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As I’ve alluded to in a previous post, I visited several Japanese cities (Nara, Kyoto, Kobe, Hiroshima and Tokyo) recently. Subsequent write-ups on the trip will be featured on another blog and I’ll post short entries here to announce any updates over there. In recent weeks, more than a few friends have been asking for a mini-presentation on my trip. For those whom I meet fairly regularly, I’m doing up a simple slide show with verbal commentary from yours truly. For those that I don’t, and anyone else who may be interested, well, this is for you. Although the travel-blog will go light on photographs, it should hopefully make up in the form of written content (which can easily mean lots of dry prose, angst, ruminations and such… hah), and any grounds that I would not cover in a verbal presentation in the interest of brevity.
I’m still sore from the minor incident at the local airport security the day I left home. It was no big deal, seriously, even if I thought the actions of the ground staff was rather arbitrary and mis-informed. Details another day, perhaps. So much for a purported highly-ranked transportation hub.
To start off on a less gloomy note, here are two photographs taken from the plane before it landed in Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport in transit on 23rd May.
That was the first rainbow I saw from a plane. From the vantage point of an aircraft a few hundred meters above ground, it becomes possible to see the full circle of a rainbow. Not for this, but it looks pretty anyways. I flew out of Bangkok for Kansai International Airport in Osaka later that evening.
It’s somewhat disheartening that our interaction is limited in scope, this due to no fault of ours. I’m there for a purpose you’d rather not remind yourself of. Maybe I’m not doing enough on the side of initiatives to evolve our relationship into a new realm. Can you cheer up? It’s extremely telling when you’re so downcast.
Now… nearly eight months after I started taking lessons, with one prior test attempt, and the countless jittery evenings behind me, I am licensed to drive! More than once, the tester grumbled at the slow rate I was doing the road circuit items, and he had to accuse me of demonstrating that I felt hurried! But I also realized that I wasn’t faulted on some grey areas. If the tester was really strict, I would have been killed. It was a tense ride around the neighborhood, and I do hope that the charged atmosphere won’t be part of my future car journeys.
My instructor’s cavalier confidence in predicting my test result continues to amaze me. Alright, looking back, I knew I wouldn’t pass the test on my previous attempt. Things were pretty screwy and she didn’t hide her opinion that I won’t pass. This time round, a day before the test, she reminded me to bring my photograph, and that was the hint. Only those who have passed the test and need get their licenses made need to give their photos. Well, seriously, I might not have made it. Over tea after the test, she remarked to her driving instructor friend that one of her other student, who was taking the test after I did, would pass on this attempt. I didn’t stay to find out the student passed, but I reckoned she probably did. She can’t be worse off at driving than I am.
It feels like things are now moving along, almost as if the cogs have just shifted into their positions. I won’t have to go for evening lessons while I’m working. I also have the option of renting a car the next time I’m overseas. For now, I need a decent car to keep my skills current. We don’t own a one in the family…
I’m back from my hermitage. Japan was great. It was even better to be away and uncontactable from all at home (my cellphone’s frequencies are incompatible with those used in Japan). The shrines and temples were sanctuaries of the much-needed solace and peace. Inner conversations were insulated from the incomprehensible language heard in the streets and subway. All that for the hefty cost of a return air ticket and lodging in foreign lands.
Somewhere between the cities, the lenses on life a few thousand miles away were focused. Principles and directions were established.
Now is the time to live out the personal promise.
