THROUGH INDOCHINE
The Beginning

There is nothing but excitement when one begins a trip, at least I always do. No matter near or far, work or play, a trip somewhere always gives me the jitters. The travel bugs gets feed, and I couldn't be happier. This trip begins in Singapore, where I lined up a series of coffee catch up sessions with some friends before TB arrives in Singapore to start our adventure through Indochine together.

The best catch-up session prior to TB's arrival was with Renee and her gorgeous daughter, Desiree. We met for lunch at Singapore's infamous chatterbox for some laksa and chicken rice. The last time we personally met was probably around 14 years ago, before she left to study in Perth. We were writing letters for a while (those pre-email days) but soon lost touch, only to find each other again via various social networking platforms on the net.

How do you catch up on the last 14 years of your life? You leave out many details and give a brief rundown within an hour, and hope that the important bits and pieces will just slowly piece themselves as you slowly reconnect.

The thing with old friends is, you've established the fact that you're friends, especially with those you've known when you were young. Somehow we skip our are-you-worthy-to-be-my friend list, straight to what-have-you-been-up-to list. We tend to trust our childish judgement, and go on to be friends. Friends accept each other for the way they are; so even if these new-old friends turn out to be different from your 'normal' friends, you accept them anyway. You rejoice the reconnection, and concentrate on how you can make this relationship works; focus on the similarities and how to enjoy each other rather on analyzing how different you've become.

Do you think this is why it's more difficult to make friends when you're older? Because we're more preoccupied about what makes a good friend, rather than trying to be a friend?