collections from the land of buzz~

It's been a while since the advocate of breaks breathed a proper one.

Found some bits of courage and went ahead to book e air tix n hotel just 2 weeks ago.

There were a few objectives set out:
-daily quiet time
-sort out ministry tasks
-tailors
-and of course.. To pray, reflect n breathe.

Day 1

Touched down. I made my way up instead of down to w taxi stand. While figuring my way around I found a fellow stranger. I offered to accompany stranger to the taxi stand n by a stroke of coincidence I was provided with a bodyguard- stranger was heading e same way, I offered n we were on our way to sukhomvit in a shared cab.

In the short 30 min journey, we had good conversation and stranger suggested drinks since he had hours to kill before the midnight flight. I was going to have my alone time the rest of e days so this was fine with me.

I brought stranger for a mini tour of This land. The randomness of events intrigued me. Chemistry between complete strangers can exist. I realized then that at one point in my life, I was forcing chemistry out of history. Those 2 equations can never co- exist. Even if it did, there would be no resulting explosion nor reaction. Simply 2 independent entities in 2 different islands.

The day ended at Khao San w dinner and Chang over good humor. Bodyguard stranger was to board the next flight but it was fine.. We need to allow people to come and go without holding on too much or life would probably be less colorful.

That usually happens when we disallow spontaneous randomness to find any space.

Live n let live. :)



Day 2

I've been conditioned to a 6 hour sleep cycle. Not wanting to waste precious day 2 away quiet time began. I thanked God for my recent blessings too.. A gift that has been extraordinary.

Work wrapped up at Au Bon Pain below. Exactly the way I planned- with choco raisin melting in my palette.

The afternoon was filled with a walk to Ravi sehgal. It was long but purposeful. People watching and pics from the streets.

I got to the square n told myself to shop for shoes. I've been conditioned to the habits of a bad shopper. When ur eyes don't send signals to ur brains to make a purchase it just won't. So I found little to put in my shopping bag.

The bad shopper also suffers from claustrophobia with the lack of practice. Amidst the buzz of town I had a craving to have a conversation with someone- my usual Hollie buddy. But.. Wake up! Did u forget your alone?!

I wandered away from the buzz or noise would have killed me. Voila, lonely has now gone and happy has revisited. I escaped noise and found Paris. Chezcharlie@sukhomvit. What joy it is when u know how to be in a make believe world. :)

Day 3 - cycle day out!

I'm looking forward to e countryside. The kind of charger for the old soul me :)

I asked for directions and found soi 26 rather easily. I realised how those few lanes of sukhumvit were indeed filled with many Japanese eateries and people. When I arrived at ABC there were 2 shops and I originally thought the shop was closed, as i walked further, i saw the shutters next door were half open and so I made my way in. 

Walked up the stairs and despite the quietness from ground floor I realised that there was an entire group of 12 waiting up there, Germans, French, Dutch, Americans.. As I sat down I also realised that everyone came with a partner. I was the lone ranger. Better still, I was ready to get to know half the world or not be stuck with anyone at all. 

Soon enough we got onto our bikes and took the first pedal of the journey. It was cool just knowing I made it here alone, signed up for a tour alone and that I was finally on the streets peddling on a foreign land doing something totally out of the ordinary.. Talk about stepping out of our comfort zones!

Pavements, bustling main roads, turned in and out of small streets and ended up at a back alley of local homes with a small shoe factory, provision shop.. Explanations from A - our tour guide ( who amazed me with the amount of English she could speak for a Thai) and then to Talad(market)  Klong Toay .. The colours and life in the market was an eye opening experience compared to the kind of markets I've been accustomed to my entire life. There were buyers from restaurants and hotels too and they were accompanied with 'porters' who carried the basket of goods on their backs and were identified with numbered uniforms. Interesting.. 

Then we got out onto the midday blaze, wound behind some back alley of homes, stopped at Wat Klong Toay for a toilet break and A introduced some tropical fruits to the farangs. It was amusing coz they were intrigued by fruits like the mangosteen and longan.. But of course I was outnumbered and had no one to share my amusement with, I just kept silent. :) 

Out of the temple and on the pathway to the pier a very nice dog decided to intercept my path, did the pre- poop turn and started on his constipated poop time. I decided to wait, who likes to be interrupted at precious times like that.. While waiting, a local shouted out and attempted to chase the poor dog away with a broom. Thanks but really.. No thanks.. I didn't mind waiting at all, I hope someday, you'll realise the agony of being disturbed in moments like these. 

And so my path cleared up as I manoeuvred around half poop. Onto the pier and our sampan arrived shortly. As if I didn't enjoy my journey enough, this was a bonus, being able to cross to another island just got me excited. Bikes were loaded onto the boat and off we sailed to a nearby shore that had my kind of peace and quiet.. 

I don't know the names of places we visited- a temple, behind homes, rodeos narrow paths and stopped at a hut for lunch. Conversation was interesting, the Europeans advised me on places to travel for my next eu expedition and taught me some German too. I also spoke to Aon and offered a place to stay too if she was keen since I was travelling alone and there was space.. And then I decided that I'd speak to my Asian partners instead. Spoke to the old granny and the other tour guide helped me to interpret, they laughed at my broken Thai or gesturing and I sent her well wishes as we parted. That was a memorable experience. 

Back on the journey back to ABC and as we were about to go on our own ways, I gave the Girl from Amsterdam my contact if and when she decided to pop over Singapore again. I also asked for Aon's contact in case she wanted to hang out :) no regrets (:

I look back and am reminded that everything only happens once when you travel. The point though is to always treasure the good times and never hesitate coz once you allow fear to hold you back on speaking to anyone or doing something good, you miss out on an opportunity forever. (of course with caution at all times)

And so this trip, I was glad, to have made at least 1 new friend whom I've blessed with my warmth and fellowship. Little did I know that a few months down, I would have been blessed too, with a unique invitation to her hometown. ...There in the rural town, I felt so much warmth and and hospitality from people who I can't even speak to in the same language.

And then I'm reminded of the song.. Love in any language, straight from the heart. Love isn't spoken in words, its spoken in actions from the heart. Amidst this time of blessing and rest I was also able to soak into the beauty of my Lord's creation within the natural setting of waterfalls, hills, valleys and clear blue skies..