Thursday, July 01, 2010

BIOS 2010 #01. going solo


-        Night at the airport
-        Travelling through Beijing on the train
-        Meeting the people
-        Heading out to An Ding Men to shop and to eat dinner
-        Walked along Nan Luo Gu Xiang (Something Alley)

I’m on my way to Beijing now, riding a Boeing 767-300ER with another 30 rows of 7 people sitting in the same cabin. Beside me is a Singaporean who seemed very familiar (I thought he looked like sanjay from yuhua concert band), but most of the time he was asleep and so I didn’t get to talk to him. Just like me, he seemed like a solo traveler.

It’s my virgin experience of travelling alone, and even though as scary as it may seem, it actually has some perks to it. First being I feel as if I’ve became significantly more independent just within a few hours, second being there wasn’t a need to entertain anyone and I could just be myself. But of course, you lose that additional companionship which gets boring at times.

Last night at the airport was a terrible one. After mum left at 12.30pm, I checked in and entered the waiting area. Tried to find somewhere comfortable to sleep but I realised that the seats at T1 were mostly those kind you would find in lecture halls, the only difference that it had some cushioning. But they were definitely not ideal for a good night’s sleep. I settled for a little more comfortable looking seat near the transit hotel, and there was this very kind stranger who later tried to offer me some nice looking bread. I felt guilty for being wary because I really think he was just being kind. I think he was also trying to find some place to sleep in the airport.

Msned a little that night till 1 plus, where I became too tired to actually chat coherently to my dearest buddies – den & jojo (I spent the whole day travelling already, from lake toba to medan and back to Singapore). Herny and kennethkoh were unfortunately not online, and so I guess the next guaranteed chat time would be after I get back from my little escapade. Facebooked and found that there were signs of me being missed, and that made me all warm and fuzzy inside.

Attempted to fall asleep for the next four hours, and I did catch some low level sleep throughout, though most of the time was spent on trying to find the most comfortable position. At almost 6, I decided it was pointless trying to get some sleep and so I thought I would have been better off getting some eye drops from the pharmacy (the very clever me forgot to keep my lens solution and case with me and so I had to wear that pair of contacts for almost 36hours). After getting that highly overpriced bottle, I went to use the internet at the terminals and checked whatever I could, including resetting my ntu password (because I totally forgot ha) and checking my fyp results once again for some affirmation (I previously only heard the results after calling one of the staff in MAE back in nias). It was comforting to see the words B048 on the screen.

After using the comp for almost an hour, I headed to outside the departure gate waiting for it to open. Having another hour plus ahead of me, I decided to start on the book that J lent me, Today I’m Alice. It got me hooked, and up till now I’ve finished 7 chapters of it already, about a third of the book. Considering that I’ve been sleeping most of the plane ride till now, I consider myself to be quite fast, especially when I’m not a fan of reading.

The only thing significant that happened at the departure gate was that my scissors got confiscated, and my name written in some book criminalisingly.

The plane ride was awesome by far. I guess it might because it’s my first ride on a full service carrier after my trip to korea in sec 4, any other trips after that were just in low cost carriers without luxuries like nice chicken noodles with fruits and desserts for lunch and a nice fuzzy blanket and pillow which were my best companions for a good sleep. There was rather sufficient leg space as well. The only downside about this long trip is that I was wearing shorts and slippers and so my feet is really really cold. Zzzzz.

After this plane ride will be another exciting hour ahead, buzzing through the Chinese and finding my way to the hostel some distance away. I’m worried that I won’t understand the Peking Chinese accent nor do the pekingites understand my Singaporean Chinese. Haha. But what I can be sure of is my  ability to read and write Chinese. I really think I’m quite good at the language (: I hope that the train station would be really easy to find later on. And that I don’t get lost on the way to the hostel.

But yeaps, as much as the fact that I am alone, I believe that I am not as well. Because I know Abba, my Father and God, is just right beside me, holding my hand and leading me to safety. I know I’m a blessed kid. I know I’m here because of His greatness. And I miss singing praises of Him in church.

Back to the book. And maybe catch a little more sleep. It’s going to be another crazily tiring 18 days ahead of me, I’ll need to have the energy to press on.


+ guaishou's! :D

No comments: