| FLIGHT FROM/TO DATE TIME CLASS STATUS STOPS |
[10 Apr 2006|02:18pm] |
|
1.TG
240 HATYAI 14APR 4.40PM Y/-OK
0
BANGKOK 14APR 6.10 PM
AIRCRAFT TYPE AIRBUS A300 600
PRESSURISED WIDEBODY
2. SQ
974 BANGKOK 14APR 10.10 PM Y / Q OK
0
OSAKA-KIX 15APR 5.45 AM
AIRCRAFT TYPE BOEING 777
3. SQ
12 TOKYO NARITA 19APR 6.45 PM Y / Q OK
0
LOS ANGELES 19APR 12.50 PM
AIRCRAFT TYPE B747-400
4. AC
744 LOS ANGELES 19APR 3.05 PM V / -OK
0
TORONTO 19APR 10.45 PM
AIRCRAFT TYPE AIRBUS A320
|
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| 3 . . 2 . . 1 |
[10 Apr 2006|12:53pm] |
|
i got home last night from the ten-day silent meditation retreat. and it hit me:
three days.
three more days.
three more days until i get on that plane.
i won't deny it: i am a complete wreck.
this will probably be my last entry from thailand.
my last few days are packed with goodbyes, and then more goodbyes. (i hate goodbyes.) i don't even want to think about it.
anyway,
it just so happens that my last two days in thailand will coincide with the thai new year, "songklan", which is pretty much a giant water fight that lasts for days.
on the way home, i will return to my mother land for five days (japan, my friends). not long, i know, but better than nothing. okasan and maho will be waiting for me at the train station, and i am bound to burst into tears the moment i see them.
it also just so happens that, according to 'the cherry blossom forecast 2006', i will be in okayama smackdab in the middle of the flowers blossoming. god must really really love me.
(if you dont know about the "cherry blossoms viewing" in japan, you have to look it up. its incredible.)
'the economist' says:
"THE arrival of spring raises an important question. Is it better to admire the cherry blossoms drunk or sober? In Japan, the consensus is “drunk”. When the 'sakura' bloom, Japanese people sit in parks getting raucously sloshed and contemplating the transience of life, as symbolised by those briefly spectacular flowers. Everyone agrees that alcohol heightens the experience."
....hmm, its something like that.
[read a different description: http://gojapan.about.com/cs/cherryblossoms/a/sakuraviewing.htm]
anyway, it will be nothing short of brilliant.
and then,
i will be home.
HOME!
[but not for long. the beginning of may will find me heading to the great north (ogoki, ontario) to tree-plant for the summer - suicidal, i know.]
-
ca suffit
pour aujourd'hui.
-
a thousand snapshots:
the beautiful russian, larissa <3
|
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| very blue sky |
[27 Mar 2006|01:49am] |
ma & pa:
they decided to take me on a day trip to pattulung just to see the lotus flowers (bright bright red/pink)
but we got there too late; they had closed up for the day.
it was fun anyway.
and then we went to the temple, of course, because that's just what you do in thailand.
|
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| bringing you : february |
[13 Mar 2006|10:46pm] |
one day, at the temple... people gathered to give rice to a hundred monks.
-
one day, in songkla... people were flying kites, and a child was taking an afternoon nap
-
one night, in hat yai... little boys were curious
(or not)
-
one day, in the garden... we toiled and sweated
-
one day, in the countryside... we went for lunch by the seaside
-
one day, at home... meh and kun yai finally agreed to my taking their picture
-
one day, at massage school... i finally got to take rest
...and on the way home,
-
one night, hat yai had a party...
