings, he hopes that Malaysians can have a deeper understanding about different places. Low is planning to publish a book based on his postcards and his experiences.