18. Figuring out my way

I took a 10 day break recently. It was a long due vacation that had been at the mercy of visa officials who finally gave me the green light. What was to be a vacation with my brother on his trip home in January, turned out to be a solo trip 6 months later. I wasn’t complaining. I love being on a plane. I love finding my way in a new city. But this time I loved being removed.

I checked into my hostel. I emptied my contents into my locker. I took my map and got on with it. What is there to do in this country of Singapore?
I began my walk along neighborhoods. My first meal was a Biryani which was phenomenally good! A familiar meal in a new place. A good start.

I walked into Buddha temples, ambled across streets in China Town, looped around the fantastic Marina Bay and sat on roadside benches, bus stations, subway stations. I liked how casually people dressed here. I walked for kilometers at a stretch, lost in residential jungles trying to get to the main road, I tried dishes that looked ‘interesting’ and struggled to finish them sometimes, I had ‘yam ice creams’ and ‘carrot cakes that were stir fried’ and the dubious ‘Durian’. I attended a free concert that was a mash up of English/ Chinese and Korean music. I sat in for a class at a Business School. I went on hikes in their tropical reserves trekking up neatly roughed up terrains, soaked in sweat. I diligently took down names of plants and their uses at a botanical garden. I went into the bar on the 63rd floor to enjoy a ladies night. I loved my company.

Within a few days, I discovered friends who had moved to this city. I hung out with a dear friend, cycling across the coast and ferry-ing on the rivers. I finished my Murakami book. I shared a meal with my hostel mates and some beers. Most of them using this city country as a pitstop for their Asian adventures.

I did not think about all the things that ‘went down’ before I arrived here. It is interesting how sometimes the physical distance can help you distance mentally. How you can see things clearer or un-see them when you are far away. How you feel restored by the literal acts of finding your way in a new place. Maybe that’s what they call mindfulness?

All I know is I could totally use more of it.