It was a long time since I wrote, well, because we traveled a very long road before we arrived at Jinan, Shandong Province. The travel was about 3 to 4 hours so we sat in the bus enjoying the beautiful scenery of China.
The Journey
I was like traveling in a cloud of dreams, the bus was running fast, the sky was blue with occasional cirrus clouds passing us by, the green fields with small houses in the middle was soothing to look at (reminded me of my home province in Nueva Ecija, where my Uncle has this small hut in the middle of his rice field and we had to pass through a narrow road to get there).
Many of my friends from the Seminar were sleeping, but me? I cannot sleep, I could not, I said to myself that I cannot let this moment pass me by. It might take a long time again before I get to experience these few splendid hours of my life. So I made every second count, I was constantly looking outside the window, feeding my eyes with all the beautiful pictures to put in the memory bank of my mind.
I was also singing with my friend, Tassanai, from Thailand. She brought her mp3 player and we were listening to Thai music, and American songs too. She introduced me to the pingpong song which was sung by Julio Iglesias, Jr. It was a nice and lively song, perfect for the time. We shared earphones, but later she was also sleeping like the rest from our bus. So I took off my earphones and began listening to the music in my surroundings.
Tassanai and Me during one of our bus tours around Qingdao CityI could hear the motor from the bus, some of my friends talking, the sound of the wheels running through the road, and sometimes the bus TV would turn on and off. It was peaceful, with some occasional music playing in the background. After passing some houses, I would see some disciplined trees and think how they got so straight. Then I would think of my friends from the other bus and how they must be also sleeping. I tried to memorize everything I saw so that I could keep it with me as long as I could. There are some things that not even the most sophisticated and state-of-the-art cameras cannot take. The eyes are still the best camera, and they could hold pictures longer, even for a lifetime.
Sometime, I was hoping that the bus ride would be longer, and sometime I hoped that we would arrive soon because my body was becoming stiff from sitting for 4 hours. Those four hours of travel to Jinan happened more than three months ago. So many things have happened by then and I am glad I did not sleep during the journey.
My camera took about 1,000 photos during my entire stay in China, but the pictures taken by my mind totaled to more than 10 million images. I can sleep anytime I want and because I did not sleep during that four hours, I have many things to dream of and many places and wonderful, timeless moments to go back to. I hope to see you there.
Cheers to a wonderful and fulfilled life.
