New Year Musings

I was just reading YP's blog, and seeing the numbers that way made me realise that for us 2-week-holidayers, we have a day at home for every hour we spend in the air. That's sad. :(
But I suppose I can't call myself a 2-week-holiday, thanks to my well-timed elective period. I guess my holiday really started the day I took my neuro-psych exam (or was it the day Rach landed? heh) and so I've had 8 weeks of mixed work and pleasure, and making full use of it.


Krakow was a step off the beaten track for me and a good step off, I must say. The haunting desolation of Auschwitz even with hundreds of tourists milling around will stay with me forever, as well as the total contrast of going clubbing in subzero temperatures within 24 hours.


Italy was a dream - the land of la dolce vita with my darling cousin was a reverie come true! Meandering around the cobbled streets of Pisa, Florence and Rome, dredging up the cities' old memories and adding to them our own old memories and new news; discovering things to eat and see, and making plans to go back. We will go back someday!


London itself opened new doors to this pair of adventurous folk - old haunts seen anew through Rach's eyes (and a sweet camera!), and new places added to the list of favourite places - Richmond Park, Fifteen, etc. And London also saw a friend's dream culminate in charming reality, where all the hard work paid off, sans a few minor mishaps.


Singapore was where work was supposed to start, and start it did, yet mingled with fun and exploration. It was very fortunate for me to have family there to look after me so well, and provide a comfortable base from which I could explore the extensive transportation system, the NUH, and various shopping/tourist areas. My consultant was good to me too (this extending even to Kuching! small world..) and I met some golden-hearted people whom I'm happy to call friends.

Sibu was kampua mee and seafood galore, besides the other great food we ate there. My grandparents looked well, as did other relatives there, and it was interesting to see Sibu progressing. Something still has to be done about the drains and flooding though, before anything really untoward happens. Those floods stole many a eating opportunity away (which may have been a good thing) and perhaps a chance to go upriver to Kapit. Oh well.


The family road trip up to Niah and Miri was in some ways better than going off somewhere else - it didn't involve a plane ride, and it was quite relaxing to see the oil palm plantations and natural greenery pass by, with some stretches jolting one awake from the half-dream that riding in a car puts one in. Niah was a good trek in and out to get us ready for a huge (and cheap) dinner that night, and an equally huge breakfast the next morning. It was comforting to slip into the role of eldest daughter/older sister with little strings attached, and to know that the role still fit.


After the lull that was Sibu-Niah-Miri, KL was a welcome hustle and bustle. Driving the Ark was more of a breeze than I'd expected, my muscles working in long-but-not-forgotten ways. The new and improved IMU is enviously amazing, and unexpectedly meeting with juniors and hearing about IMU CF was heartening. I got my first semi-burn of the trip cheering my cousin and SJGC team on in Frisbee, and also my first semi-patient (LoL). Being driver for a tiny while again was nice, I think I missed the chaos that erupts in a car when a gaggle of teenagers pile into it. Seeing all those familiar faces in church was great too, another slipping into a role here, more passive one but not unwelcome. Things were different, with work (and advancements in relationships!) colouring their lives differently, but the camaraderie still was similar.

Then Ruth came, which signalled the start to the great shop-n-eat KL experience. Well, to be fair, we didn't shop at as many places as we wanted to, nor eat at as many places as there were different foods in KL, but what we did was enough for now. Again, the Ark took us places, and I'm forever grateful for Unc Andrew and Aunty Chin for the Ark. I was extra careful, and I think I've been that way ever since driving in UK - for better or worse, I don't know.

Finally, back to Kuching with Ruth on tow. And without delay, we went for the creme de la creme of Kuching cuisine (at least for me) - Sarawak Club butter prawns!! Plus the whole shebang of scrumptious dishes my mom loves to order. Taking my adorable cousin around for walks enabled me to see the Club post-fire, and I'm glad it still retained its pre-fire air. All's well. Damai Puri, at Damai, wasn't a letdown - the tropical beach never is (though it's too bad no snorkelling/diving in Kuching)! But in no time at all Ruth's time in Kuching was over and I was left alone in Kuching.

Well, not alone actually. Rachel and family were around, so we had the usual cousinly things and eats; several ex-classmates were around too, and other friends whom I chanced upon or met up with, though not as many as I hoped; aunts and uncles with similar questions; and wedding and miscellanous dinners galore. But mostly staying home to care for the house and housework and spending time with my sister, with the occasional foray out on errands (and a tai-tai day with Rach - 2 girls, with hair in curls, in a luxury car, doing random errands - not an everyday occurrence for either of us!), made for a relatively relaxing experience, which totally made up for the whole drama of flying back and forth and around. I think I'll give it a month, at least, before venturing out on a plane again.

After 8 weeks of slipping in and out of places and roles and lives, having to get back into a routine is a little tough but quite welcome. I've bid adieu to sunny South-East Asia (with a storm, I must say, of eating, thanks to Ruth and family! yum...), but it's 'see you again', in memories fondly, and in reality, soon.