-
one day, at the temple... i had nothing better to do than take pictures
|
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| try to take it all in |
[04 Sep 2005|08:37am] |
malaysia:
along with two brazilian exchange students, juao (aka "kao jao", which means 'rice') and izabella (aka "fasai", which means 'sunshine'), and one thai family, i sojourned in kuala lumpur for two days during the country's biggest holiday (it's magnitude is the same as that of christmas in north america.)
arriving at 4 am on an overnight bus, we wandered the murmuring streets (cafes were open and people were already starting their days) for nearly an hour - every place we tried was completely booked. we finally found accomodation at a dingy hotel in the heart of chinatown, with rooms the size of my bathroom in canada. the beds were bare and the air conditioning didnt work, but it was better than nothing. so we slept on the hard mattresses and woke a few hours later soaked in sweat. stepping out on the street that late moring, it was as though we had been moved to another location in our sleep: the dark and deserted street we had travelled down mere hours before was now unrecognizable. it was like walking into the sea of people in new york city's times square on a saturday night, but less civil. at eight in the morning, kuala lumpur's china town was awake and singing. the prositutes had taken their posts (convenienty right outside our hotel); steam and smoke were rising from the crowds, as food carts were dispensing breakfast at a rapid speed; motorcycles and garbage trucks were inching their way through the mass of people, ceaselessly honking their horns; shrunken old women were neatly tucked in crevices of the crowded area (such as alley ways and door steps) crouched over their bowls of food on a tablemat of old newspapers; carts piled high with fake louis vuiton suitcases and coach purses aggressively pushed aside anything that stood in their path, small items sometimes slippling off and being lost to a snatching. lining the street on both sides were small shops, set up just that morning and separated by sheets hung on rope, selling every kind of imitation name-brand merchandise one could imagine - puma and converse shoes, rolex and gucci watches, roxy and dolce and gabbana t-shirt, levi jeans, adidas track suits, nike socks, raulph lauren polo shirts - all for the price of a couple bucks. it was a tourist's paradise.
the day was spent in malls. so goes a trip to malaysia with a thai family. needless to say, it wasn't that interesting. anything noteworthy took place while travelling to and from shopping centres: a conversation with a cab driver from sri lanka, who explained the conflict with the tamil tigers from first-person experience; twenty minutes spent waiting at a train station in the late afternoon sun, the platform packed with people but strangely quiet; sitting next to two muslim teenage girls who kept grinning at me, and playing with a toddler whose parents let her come sit on my lap; a ten minute ride on a bus that smelled so pungently of body odour that i resorted to breathing in car exhaust from the small opening in the window next to me; the prostitute with a black, swollen eye and aggressive body language (a sight that brought scenes from 'monster' to mind and made my stomach drop) that yelled horsely at me "come on!" when i walked passed her. the thai woman i was walking with pretended not to see her.
at night, we returned to chinatown, which had, once again, transformed itself. it was even more chaotic than before. the street was lit by traditional red chinese lamps strung above from one side to the other, and there wasn't a square inch of space that wasn't being used - it was packed. now, not only were there shops on both side, but in the middle of the street as well, with even more of an assortment to choose from than before: pirated dvds and cds, partially-filled perfume bottles, movie posters, belts and sunglasses. and with more things to buy came more people to buy them. the narrow walkways between shops were consumed by a river of people, moving at a moderate pace but stopping for no one. to slip in or out of this moving stream took skill. restaurants had tables set up in the road, around and through which people walked obliviously. it was difficult to discern the restaurants' patios from the market, each bleeding into the other until there was no division. a man playing the guitar sang 'hotel california' in a small husky voice. another sat in the middle of a walkway with short stumps for limbs, frantically moving his little arms, begging for money as people stepped around and over him. (beggars have become a common sight for me. they are often physically handicapped in some way or another, sitting or lying with a tin can in front of them. they are often under the age of five, as well. in train stations, small infants lie on their backs on a newspaper-laden floor, coins carelessly scattered around them, "beggging" instead of the parents who sit nearby, as they know he will procure more pity than they themselves. other times, small children lie limp in their fathers arms, sleeping. the worst, however, is when they are completely alone.) that night, chinatown was frantic with excitement. alcohol was flowing through the tourists' blood, locals were celebrating, and the merchants were getting bolder with each sale. the entire atmosphere sucked all energy from me. by eleven that night, my eyelids were getting heavy and my body was moving slowly. my head resting on some clothes for a pillow, i fell asleep to the angry screams of a jealous boyfriend pounding on the door of a room down the hall.
my god, and i thought bangkok was chaotic.
