WANDERLAST-INGS
The train was packed today while I was on my 2 hour trip back to Sydney from Penrith (west of NSW). I barely managed to find a seat beside an old lady who looks like she is in her fifties. I could tell she must have been a FOX in her younger days, in fact she still has a figure that most women would kill for. She was quite boring though, fully absorbed in her "Birth of Venus" throughout the entire trip.
It was one of those trains that was neither the rickety old ones that rattles and shooks as it trudges along, but neither was it the new ones that is super shiny and smooth. It's the one with the yucky lime green leather couches, travels noiselessly and reasonably smooth. One of the plus point was that it was an express train to Sydney with limited stops in between.
So there I was in my grey suit, white shirt and Morgan ties and all. It was then that I realised why the carriage is so full... full of backpackers that is. The bench to my right was occupied by this white guy and his enormous red backpack, headphones around and Discman clutched to his crotch, snoozing without a care. To his back, a long haired girl purses her lips as she pens her thoughts into her journal, pausing once in awhile to look outside the window and then lean against her own gigantic luggage. The next 3 rows of seats infront of me are also filled with the same kind of people; headphones, backpacks, dirty boots, dog tired. A quick glance at the air cargo stickers on their bags reveal that they are Americans ... from LA to be exact. I figure they must have just done the Blue Mountains, coming from the station of Katoomba.
A sudden pang of longing filled me as I reminisce my recent backpacking trip through China and Thailand. Out of pure coincidences or otherwise, I had Tracy Chapman playing on my Discman at that moment as well, and I had a sudden feeling of dejavu, where I was transported back to the sleeper bus that took me from Yangshuo to Guangzhou on that late February night. I remembered it was not luxury and thank gawd I decided to bring music along; the thin foam mattress, the snores, the claustrophobic arrangement and the persistent reminders of high way accidents and robberies around this area .. need i continue? I was also convinced that the driver is doing pot the way he handled the wheels. Luckily, the soothing voice of Chapman ensured that I got some eye shut that night.
But I digress. 4 months of comfortable monotonous life has brought me down to earth but the sight of these travellers and the feelings that I know they must be experiencing as they wander around this foreign land; only one other like them would be able to understand. That helplessness as you surrender yourself entirely to destiny, that thrill of danger and not being in control, that luxurious basking in the freedom of being in an alien environment and the satisfaction of knowing that there is somewhere else in this planet that has a warm welcoming bed for you anytime as you trudge along with the huge backpack gripping into your aching shoulders, in your damp socks and 3 weeks unwashed jeans. Cold and hungry, hunting for that place u can rest for the night. And then celebrating that you got through yet another day with other fellow 'comrades' at the watering hole, recounting amazing events and exchanging tips.
My wanderlust is once again awakened. I can already imagine myself rummaging into the storeroom in Singapore for my Wolfskin red backpack, where I had carefully folded away, thinking to myself that it will be a very long time before they are gonna be used again. As our train approaches the Sydney station, we overtake a slower older one and right at that moment, Tracy began to sang "Fast Car". A conductor in full regalia was hanging out from one of the door of that train, one hand clutching onto a ledge, shouting something to someone as his moustache twitches in unison. Over his head, the clouds glowed in pink like a blushing child and several seagulls adorn the otherwise empty skies.
Life is beautiful.
"You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere
You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so you can fly away
You gotta make a decision
You leave tonight or live and die this way" - Tracy Chapman
The train was packed today while I was on my 2 hour trip back to Sydney from Penrith (west of NSW). I barely managed to find a seat beside an old lady who looks like she is in her fifties. I could tell she must have been a FOX in her younger days, in fact she still has a figure that most women would kill for. She was quite boring though, fully absorbed in her "Birth of Venus" throughout the entire trip.
It was one of those trains that was neither the rickety old ones that rattles and shooks as it trudges along, but neither was it the new ones that is super shiny and smooth. It's the one with the yucky lime green leather couches, travels noiselessly and reasonably smooth. One of the plus point was that it was an express train to Sydney with limited stops in between.
So there I was in my grey suit, white shirt and Morgan ties and all. It was then that I realised why the carriage is so full... full of backpackers that is. The bench to my right was occupied by this white guy and his enormous red backpack, headphones around and Discman clutched to his crotch, snoozing without a care. To his back, a long haired girl purses her lips as she pens her thoughts into her journal, pausing once in awhile to look outside the window and then lean against her own gigantic luggage. The next 3 rows of seats infront of me are also filled with the same kind of people; headphones, backpacks, dirty boots, dog tired. A quick glance at the air cargo stickers on their bags reveal that they are Americans ... from LA to be exact. I figure they must have just done the Blue Mountains, coming from the station of Katoomba.
A sudden pang of longing filled me as I reminisce my recent backpacking trip through China and Thailand. Out of pure coincidences or otherwise, I had Tracy Chapman playing on my Discman at that moment as well, and I had a sudden feeling of dejavu, where I was transported back to the sleeper bus that took me from Yangshuo to Guangzhou on that late February night. I remembered it was not luxury and thank gawd I decided to bring music along; the thin foam mattress, the snores, the claustrophobic arrangement and the persistent reminders of high way accidents and robberies around this area .. need i continue? I was also convinced that the driver is doing pot the way he handled the wheels. Luckily, the soothing voice of Chapman ensured that I got some eye shut that night.
But I digress. 4 months of comfortable monotonous life has brought me down to earth but the sight of these travellers and the feelings that I know they must be experiencing as they wander around this foreign land; only one other like them would be able to understand. That helplessness as you surrender yourself entirely to destiny, that thrill of danger and not being in control, that luxurious basking in the freedom of being in an alien environment and the satisfaction of knowing that there is somewhere else in this planet that has a warm welcoming bed for you anytime as you trudge along with the huge backpack gripping into your aching shoulders, in your damp socks and 3 weeks unwashed jeans. Cold and hungry, hunting for that place u can rest for the night. And then celebrating that you got through yet another day with other fellow 'comrades' at the watering hole, recounting amazing events and exchanging tips.
My wanderlust is once again awakened. I can already imagine myself rummaging into the storeroom in Singapore for my Wolfskin red backpack, where I had carefully folded away, thinking to myself that it will be a very long time before they are gonna be used again. As our train approaches the Sydney station, we overtake a slower older one and right at that moment, Tracy began to sang "Fast Car". A conductor in full regalia was hanging out from one of the door of that train, one hand clutching onto a ledge, shouting something to someone as his moustache twitches in unison. Over his head, the clouds glowed in pink like a blushing child and several seagulls adorn the otherwise empty skies.
Life is beautiful.
"You got a fast car
I want a ticket to anywhere
Maybe we make a deal
Maybe together we can get somewhere
You got a fast car
But is it fast enough so you can fly away
You gotta make a decision
You leave tonight or live and die this way" - Tracy Chapman
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