One birthday, two countries

Like most blog posts, I started writing my birthday entry in my head. However, I was in such a state earlier that everything came out sounding like a eulogy.

I suppose it is something like a parting — me parting with my much loved youth and heading towards a new phase in life. Eeew.

The sunrise found me buried under the covers in Melaka, while the sunset caught me walking towards my brother’s flat in Singapore. This is a novelty that I particularly love about these two countries, that I can just hop on a bus and be in a different country. Having lived in the Philippines all this time, going overseas has always been associated with airplanes, not buses.

This trip to Malacca is in some ways a huge relief. I’ve been so stressed and exhausted in the days leading up to my trip, that the only thing I was looking forward to was sleep. And sleep I did. It was goooooood. Of course, the town is lovely and all, but the sleep was the highlight of the trip.

The trip home, however, was something else. I was so engrossed watching Queer as Folk in my laptop, that when the bus stopped and everybody started piling out with their luggages, I followed suit. I only realized when I’ve walked away from the bus that I got off at the Larkin bus station, and not at the immigration check point. *facepalm* Never thought I could lose a bus. Then again, a lot of things that happen are never what you expect.

That woke me up from my reverie. The short and sweet bus ride back to Singapore became the hop on and hop off tour of Johor, Woodlands and Sengkang. I guess the birthday lesson for this year is that even when you think you’ve lost your way (or your bus), you’d still find a way to get back home.