seoul, south korea > part IV

so this was it.

we had finally come to end of the journey,. like i wrote in my last post, thoughts of this nature were the last to float in my mind before i finally slept the night.

i was sad.

what had been an incredible journey of discovery and delight, was pretty much at an end. so unfair ... why do all good things come to end so quickly? i got up around 630 am, with a sad feeling in my heart, whilst my shoulders were heavy, and my spirit was down. i try to always be in high spirits as much as humanly possible, but like all mere mortals, i do occasionally feel the blues.

this moment was one of them.

so all i could do, was muster the strength to get up, get dressed and get ready, and by around 7am, we were downstairs. first things first was of course breakfast. my room mate, Grey had gone down first, and i told him I'd see him there shortly. needed a moment of silence. to pray for serenity. and for gratitude for everything i had experienced here, in korea.it was the least i could to convey my thanks to the divine. pray, in silence.

i was downstairs by 7am. i met grey at the restaurant and i was surprised to see another familiar face had joined us. her name is ira, who's from indonesia, but works in singapore. great, the more the merrier. and there to join us too, sharan from taiwan. perfect. another international gathering for breakfast that morning. i loved it.

we sat there, talking to each other about how much we enjoyed everything at the Olympiad, the stuff we did, the friends we made, the work we did. and everyone pretty much felt the same way we did. bittersweet moment for everyone i guess. and after breakfast was done, the four of us took one last shot together, before we boarded the bus back to the airport. sharan didnt follow, her plane was at a later time, and so we said goodbye at the hotel. ira followed us..two guys, a girl and airport.


the bus journey was quiet, everyone dozed off for an hour or so. i was looking around, trying to visually savour as much as possible before we reached incheon international airport. i wanted to take photographs of the airport when we initially reached, but i decided that when we eventually left, i could take shots then too..i just hope i have the time. and so as soon as we reached the airport, we got out, immediately looked for out check in counters and followed procedure. mundane. nothing out of the blue there. as soon as we were in line, i took the chance to leave the grey and ira for a while, while i frantically rushed to as many places as i can in the airport complex to take as many pictures i could of this futuristic terminal.























"a humongous structural concoction of technology and space elegantly designed as a transportation hub like no other, in this part of the world. the way light filters through its glass facade, the selected usage of natural stone and timber, the clever insertion of green spaces and the high tech, 21st century look and language of this terminal. i loved everything about it. i so wished i had more time to marvel at this wonderful piece of architecture, but time unfortunately, was not on my side,"

when all was done and over, i made my way to see grey and ira at the departure hall. i checked in, and thats where when my luggage was checked, both my toothpaste and shaving cream got confiscated. my shaving cream, for God's sake! but i didnt wanna argue, cause you know, the officer was just doing his job, and i didnt want anything to sour this journey, least of all a can of shaving cream.





















i met them both at the departure point, and we made our way to our seats and start to prepare ourselves for the long, tedious and boring 7 hour journey back home. of course, we decided to just get 40 winks while we could, and for the first time in 4 days, i finally felt fatigue setting in. i finally felt my body shutting down, my systems slowing inevitably, and my eyes began to close. but guess what.

i couldnt sleep ... even after all that, i couldnt even yawn. and so what next? well, the movie The Taking Of Pelham 123 was on, and i did want to see that back home months ago, so thats exactly what i did. they showed some strange korean movie before that about a bunch of girls being trained for some major weight lifting tournament and it seems it was based on some true story. well, at least least the showed travolta and washington after that. not a bad movie and after it was over, i just tried to sleep the rest of the trip away. vaguely successful there.

after 7 hours, we finally reached home. the three of us got off together of course, and i took ira's card for safekeeping. i think she was in transit and she was gonna take another flight to singapore. i was with grey, and eventually we said our goodbyes as well. i got my luggage, went straight to KLIA express and went straight back to Sentral. as i sat in the train, i took the moments i had, sitting silently, looking out at the greenery that greeted my eyes, and the humidity that enveloped in my body coming to the realisation i was home. straight home, after i reached Sentral, took the earliest taxi i could get and i was home by around 7pm. my parents greeted me of course, but all i wanted to do was sleep.

and thats' exactly what i did.

this magical, surreal journey had come to an end, pretty soon my life would return to normal. back to work. back to society. but this is an experience i was never gonna forget. it will always be close to me, lodged in the chambers of my heart, for as long as i live.

thank you, God. thank you so much.