This year, I will be celebrating my 39th birthday. Earlier this year, I just realized that when we celebrated our 1st birthday, that meant we had completed living our 1st year of life. In that way, currently I’m going through my 39th year, which I will celebrate the completion of at the end of 2025.

I want to try as much as I can to make this year special, because 39 is a special number to me.

When we subtract 3 from 9, we get my birth date. When we add 3 to 9, we get my birth month. It might just be a silly number play but I think it’s kind of interesting.

Initially, I wanted to do two kinds of 39 in 39: cities and foods. But then I think two is too many 🙂 So let’s just focus on one: 39 cities/districts.

I want to try to get to 39 different cities/districts this year. Don’t have to be entirely new, though. I want to be able to look back, on my 39th birthday, of where I have been in my 39th year.

The 39th year began one day after my 38th birthday — that is December 7th, 2024. I will keep record of cities/districts I have visited and will visit during the period of December 7th, 2024 to December 6th, 2025.

I might write some stories related to the city/district that I visit and I will link to the stories in the list below.

So, here goes my 39 in 39…

1. Gunung Putri, Bogor District (home sweet home)
2. Cengkareng, Banten (the airport, LOL)
3. Tokyo, Japan (Dec 8, 2024)
4. Yokohama, Japan (Dec 11, 2024) – first time
5. Karuizawa, Japan (Dec 13, 2024) – first time
6. Jakarta
7. Depok
8. Bogor City
9. Harbin, China (Feb 1, 2025) – first time
10. Yabuli, China (Feb 13, 2025) – first time
11. Singapore (Mar 17, 2025) – first time
12. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Mar 18, 2025)
13. Bangkok, Thailand (May 28-Apr 1, 2025)
14. Majalengka (May 11) – first time
15. Tasikmalaya (May 11-13)
16. Singaparna (May 13) – first time
17. Sumedang (May 13) – first time
18. Tegal (June 6)
19. Slawi (June 7) – first time
20. Brebes (June 8) – first time
21. Nagoya, Japan (Oct 5) – first time
22. Bahrain (Oct 16) – first time
23. Chonburi, Thailand (Nov 13) – first time
24. (to be updated)

After making the list, I came to think, what if I can get to more than 39? So ambitious haha…

Anyway, whether I’ll get to less than 39, exactly 39, or more than 39, that will be okay. I hope this will be a good year, despite all the challenges.