My Singapore Sling: The Fool’s Journey Home
Nobody had to tell me that travelling was a difficult and testing experience: I began to realise the enormity of my deed the moment I boarded Singapore Airline’s new (jet) pet, the Airbus 380. My weightlessness to the larger scope of the world became apparent as the plane lifted its giant steel wings in challenge to traverse the sky on that clear Sydney morning. I said my vows to my family as I would not see them for some several weeks later - in our hearts we all knew, in one way or another, that this would be the most rewarding trip of all - my first overseas journey.
Before I knew it, the cargo rose to the sky and left me with little more than the assurance of years of research into the aircraft for my safety, as body and soul took to the glorious sea in search of Raffles’s treasure. The plane landed in a swift thud of wheel to concrete and a gentle nudge toward the docking station where I greeted the new land. Of course, that’s just the embellished version - if travelling were that simple, would it really be worth the harrowing fight to simply book the flight?
My final few days in Singapore are an uncertain time for me, caught in the crossfire of families each so welcoming and desirable, while the pull of time and duty presses forever anon. But through the rush of errands and against the tide of the suffocating climate, some truly great things have happened with little more than an open mind.
Filed under 
My Singapore Sling: Culture Shock
I’m thoroughly enjoying my newfound home. At least, my home as it is to a visitor accepting hospitality more impeccable than The Shangri-La Hotel (believe me, I’m the expert after spending just a few hours there). The sensation of utter acceptance into the rhythm of domestic life here has me in awe and each day I feel myself becoming more and more of a local, without adopting the terrible creole Singlish. But don’t worry, ‘adapting’ to the way of life here didn’t happen over night; it took a few solid weeks of feeling utterly confused and amazed before the whur of noise, sight and sound began to take a cohesive form. It was well worth the wait.
Despite the rewards yielded so far, I have no intentions in staying here for the long yards of life - it’s merely a detour from the instability of life in Sydney for an even more unstable life experience. Except that this time, I’m dwelling on the outskirts of Asia, so young in spirit but old in tradition and forever welcoming to my insatiable urge for culture shock. I have no doubt that I’ll be carrying more than just a few trinket goods in my luggage home. It seems that I have just begun to scratch the surface of this surreality.
Read More »
With Friends at Bay
I have the most unusual thing to report. To all of those special people who fill the void of affection in my life, I am glad to have you back. You might not know it but many aspects of my life suffered in your absence and the scene of my familiar social faces dwindled into oblivion. My mother and father, my closest friend and workplace ally, my housemate and landlord and even the neighbours upstairs and next door, each took to the river with their raft and sought a change in climate and ideology, and it ultimately came to them; for they say in the breath of small things come the most sacred things.
Whether it is some strange act of karmic cleansing or a subconscious hiding the old trail meandering footfalls in the snow, in some fashion everybody has returned to my life after leaving me without contact to them and rendering me vulnerable and somewhat disillusioned. For their return I am grateful and at peace. We never truly know how much we depend on those around us until they have departed, and we never really know how fragile at heart our friends and family are until they are in a dire time of need.
A warmly welcoming, ever-expanding index of personal daily ruminations, quotes, recipes, poems & photography. About the author »
Select a Category
Recently
- The Six Degrees To One Star
- Move In, We’re Losing Ground!
- Our Craft, Our Shepherd
- The Squeeze and The Great Divide
- Jungle Man