school:
i rise at 6:30 am, when the sun is coming up and the neighbor's rooster is crowing. i dress in my uniform, the mary poppins-like long navy pleated skirt and short-pouffy-sleeved bouse or track pants and pink golf shirt, depending on the day. i eat my banana and drink my soy milk, and leave the house at 7. half an hour later, i say goodbye to my host parents as they drop me off at the front of the school. i bow to the teachers standing at the front gate, and walk along side the other arriving students up the little pathway that leads to tree-covered courtyard. there, students are gathered in large groups, chatting animatedly. at this point, i am still half asleep, and respond only half-heartedly to the excited cries of "nampheung!" a couple of my classmates are there, and they take me by the arm and lead me to the rest of their group. they have a name, this clique: "snob." it couldn't be less suitable. i don't believe they fully understand the meaning of the word. anyway, these sweet girls each have a personalized, name-bearing "snob" button on their school bags, and are in the process of making one for me. i sit with them and listen to them talk, only understanding bits and pieces of their conversations. at 7:45, the entire student population (minus a few stragglers that have arrived late and are thus punished) stands lined-up at the front of the school, where they sing the national anthem whilst the thai flag is raised, and then sit and listen to a harsh voice barking from the loud speakers, lecturing them on discipline. it is also at the times that 'inspections' are done, and if a boy's hair is too long, a patch is shaved on the side of his head to embarass him and make sure the rest of his head is shaved the next day. (i have yet to see what happens if a girl's hair is longer than the regulation chin-length.) i am exempt from this brutally boring early morning assembly (the school worries it would be too hot for me) so i am free to do as i like, whether it be sit under the trees in the courtyard and read, or join the elitist dance club in a classroom, and watch as twenty or so girls are taught thai music video routines by two flamboyantly gay male students. (i have no idea of how they managed to get permission to miss this assembly every morning in order to dance.) in fact, i am free to do as i like all day, so long as i stay within school grounds. even so, i usually go to class. though in thai schools, one class takes all the same subjects together and stays together all through high school, i have a special timetable that is made up of all the classes my school counselor thought i would enjoy: thai cooking, thai art, thai music, soccer, takrow (a local variant of soccer that uses a small, plastic ball), horticulture and home economics. i also play teacher in a lot of english classes, reading passages aloud and having the class repeat after me. so sometimes i am with my class, and other times i find myself with forty thirteen year olds learning how to cook 'tom yum gung'. i love it. it is impossible to get bored here because i am not tied to any kind of schedule. if i want free food and company, all i have to do is go to the english department, where there are all female teachers that treat me like a daughter. and if i want to study thai, i just skip class and go to the library for a few hours. (but even there i find it hard to study, as it doesn't take long for a group of kids to sit down with me to talk.) i really just do whatever i feel like. i usually try to go to the cafeteria at the same time as my classmates (they get jealous if i dont spend enough time with them) and together we buy our ten-cent-lunches from the ladies that joke with us like they would with friends, and eat at one of the hundred tables as student bands perform on stage to an audience of energetic, screaming young girls. it's loud in the cafeteria, to say the least. between classes, students play takrow in the streets, and i am always invited to join in when i pass by (word is out the falang likes to play football.) sometimes someone has a guitar and we have little sing-alongs on the grass in the shade of the trees. (they always request that i sing songs by m2m and westlife, who i have never even heard of before.) dogs live at the school, and they wander around freely, not particularly paying any attention to the students - only a few are friendly, and it is with them that i sometimes spend entire periods sitting with, petting them; the students find this wierd. and eating is like a pastime here - there is a snack shop that sells drinks, pastries, candies and ice cream that is always bustling with students - which bewilders me when i observe just how small their tiny bodies actually are.
we eat, sing and play takrow; that's pretty much the gist of it.
