It’s nice to be home

This morning, I woke up to a firm, stationary bed. Sunlight filtering through the windows, with the fan stirring up a cool breeze. I took a minute to listen to screams of joy from the little kids down at the kindergarten below my HDB flat.

Yes, I am home after 19 days.

It seems like a long time, though nothing big compared to folks who have done RTW trips. Typing on my laptop feels foreign, so does the weather. After facing gusts of wind and subzero temperatures in chilly Russia, I felt a wave of heat hanging around me.

The ache in my left knee, which has plagued me since the 3rd day of my trip has lessen in the warm weather, and that running nose of mine has abated.

Maybe age has taken over, but I feel slightly weary, travelling through four countries (Korea – China – Mongolia – Russia) in that 19 days. In between living on a train for close to a week.

I mean, it has been my dream to travel and live on the train, in particular the Trans Siberian, but when reality hits, sometimes the inability to bathe for four days in the row and a drunken Russian can overtake the “romance of travel” which the Trans Siberian is widely associated with.

I’ll share more in later posts. It’s a journey, nonetheless. Last but not least, I wanna say a big thanks to my travel companions, H and S, for going through the good times and the putting up with my foul moods has I limp and walk down the staircases of metros.  Most importantly, you both helped me see the greatest cities in the world through a different lens.