travel log

After three weeks or so of holiday, at the start of which i was surprisingly, but nevertheless seriously thinking that i should not have made it so long (a thought that all but disappeared after a few days), i got back yesterday afternoon. It didn't take any longer than for me to approach the plane door and take the first step onto the aerobridge at Changi for me to realise "oh crap, that's it for beautiful, cool weather in which i can walk comfortably outdoors without the risk of profuse sweating", for the sweltering, moisture-saturated Singapore air easily crept through the centimetre-wide spacing between the plane body and the aerobridge canopy thingy that is supposed to wrap around the plane body (i'm sure there's a proper name for it). While i'm glad to be able to wear berms and uncovered footwear again, the idea of being back still ain't great, though admittedly i'd have expected more of a sinking feeling than what i have right now.

Knowing the sometime absentminded knucklehead that is me all too well, i had right from the start decided that i wouldn't be bringing my laptop along on this trip. If i did, chances are that it might be in the hands of some opportunistic train station vagrant (i once forgot about my laptop in the nus library, and left it at the info computers to go print something for a good five minutes, but thankfully then it was stilll there when i hurriedly rushed back to get it) or have sustained a serious body dent when i'd have accidentally let it slip from my hands onto the hard concrete floor.

This however meant that chronicling all that's happened during these past three weeks (not to mention doing more mundane things like checking email) became that much more of a difficult process, especially when coupled with the fact that, as i had mentioned earlier, my now almost three-and-a-half year old powershot started taking powerfully artful shots that were dramatically lightened and accented by weird horizontal lines, that became painfully apparent especially when i took pictures outdoors during the daytime (though i suppose i should be glad it was winter, so daylight hours were reduced, something that i otherwise found quite trying). In retrospect though, i kinda regret not bringing it along, given the remarkable number of places where i discovered you could get free wifi when i was there (actually this remarkable number is just two, but well that's still two more than i'd have expected..) In the end, when i had some down time waiting for planes in the airport and in the plane itself, i resorted to the old-fashioned method of just penning down some of my recollections on pieces of scrap paper, just in case i'd have forgotten about them later..

So now here i am armed with certain recollections and other assorted musings about the trip. I'm still not sure how to organise them, but i suppose they'll organise themselves (somewhat) as i go along. And anyways, this is primarily meant for me, that i might not forget (i am a student of history after all), so hopefully at least i'll be able to understand what i've put down here, and if anyone else does then all the better eh. Think putting everything together in one shot will be a tad too ambitious though, so we'll do this bit by bit, so just stay tuned...