Chapter P

August 5th, 2006

11.32 AM, 4th August 2006 Friday

after writing that last post, i went into a mad packing frenzy but still took about one hour before i was done. i had 15 minutes before my parents would get up, so i took that time to crash. was dead sleepy so i was out like a light in a matter of seconds. my dad (bless him!) gave me an extra 30 mins to nap, but like with all awaking-from-naps, i was in a super foul mood when i got up. woke up to the sound of my dad bellowing about his missing iPod, and that put everyone in the house in Defensive Mode cos he was basically just accusing everyone of theft. we’re like, dad, nobody wants your iPod - but he wasnt having any of it. mother was feeling nervous, dad was pissed off, and i was just cranky. yay, good start to a happy trip!

so i’m cranky and in a bad mood. but just before leaving the house i had to fulfil my responsibility of playing Alarm Clock. so i woke this someone up via phone call - he was still asleep and i wasnt expecting him to be. delivered my morning pleasantries, said omg wake up why are you still sleeping!, more pleasantries, then i hung up. when i did i was smiling and i was happy. grinning ear to ear, giggly, that kinda thing. what is this i am feeling?

when i get to KLIA, i find out that my camera is screwing up. then i realized i had forgotten to pack extra CF cards. @#$%! was massively upset because when i said my camera screwed up, i meant that 3/4 of my CF card is now corrupted. so now i have to content myself with only 51 pics per day during this entire trip. :( :( :(

but i felt sorta better at the sight of this cafe with a funky italian name i cannot remember. they serve really good chocolate frapps, but it only becomes good when you tell them to give you lots and lots of chocolate syrup. and when you’re making 5 minutes last longer. then the chocolate frapp becomes very good, and a topic of conversation.

when we get to Departure, i have this sudden image of Ian McEwan’s The Child In Time sitting on my coffee table at home. shiiiiiiit. immediately run to the bookstore and grab Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life Of Bees. reading material is sooo essential to the in-flight experience!

before boarding the plane, we go through that whole hand-luggage screening and metal detector rigmarole. we just dump our stuff on the conveyor and walk through the detectors like they’re not really there, and the officers greet us with warm smiles. i cant help but notice that the more tussled and ethnic looking Sri Lankans are stopped and frisked heavily. even those with children. that’s sad, i think. very sad.

we board the plane. the first guy in the first row of my section is a middle-aged man with a blazer and briefcase. on his briefcase is a Terry Pratchett book. i instantly feel a flicker of warmth towards this man!

i mess around with my camera in despondency while awaiting takeoff. no amount of flicking the cf card or blowing into the slot would bring back my other 150 pics. depressed. take a photo of dad taking a photo of me. i tell him that his camera sucks because there is no manual mode, but he thinks it’s still superior to mine because of the wider LCD display. huh. very chun meh now, can see more of bad quality shots only mah.

settling down in my seat, i mentally try to run through all the things that i’ve forgotten to pack. i only do this when i’m on the plane so that i know that there’s definitely no way i can turn around to get my stuff. it is when you know you still have the opportunity to fix things, that you still have a chance, a possibility - that you feel the most sore when things dont go your way. this airplane thing is just a practice model for the bigger things to come. what i’ve forgotten to pack : extra CF cards, my book, socks, my tripod, eye drops, assignment details.

(i’m really writing this blog in the car on the way to the hotel in Negombo, Sri Lanka. i just wanna say that Sri Lanka’s got these little three-wheeler vehicle that looks very much like Thailand’s tuktuks! and that Sri Lankan drivers abuse the car horn.)

while reading the first few pages of The Secret Life of Bees, i indulge myself in a pack of Famous Amos cookies i picked up at the airport. to my dismay, i find that the no-nut chocolate chip cookies have been packed together with the butterscotch pecan cookies. this is irritating because now i’ll have to look at each cookie first before i pop it in my mouth to know which flavour it is. but as i read my book, i forget to look at each cookie. then i realize how nice it is when you dont know what to expect and each cookie endeavour becomes a surprise. sometimes being out of control is a good feeling after all ..

after take off, we are presented with a breakfast menu and i laugh when i see this lamb dish with the most extravagant name. but i dont pick that dish. i pick the authentic Sri Lankan option - Vermicelli Upma which comes with paneer and some other cool Indian treats. not that it matters because i fell asleep at page 12 of my book and missed breakfast anyway. on purpose though - the stewardess in a green Sari woke me up for the meal but i said later, knowing that she knew i meant never. they must have woken me up a grand total of 15 times - be it for drinks, meals, hot towels, cold towels, return of hot towels, return of cold towels, earphones, blinders, collection of earphones, collection of blinders, more drinks, peanuts, arhghghghgh like can you LEAVE ME ALONE ALREADY!

i took the peanuts though.

arriving at the Sri Lankan airport, the first thing i think is that Sri Lanka has weird clouds. they’re like tinged with grey at the bottom and they look fat and fluffy. told my dad this and he said that’s cos it’s going to rain, dummy. watched him knock himself out buying cute cans of Heineken (they’re like, longish cans here, very cute wan) and then i took a picture of this ad for a department store. talk about monopoly!

the people i’ve encountered in Sri Lanka so far are very friendly. there was an announcement at the airport for a flight to Damascus, and i asked my dad where Damascus was, and the lady at Customs answered me, smiling. my untrained ear didnt catch her heavily-accented geographically-accurate answer, but i didnt ask her to repeat it. i’m content with just the friendliness.

holy shit i see the sea. it’s so absolutely GORGEOUS!

anyway yes, here i am in Sri Lanka, blogging from the back of a white car i dont know the make of. it’s very dry here and the girls here have the most beautiful eyes.

Entry Filed under: General