after school, i have no set routine. i am now an official member of the school soccer team (i was ceremoniously presented with a uniform - it was significant as i am the first female to join the team), but as exams are approaching, practices have ceased. some days, i go to the community sports centre, that has aerobics classes, weight rooms, a track, a soccer field and a basketball court. i love the aerobics class, which, on average, one hundred women attend, as young as 5 and as old as 80, moving at different degrees of intensity to terrible dance mixes, following the complicated step work of teacher at the front of the room. the concrete hall is large, and i can't even see the teacher when i get a place in the back. the class costs a measely 5 baht ($1 canadian = 33 baht) and some girls from my school go, so it's fun. other days, i play football (soccer) in the middle of the track with a bunch of men that just play casually. though hat yai is a big city, everyone seems to go to this sports centre, and i always see people that i know (or, that at least know me.) other nights, i go to my host parents' radio station where all of my host sister's friends hang out. they want me to have a weekly program, but i won't start until after my school vacation. across the street from the radio statio is a night market four days a week, which i have ventured through only twice so far. it will take many more visits before i have seen it all. one day after school last week, i went to a sports club with my friend, bee. it was a big deal, because my host parents didnt take me. (i swear, they think i am going to be abducted if i am out of their sight for a minute.) we took a 'song tow' (the thai version of public transportation that is pretty much trucks with benches in the back that have no set route or destination. i haven't figured out how the system exactly works, yet.) and went swimming for a couple hours. while i was taking a break at one end, an old, squat man asked if i would speak english with his fourteen-year-old son. i obliged, of course, but i soon realized it was the man himself who wanted to speak english, as he cut in and answered for his son every question i asked. (it wasn't long before the boy took off to swim again, probably annoyed that his father had dragged him over.) we eventually got on the topic of meditation, and he told me he meditates for an hour every day. i was amazed. i have attempted meditating, and it doesn't take much to distract me, or long for my mind to wander. i asked him how he did it, and he told me he meditates all the time - even when he's swimming. he simply silently says a buddhist phrase with each stroke he takes. i tried it myself, repeating "peaceful mind" upon his suggestion, and it worked. i "meditated" for twenty minutes, a record time by my standards.
i still do not have a camera, but once i get one, i will no longer have to write these brutally long descriptions; the pictures will say far more than i ever could.
so, as i respond each day to the question posed incessantly, yes, i am happy.
all of my love.
|
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| the population of bangkok is one fourth of that of canada. |
[20 Aug 2005|11:53pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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amused |
] |
| [ |
music |
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the television (a talk show interviewing transvetites) |
] |
location : pim's apartment, bangkok.
bangkok is craaaaazy.
i am dizzy from all the shrieking and honking and rumbling and pollution. i can hardly breathe. the heat is unbearable, and traffic makes it that much worse. my sweaty body is always unwillingly brushing up against equally sweaty bodies as i try to push my way through the narrow, cramped streets (believe me, there is no other way.) it is certainly not for the claustrophic. and the smells... one minute i am happily inhaling the sweet aroma of roasted bananas, the next i am breathing in sewage. the smells here are so extreme, and there is no escaping them.
a couple of days ago was "sat jin", the chinese holiday that celebrates the passing of half a year and calls for paying respect to the dead. my host mum's seven siblings and their families gathered in a downtown bangkok three-story house for this occasion. around twenty of us stood around in the spacious second-floor kitchen, one woman hacking away at a chicken and handing generous slabs of meat to everyone. one by one, after sticking burning incense in a sand-filled bowl, the family kneeled before four large portraits of their parents and one set of grandparents and prayed. then we ate all the food that had been used for the offering.
the next day, i was woken by my host mother and told that i was going to stay at her sister-in-law's. so off i went to bangkok's chinatown to another factory and warehouse (this one bigger and better.) "auntie" and "uncle" doted on me like one would a child. they fed and bathed me and then took me out shopping and bought me icecream, all the while holding my hands. ha ha ha ha. that night, we watched 'the terminal' together. then they tucked me into bed. it was cute - i was like their pet.
for the two weeks i was in hat yai, i saw only one foreigner. then i came to bangkok and i was surrounded by them. ridiculous as it sounds, i felt shy when seeing the first ten or so. but then i got over it...
today, itt met me at siam square (the place to be, apparently), and my host mom reluctantly let go of me (literally). he took me around the area, which is all shopping and full of wealthy and trendy mall rats. we ran into five of his friends from university, and they were all excited about his "farang." we took sticker pictures and drank green tea (i felt like i was back in japan).
