The Return

...and so, this adventure is at its official end. I'm back in Singapore now, and it's been three hours in this weather, and I've already retreated to an air-con room =) I know that I haven't updated a lot here since the fourth, but rest assured that lots of things have been happening, and I've put my thoughts down in my sketchbook. Little by little, they'll be put up here too. But in the meantime...

It's been a marvellous trip! Excellent, incredible, unbelievable even =D My gosh, at that point in time, with the knowledge that time was limited, certain parts of the immersion felt like time wasting activities, but from the vantage point of home, it all flowed remarkably well. And although I've been on this kind of thing twice before, this was a wholly new type of experience. These two and a half weeks have managed to outshine all the other trips socially, because undeniably, it is the people who are the most unforgettable this time.

When we were flying in to land, the plane coasted past Downtown Singapore, then up East Coast, and the people around me were remarking about how regular and planned the city looked compared to Taiwan. And indeed, Taipei is a lot messier than Singapore, with short buildings crammed together, uneven sidewalks and winding streets. And when I got out of the airport, it's remarkable how everything seemed brighter, even though it was night time. Taipei is generally duller in colour, and Singapore looks quite garish with its verdure in comparison.

But then again, Taipei has a different kind of attraction, relying more on its street life than its external appearance to arouse interest. Like I said before, the street level life is definitely more interesting than the clockwork existence of Singapore's culture. In Taipei, everyone in the service industry (or at least the people we came into contact with) were impeccably hospitable, really giving our salespeople a run for their money. And they have a real night life! Just imagine an Orchard Road that remained open till 1am or 2am. And it's intriguing, as always, how their modernity subsists side by side with Taiwanese tradition.

Culturally, Taiwan arguably shows the political way forward for Singapore. Sure, their horrible traffic manners may be because of their liberal politics, but on the whole, democracy has not led to a total breakdown of social morality in Taipei. I guess it's safe to say that society is more resilient than the government gives it credit for. It may not be such a stable place to live in, but a politically liberal Singapore will at least be more interesting.

Speaking of interesting, that is one reason why I didn't want to leave Taipei this afternoon (one other reason is schoolwork =P). Truth be told, life in Taipei was a lot more exciting, partly due to the novelty factor, but primarily due to the clear perception that life in Taipei will never lose an element of unpredictability no matter how long you live there. And that element of unpredictability is a lot larger than anything that we are liable to come across here, even though Taipei isn't conceptually too far off from Singapore at first glance (same cultural roots and same globalisation effects). While walking around Taipei (especially with no Taiwanese guides), you learn to expect a surprise at every turn of the winding back street.

But clearly the most remarkable thing is the people. It's strange how these things work out...in Taipei, I found myself largely in the shoes of those people that I envied in Lyon. Maybe it's because prior experience gave me an advantage over the others who think they know less than I do what to expect, and maybe it's because as luck would have it, Yang Ming had four other people I had known prior to Texprog. But this time round, I felt really secure that I would have friends in Taipei, and as an added bonus, I even got someone who didn't mind to wander Taipei streets with me, something that I had wanted since Frexprog One =D On the Singaporean side, Texprog is almost a mirror image of Frexprog One...I made friends prior to going over, and I had someone with which to share the surprising experience of strolling along a foreign river with no strings attached.

But on the Taiwanese side, too, it was most incredible. We hit it off almost at once with Young's class, which consisted of lots of nice people genuinely eager to find out more about Singapore. And the Yang Ming Texprog people are also incredibly hospitable. Given the amount of stress they had to bear in entertaining us while simultaneously preparing for a major exam, they were jolly almost to a reckless extent, and they were always good about it.

I guess that was the main draw of it all, the people that we met, from the Singaporeans, the Taiwanese who were here in July to their families to their classmates, and even the random citizen on the street. In some of them, I see myself two years ago. And in others there's the opportunity to put into practice all that these years of travelling has given me. And in combining the past and the present, and pieces of everywhere else that I've visited, Taipei has been quite a wonderful experience. And the fact that I had others to share it with just makes it more precious. And that's really why I didn't want to leave, because there are things that I cannot bring back with me. I left friends back there in that airport.

But what I did bring back does feel very worth it, now. Hundreds of photos, lots of gifts, letters and contacts, and memories that we've all shared these two and a half weeks. And the assurance that the new friends that I've made, both in Singapore and in Taiwan, will still be there, even though Texprog has officially ended. Really, the story continues, and this is not really the end. It's just the end of the beginning =)

I won't forget.

pondered by phoenican @ 8.12.04