Where Upon One Journey Ends, Another Begins.

Once again, I find myself sitting before my macbook screen, absolutely beside myself concerning where all this time has been spent. Come tomorrow, I will have a final breakfast with my mom, who spent Christmas with me, and I will be accompanying her to the airport to catch her flight back to the Philippines. From that point I will catch a taxi to meet up with an acquaintance that I have never met in person before, and together we will journey far south- either by bus or train- to a broadly-determined region, in search for little more than something we have never yet encountered.

Where one journey ends, another begins.

Christmas went well for my mom and I. We took the graveyard train up to a very brisk Chiang Mai, Thailand’s second largest city, and spent three restful days at a heavenly guesthouse, fully enclosed within lush fruit trees, feathery lawns, and refreshingly crisp breezes.

While there, we did what one does when they visit Chiang Mai- journey through the old city, trample through the overgrowth ontop elephants, and meander through the many fascinating handiwork factories that align the export section of town (watching them extract silk thread from the silkworm’s cocoon was definitely a highlight!). It was a soothing respite for the both of us, and we were glad to have the time to catch up with one another, as we only see each other every one or two years.

But now I must be off to prepare the upcoming adventure. All I can explain beforehand is that other than determining to take a trip down to southern Thailand with a companion, I have left the next week as open and free as possible. At this point, we plan to hike through Koh Sok National Park in Southern Thailand, a savagely gorgeous region that is essentially untouched rain forest and currently in full bloom with Thai orchids that are “football-sized”, the largest in the world! After that, all I know is that classes start on the 4th.

Let the journey begin.

The Aroma of Wandering

The sharp, sweet smell of Thai basil warmed the air around me as I went on a nice walk across town today. I passed bustling soup vendors, ladened with plastic bowls of steaming ramen, trying to keep up with the biting appetites of all the workers who had just recently finished for the day. I passed lines of tuk-tuk drivers, eyeing every pedestrian as a possible customer, the vibrant fruit carts stacked to the brim with wedges of pineapple, papaya,mango, and watermelon, packed tightly against each other against  layers of crushed ice.

This is the Thailand I know, and I will miss it when the hour of departure arrives for me.

Not that I have any plans to leave soon, but for those of you who know me, I was born into a family of few roots, traveling to where they felt called, leaving little room for such conveniences as stability, consistency, and family reunions.  Not that I terribly missed  any of those (especially the latter!), but these days I feel myself becoming more aware of how deeply embedded the restlessness of my past is within me. The fear I have for myself is, like a jack-of-all-trades, I will  see much, learn more, but find my place in nothing. That is a fear that I have only recently began to seriously recognize, and yet it might also have to do with that fact that I am in my early twenties, and this, as my friend so succinctly put it, “is a weird age.”

I think that I tend to agree with him, especially when all of those you graduated with are getting married, settling down, and you are on the other side of the world, trying to decided when grad school is an acceptable option. I’m not  sure which is the better situation at this point in life.

I’m beginning to feel the crunch- one more full week, and then it is two days straight of school Christmas programs (and my  mom arrives in the middle of the first day from the Philippines!), school binders to make, train tickets and hotel reservations to book, and I feel as though I don’t know where to begin. I also am planning a little adventure down into Southern Thailand with a companion of mine, and we still have yet to decide where exactly we are going or how we plan to be getting there.. although I believe that is the point!

And by the way, Merry Christmas!