tonight was "econ night", his faculty's party, and i went as his date. there was food and a live band and a couple little funny performances. the profs had front row seats on leather seats. there were over a hundred students in attendance, all dressed in white as that was the theme. i stood out like a sore thumb, even with my all-white attire. when the band started to play, i watched as a huge mass of shiny black hair danced - that is, jumped up and down with one hand in the air - to avril lavigne, "happy ending." i joined in, of course. ha. there was only one other foreigner there, a girl in first-year from pakistan. she has lived in bangkok all her life, and never wants to live in pakistan, which she says is full of "dirty, ignorant people." she told me about her arranged marriage and the online affair she is having with a sikh that (supposedly) drives a nice car. she asked me about life in canada, and i thrilled her with stories about stupid house parties full of wasted teenagers. the whole night was so innocent it was endearing... everyone was all dressed up and the girls were continuously making runs to the bathroom to check their hair and makeup and the boys stuck close together, trying to show off for the girls, occasionally nervously glancing over at the huddles of girls to see their reactions, and we all drank POP. it reminded me of the first school dance i attended when i was in grade six.
the party ended at eleven, and now, close to midnight, i am in itt's friend pim's tiny apartment. i am sleeping on the floor tonight.
bangkok is wild. trust me.
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[17 Aug 2005|02:53pm] |
| [ |
mood |
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calm |
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music |
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factory machinary |
] |
it's early afternoon, and im sitting in the loft of a bangkok soap factory. to my left is a large window that overlooks the machinary and the uniform-clad workers and the stacks of bright blue crates below.
hat yai: elephants walk the busy city streets, tail lights attached to their hinds. the sidewalks are littered with vendors selling fruit, roasted chestnuts, and watches. in warehouse-like buildings, hundreds of stalls are set-up to form markets that go for blocks and blocks, pouring out on to the small side streets that separate the buildings. they are dark and cramped and animated. sitting upon cheap plastic stools, some muslim women eye me suspiciously as i pass their booths displaying fabric, prunes and spices for sale; others smile shyly. i am a "falang" (slang term used for 'foreigner', but literally translated, it means 'guava'), a rare sight - no one is interested in touring the city that has often borne the brunt of southern thailand's insurgency (read: bombings. all parking places do an extensive search of cars before allowing entrace.) hat yai isnt the dull, giant concrete block i had been warned about by travel websites... there are dense sections of green everywhere. and at night, it is ablaze: there are christmas lights strung along the telephone wires, even lights in the shape of reindeer in the dividers between busy streets. small, modest restaurants (that are simply a couple plastic tables and chairs arranged upon dirty cement floors, walls non-existant and a tarpaulin hanging overhead for shelter) stay open past midnight, selling fried noodles and pork and curry. the city does not rest.
my home is just outside of the city, right on the edge of thick jungle. i am awoken most mornings by the crow of a neighbor's rooster. buffalos and bulls graze freely on the sides of the roads, indifferent to the stray dogs that trot by. my house is large, with high ceilings, and the tiled floors reflect their rooms' contents like glass. it is traditional in style, both exterior and interior, and tall, grand walls surrounds the property. to me it feels majestic. i eat "egg" (small) bananas and warm soy milk for breakfast, and at night, there is almost always a large gathering for dinner. everyone stands in the spacious kitchen, helping to prepare the meal, and when it is ready, all gather around the large dining room table to eat, some sitting, some standing. everyone digs in, literally. there's no such thing as 'serving cutlery': one simply scoops up food from each dish as he likes with his own spoon and sends it directly into his mouth. it is not rude to semi-stand up and reach across three people to retrieve a spoonful of curry. and no one hesitates to use their hands. best of all, when it truly is a party, the meal goes on for hours. course after course is brought out from the kitchen (chinese dim-sum, steaming crabs, rice, curry, vegetable stew, entire roasted chickens, spring rolls, noodles, more rice...), and everyone just keeps eating - i just dont have that kind of stamina.
