One for The Girls

I am in the company of great women. You know who you are.

Strong women. Well, maybe not physically, I am not that fit myself.

But strong-willed women. And sometimes strong-headed too.

We may not be easy to be with (some of the boys may say no girl is).

But then again, it is not that hard.

Her soul really is as deep as the sea.
It will be necessary to fight her at times. Please do.
But don’t ever forget, that you love her.
And never forget, that she loves you too.

To J and Z, to love and be loved. How wonderful. I am glad you have each other.

If I'd talked to my younger self re this entry

http://roadtrip-pw.blogspot.com/2006/08/attagirl_14.html

I'd say, "Biting bullets with your teeth? Sure way to lose a couple of them."

Haha. Reading old entries is so priceless.

Of course there are Chow Sing Chi moments where you hear the gunshot, the impact throws your head to the side, and you slowly bring it back to face the camera with the bullet perfectly intact between your teeth, and I have had those moments. Cue hero music. But sweetie, just know that they may be shaky for a while.

Playing with the boys

I work with more men than women these days. Clever men with knowledge, self-assuredness, decisiveness, forgiving forgetfulness, and liberating disregard of unimportant, needling things. But the following words from Franny and Zooey do bring a smile to my face; it is very much like this working with them sometimes:

“..standing around in hatless, smokey little groups of twos and threes and fours inside the heated waiting room, talking in voices that, almost without exception, sounded collegiately dogmatic, as though each young man, in his strident, conversational turn, was clearing up, once and for all, some highly controversial issue, one that the outside, non-matriculating world had been bungling, provocatively or not, for centuries”.

Tokyo Impressions

I am in a hole-in-the-ground Thai restaurant in Akasaka. Thai music is playing in the background, the air is somewhat musty, understandably so (we are 2 floors underground) and I just spotted a wispy spider wave its legs above the door frame. My fellow diners are two Japanese guys drinking Singha, and a pair of Americans talking loudly in a corner.

Tokyo has trash - two empty cans of Coke in a park flowerbed. People do not walk as quickly as Hong Kongers. It is very clean here. The fizzy drinks are amazing. Women do not like to show their toes and thighs. People do not speak English, although they may understand it. Caucasians are more reserved here than I’ve seen them anywhere else.

I don’t know what I was expecting. But I appreciate Japan most for its acceptance of quiet. Silent mode equals manner mode. It’s okay to not talk, or want to talk. There is no need to project through words. No one minds. The relief is like a deflating balloon in your skull. One gets to know another slowly, acknowledging that layers are not to be discovered all at once. This is nice.

Where We Go

Because I took this job for its travelling, I guess it is only apt that I do not forget what I did it for. So, in somewhat chronological order, I close my eyes and I see...

Hong Kong

1. Victoria Harbour, and the skycrapers skyline, at night, most beautiful at night, from some cab speeding towards Causeway Bay from the office.

2. Me, standing outside Sogo on the corner of Queensway, holding out an outstretched palm, and literally feeling the current of the crowd run through it.

3. Me, trotting down the terminal gangway toward the Star Ferry, with a big grin on the inside - it's an institution! For HKD2.20 a ride.

4. Junk boats in the evening, with their red sails, which could not have been anything but as stately during the days of fisher people and straw hats.

5. My cousin, who said he would meet me on the Mid-Levels escalator. Where? Where I'll see him coming down and he'll see me coming up. And uncharacteristically whimsically, we did.

6. Dinner, with my sister at the wonderful M at the Fringe, amidst falling petals and the heady scent of flowers.

More for another day. Also to come - before I forget - Korea, Indonesia, Switzerland, Philippines, Australia. Cities, not the whole whopping country obviously, but it just makes for easier reference. And also as always, Malaysia.

Driving

I cup my chin in my palm
And prop my elbow
On the smile of the wheel
And wait for the lights to turn

I cross my legs
With a foot on the pedal
And it’s pretty fun
To drive like this

I sing, and I rock it out
Like I’m in a club
To Alanis Morisette’s “Thank You”
Which goes down like cold lemonade

I relish this
Accelerated mobility
Silence and independence
When on the road

Just me
And my little black car
Troopers – the both of us.

Places

I would love to see:

- Elephants in Sri Lanka
- Icebergs in Greenland
- Bhutan
- the Greek islands with those white houses and that turquoise sea

What about you?