Detaching from Melbourne/Brunei

I never thought this departure would rattle me, but it did. My entire 5 days in Brunei was pleasant and entertaining thanks to Desmond for the most gracious hospitality I’ve ever encountered—something I was very surprised for as his dad insisted on paying for all of my meals—and his friend Pei Yi, who accompanied us on nearly all of our trips around Brunei.

Desperate. I guess that sums up my feeling exactly as I sat in Desmond’s dad’s car to the airport amidst the jam (caused by cars who stopped by to look at an accident involving at least 5 cars on the other side of the road)—I’m desperate to clutch on to one of my remaining connection to my Melburnian life, and I was on the verge of choking up. The rain that descended on Brunei the entire day and caused much floods affecting the many webs of roads in the city seem to fit the mood appropriately.

During our brunch at a rather classy restaurant today, Pei Yi had asked how I was feeling as I was leaving Brunei that very evening. “Sad,” I had told her, to which she said, “But you don’t look sad at all.” I told her I would be, as I wouldn’t see Desmond for a long time to come after today.

So farewells and “I’ll tell you when I come to KL” and “I’ll see you on MSN” and the usual goodbye ritual befell us, and I departed with the Royal Brunei Airlines with much melancholy. But I suppose if I departed feeling that way, it must surely mean that during my short 6-month stint in Australia, I’ve found the rare few friends whom I’m most comfortable and enjoyed being with, where I can truly be myself, as I am with the u8 gang.

I’m typing this in the airplane—a first for me—and in less than an hour I will be touching down for the 2nd time in a week in Malaysia. My Bruneian visit had made me feel, at times, in a bizarre, inexplicable fashion that I was still in Melbourne, with a familiar Melburnian face there. But In a strange, twisted way as I write this to get stuff off my chest, I feel as if that I can now truly leave Melbourne in peace.

The Internet has made the world smaller, people have said, and I tend to take advantage of that fact. Till our roads are crossed again, my Melburnian friends.