my host family took me on a short holiday to two cities north of hat yai, narat sri thammarat and surat thani. while staying overnight at a hotel in the former, i indulged in a two-hour-long thai massage (for the small price of fifteen dollars.) it was incredible... my body has never felt so light. i felt drunk as i stumbled out of the dimly lit room, disappointed it was already over. it may become a regular luxury for me... and in the latter, when visiting a monastery, i met with a highly-respected monk, bowing before him with as much grace as i could convoke. along with my host family, i kneeled before him, shy and eyes lowered, nervous i was going to do something offensive. my host sister translating, he told me i had a sweet voice (which is not true unless i am in front of an intimidating figure and don't want to be heard) and he presented me with a gift: a large box of german chocolate. (i think he reads minds.) he asked me to return in a few months when i can speak thai.
i am a celebrity in my school. walking to and from class is like walking the red carpet. everywhere i go, kids shout my name, "nampheung! nampheung!" and, obligingly, i smile and wave. when i get home and am alone in my room, the name still rings through my ears. truthfully, its embarrassing... i hate all the attention. at lunch, when i took a bite out of piece of fruit and some juice dripped into my hand that was cupped below it, five people sprang from the table to fetch me a napkin. i hear more "i love you"s than i have ever heard in my life. thais are surprisingly affectionate, and girls in my class always hold my hand and walk arm-in-arm with me. cliques of thirteen year olds trail behind me in the hallways, giggling with their hands over their mouths when i look over my shoulder. when i go to read in the courtyard on a bench under some trees, i am almost instantly circled by dozens of bright faces, wanting to try to converse in english with me. even the teachers become shy and awkward around me, especially the males. i hope the excitement will subside sooner than later. as for classes, i am not expected to do anything, so i happily sit in the back and read.
my host mother, host sister and i flew to bangkok early this morning, and relatives were at the airport to pick us up. we are staying here (in the herbal soap factory, a family business) for a week and half, and while my host sister prepares herself for leaving for canada, i will visit itt. this is going to be my one chance to experience the thai night life.
i am uncomfortably hot, and i am happy.
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| time is just a big conspiracy... trust me. |
[06 Aug 2005|11:53am] |
| [ |
mood |
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unnaturally awake |
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| [ |
music |
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terrible elevator music... sorry, i mean airport music. |
] |
location: singapore airport, free internet access station.
So.
i have been 'travelling' (more like sitting and swelling, particularly around my ankles) for the past 28 hours. ha! i've barely noticed the time pass. i feel invincible... i could do this for years. the food isn't even that bad.
during my flight from LA to my present whereabouts, i sat next to a man of 28 years old that works in real estate in malibu. he had a curious habit of staring intently at me. it was rather awkward. the perk of sitting next to him was that i got to listen to his iPod for a good five hours.
to further distract myself throughout the 19 hour-long flight, i watched three movies ('the notebook', for a second time, 'a lot like love', which made me sick, and some bollywood movie that was so low-budget that the voices were delayed and didn't match up with the movement of the actors' mouths.), along with two episodes of 'sex and the city', and played super mario (with the controller that popped out of the side of my armrest), all on my own personal screen built into the seat in front of me. aaah the joys of travelling with singapore airline.
even just being here, it is slowly coming back: the feeling of being the outsider, of being completely out of place, of being foreign. i love it.
i am not nervous at all. i feel strangely calm. the long and drawn-out anticipation period is over...
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| music > underwear (apparently) |
[04 Aug 2005|10:40am] |
| [ |
mood |
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rushed |
] |
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music |
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jeff buckley |
] |
French part : ( quoi ? qu’est ce que c’est ? / what ? what’s this? Qu’est ce que c’est piaf ? / what is piaf ? Ah paris ! manger beaucoup le fromage ! / ah paris ! eat a lot of cheese ! La la la la la last goodbye... )
i really really need to stop burning cds... and start packing. seriously. i have two hours left until i leave for the airport.
and i have to remember to buy caesar salad dressing for itt, my thai friend who is meeting me at the bangkok airport. it was his only request.
i honestly wouldn't be that surprised if i managed to miss my flight.
