7/04 Right back on Track

Leaving the same time as last year on 7/4, with a kind of emptiness hanging in my guts, for this time I lacked the sweet accompany of Ayres, my girlfriend. And I'm all on my own. If Australia is to be put as my virgin trip of 45 days of vacation, this trip to the South East Asia is much more like an adventure and trial in comparison. I planned to travel around 5 countries and crossing 15 cities in 42 days, from

7/4-8/15. The transfer from countries to countries and cities to cities once a couple of days is sure to prove as headaches, but I guess it's a must that I learn to adapt new environments and thrive while facing obstacles. Well that's what my parents said...

Flight transfer is needed from Taipei to Singapore, and I will be stopping by Hong Kong on the way. I took the Cathay Pacific to get there, which was much better than Tiger from last year, at least I get to enjoy a hot meal of chicken rice on the plane. I waited for about two hours inside Hong Kong airport before my flight continued to Singapore, it's pretty sweet that they provided the tourist with fast Wifi and allowed me to book my stay in Singapore, at a backpacker hostel called Fernloft.

Nothing that's really worth mentioning happened along the way, since I'm basically flying all day. However, there was this tourist from China who just kept pushing people while everyone is in a line traveling on the escalator. He just elbowed people that's blocking the way and pushed the others around, how rude. And the other time at the bathroom before boarding the plane(it's best to leak everything out of your bladder before going on long flights XD)there was this guy by my side who's also taking a leak. However, instead of steadying his junk with one of his hands, he put his cellphone on the patio in front of him and started scrolling the screen with both hands while taking a piss... That's just not something you see everyday.

My flight to Singapore is at 3:15 and boarding will be available from 2:55. But I had no idea why I recalled the boarding time as 3:55, maybe from confusion caused by the long waiting.I was in one of those comfy chairs reading my E-book, everything was pretty smooth until I checked my watch randomly with a glimpse, only to find the pointers saying: 3 o'clock. "Good, 50 minutes to go"

Then this sudden sense of deja vu came on to me and told me that I'd mistaken the time! I checked the boarding pass again in panic only to find what I feared the most has become real: memorizing the wrong time... Damn, does this mean that my flight had left! This is just so frustrating on my first day of adventure, how could I not remember my boarding time? I hurried to the counter asking about my flight and whether it had left or not. And thank god to the good news, the boarding was delayed, I filed in with the others after a couple of minutes.

After locating myself on a window seat, feeling snug and tight, I started reviewing my schedule and put on my headphones. I took no notice of a woman standing by my side, and it was after a pretty long while that she had been gawking at me the whole time. She told me that I was in her spot after I removed my earphones, and that 55H was her seat. She showed me her boarding pass and it really said 55H. I was pretty sure about my seat number, for I checked it many times before boarding. Is it really possible for the aviation company to sell a seat to two people by mistake? Anyway, I still took out my ticket, just in case. And I was wrong again, it said 55G in one of those big block letters, mocking me. I apologized to her and quickly moved my fat ass and every bit of belongings to my real spot, getting out of her sight as soon as possible(She was still next to me, only to be parted with an aisle)

What's the matter with me today???

Luckily, the small bag of peanuts provided by the aircrew soon drew my attention away from further embarrassment, I had always loved the peanuts on the planes, they were salty and certainly amazing. And a small can of Haagen Dazs right after the delicious treat. Great! (There were this couple by my side snogging each other, in front of their daughter...)

I took the MRT right into the city after purchasing an Ez link card, took a couple of turns and got to Chinatown station. It's pretty crowdy out there on the streets, and people were shopping or drinking almost everywhere. I followed the direction set on my GPS and led myself to a building that's a bit far away from all the noise. I reached for the second floor and secured myself at Fernloft. The manager of FERNLOFT, Auntie was very nice and she said she had been expecting me all night. (Thank you very much)She showed my bed and gave me the wifi password, gave me a few head ups about the surroundings and left the apartment.

All of my roommates were female and I doubted Auntie for misplacing me in a Female dorm. But who cares, I'm already pretty tired and groggy from all the traveling, and now I just need a shower before heading out and exploring ChinaTown.

(It's already one in the morning and my roommates were still scrolling their phones in the dark) They had been real nice toward me, even though I'm a male and might have appeared an intruder to the whole-female environment. Most of them were Indians but there was also this girl from Uruguay and two Chinese from Zhejiang.