Places of the Past

My planned route through South East Asia, almost as twisted as the Mekong itself

Since I’ll be graduating in June (supposedly) and therefore, in theory, joining the working world shortly after, I decided that it would be wise to postpone that eventuality and travel.  Two friends of mine, whom I met while at university, also enjoy travelling and, since they’ve never been to anywhere on the Asian continent before, our plan is to start in China and head south.  They’re planning on working their way all the way to New Zealand, but due to budget constraints I’m going to head back to find a job probably after Indonesia.

Despite that I’m going to have a several month long loop from China down into Laos, across into Vietnam, over to Cambodia, followed by a hop through Thailand (just to pass through) on my way to Myanmar before ending the trip by flying to Brunei, working my way across  the island of Kalimantan and heading back to either Singapore or KL via Java and Sumatra.  Just for fun I decided to buy a world map, put it up on a noticeboard I have in my room and pin up the planned route.  The plan is of course subject to change once on the road.

Unlike the two friends I’ll be travelling with I have been to most of these places before – just not in many years.  Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and Brunei (if I get there) will be new to me, but the others I have all visited before.  I don’t mind though, they’re all countries I could go back to time and time again.

The first stop will be Beijing though, which I’m a little apprehensive about.  Well, I don’t know if apprehensive is the right word for it.  Having spent 3 years living there I know (knew) the place well, but given the pace at which China, in particular Beijing, has modernised, I don’t know how much of it I will recognise.  While I’m there I’m planning on visiting the Lido – the Holiday Inn residential area where I used to live – to see how it has changed.

One of the downsides to being a TCK is that sometimes it can seem like your past didn’t happen.  Once you leave a place and the people you know, you have very little to prove to yourself that it really existed.  There are memories, but nothing really tangible, in particular before the internet become commonplace and people could keep in touch via e-mail or chatting.  That’s the case for when I moved away from Beijing; with the exception of a few people who I’ve found on facebook, I have no idea what happened to anyone I knew in Beijing, and I haven’t been back in 12 years.

I guess I’m kind of scared that when I go back I’ll find that it’s all gone – the school (which I know has already moved, but I don’t know if the old buildings still exist), the apartment block where I lived, the park across the road and the market a couple of streets away.  Obviously I can’t expect it to be like a time capsule, but on the other hand I just hope there is something – anything – left.