This is how I looked like when I came back from Korea... Was my first overseas trip alone... 2006... Was 19 then... I remember spending a long long time convincing my mum to allow me to go on this trip... Didn't tell my dad that I was going solo until the day before my departure... He didn't talk to me for the rest of the day... =x
In the end... I have to admit I didn't enjoy the trip to the fullest... I found myself calling my mum every single day to talk to her... The fact that I was in Korea is sheer madness on my part... I can't speak korean... Can't read korean... Can't even read the menu in the restaurants I went to! Only visited 2 tourist destination... And spend most of the rest of the trip surviving...
But I did survive! I made it... All 600kms of it and everything in-between Busan and Seoul! Coming back to Singapore was a feeling of great relief above everything else... This will always remain the last crazy idea of my teenage life...
And this is the photo I took when I was on the plane back from Japan... Same bicycle... Same jacket... Same old me? 2 years passed between the 2 trip... In between I finally gotten my diploma (retained for 1 module... =x)... Passed my driving (after failing numerous time... =x)... Completed my NS... And did 1 year of higher education!
Survival was not the question this time... After Korea, I know I can. I booked my lodging beforehand this time... I spent a little more time planning for fun... I visited alot of beautiful places and enjoyed as much good food of Japan as I can... My trip preparation was however quite haphazardly done... I forgot tools... I forgot reserve ration... And I forgot what else i forgot... The weather was hasher... The route was longer... And I haven't cycled much for the last 2 years...
Before going to Korea, I cried in the departure hall before I boarded the plane... I was emotionally confused... It was a mix of fear and more fear! This time it was difference... Because as I set on the plane coming back to Singapore... I cried... Definitely not fear this time... I was happy I did it... I remembered all the places I went to... The people who helped me along the way... The great food I had! The feeling of despair and impossibility I have at some point of the trip... And then destroying all those feelings at the end of the day! Things don't always go my way... But I will overcome them... Whatever confidence the trip to Korea has given me... The trip to Japan reinforced... Greatly...
Barely 1 month after coming back to Singapore from Japan... I found myself on another flight again... This time to Australia... This is no short trip of 2 weeks... This is the long one...
2 months and 8 days passed since then... I'm not doing too badly I guess... Got a part time job washing dishes (because more money = more fun! =P)... Found a supervisor and an agency for my work experience attachment... Did decently for my mid-terms... Enjoying the pace of life... The people i meet... The place I go to... And enjoying the food I cook!
Not every day is spent with joy... Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing here... Some days I wake up with despair... I look out the window... And all is unfamiliar... Growing up in a concrete jungle with high rise buildings everywhere... Joondalup is really flat! The bus don't run frequently here... Miss one bus and you can wait for an hour! Suddenly I'm no longer a racial majority... But a minority! Realised the importance of my mum... Because she's not here with me!
At the end of the year... When I board the plane back to Singapore... I wonder what I will look like... =)
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