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[03 Aug 2005|10:57am] |
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mood |
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restless |
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music |
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release - blackalicious |
] |
"We're Prisoners of War," Chacko said. "Our dreams have been doctored. We belong nowhere. We sail unanchored on troubled seas. We may never be allowed ashore. Our sorrows will never be sad enough. Our joys never happy enough. Our dreams never big enough. Our lives never important enough. To matter."
Then, to give Estha and Rahel a Sense of Historical Perspective (though Perspective was something which, in the weeks to follow, Chacko himself would sorely lack), he told them about the Earth Woman. He made them imagine that the earth - four thousand six hundred million years old - was a forty-six year old woman - as old, say, as Aleyamma Teacher, who gave them Malayalam lessons. It had taken the whole of the Earth Woman's life for the earth to become what it was. For the oceans to part. For the mountains to rise. The Earth Woman was eleven years old, Chacko said, when the first single-celled organisms appeared. The first animals, creatures like worms and jellyfish, appeared only when she was forty. She was over forty-five - just eight months ago - when dinosaurs roamed the earth.
"The whole of human civilization as we know it," Chacko told the twins, "began only two hours ago in the Earth Woman's life. As long as it takes us to drive from Ayemenem to Cochin."
It was an awe-inspiring and humbling thought, Chacko said, (Humbling was a nice word, Rahel thought. Humbling along without a care in the world), the whole of contemporary history, the World Wars, the War of Dreams, the Man on the Moon, science, literature, philosophy, the pursuit of knowledge - was no more than a blink of Earth Woman's eye.
“And we, my dears, everything we are and ever will be are just a twinkle in her eye,” Chacko said grandly, lying on his bed, staring at the ceiling.
I came across The God of Small Things as I was sorting through the mass of books piled to the ceiling in the back room. (I have always loved that passage.) I have about fifty set aside so far that I am going to bring with me, and I still have half the room to go through.
I am sure I will not regret the extra weight when they are my only means of English discourse (a little one-sided, mind you.)
I am trying to pack, but it is proving to be more difficult than I had expected. I either want to bring absolutely everything.... or simply nothing.
Hmm.
I hate waiting...
I just want to leave.
I am sick with excitement.
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| my ultimate travelling companion : glorious gravol. |
[13 Jul 2005|11:27am] |
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mood |
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athirst |
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music |
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deep honey - goldfrapp |
] |
PASSENGER :
POST/NATALIA MS
--ITINERARY--
FROM TO CARRIER FLT/CL DATE DEP ARR ST
---- -- ------- ------ ---- --- --- --
TORONTO LOS ANGELES CHARTER 793 V 04 AUG 05 825P 1040P OK
FLYING TIME- 5:15
FLIGHT FROM TORONTO TO L.A. IS OPERATED BY AIR CANADA
LOS ANGELES SINGAPORE SINGAPORE 29 Q 05 AUG 05 105A 1135A OK
EQUIPMENT-BOEING 777 JET FLYING TIME-19:30
DEPARTS TERMINAL -BRADLEY INTL
ARRIVES TERMINAL -2
ONE STOP MEAL-MEAL
ARRIVAL DATE-06 AUG
SINGAPORE BANGKOK SINGAPORE 64 Q 06 AUG 05 105P 230P OK
EQUIPMENT-BOEING 747 JET FLYING TIME- 2:25
DEPARTS TERMINAL -2
ARRIVES TERMINAL -2
NONSTOP MEAL
BANGKOK HATYAI THAI INTRNL 235 Y 06 AUG 05 545P 715P OK
EQUIPMENT-AIRBUS A300-600 JET FLYING TIME- 1:30
DEPARTS TERMINAL -DOMESTIC
NONSTOP SNACK
to put it simply :
toronto - los angeles : 5 h 15
time spent sleeping in airport as i wait for next flight : two and a half hours
los angeles - singapore : 19 h 30
time spent sleeping in airport as i wait for next flight : an hour and a half
singapore - bangkok : 2 h 25
time spent sleeping in airport as i wait for next flight : three hours and fifteen minutes
bangkok - hatyai : 1 h 30
total travelling time: 36 hours.
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