i'm back now... ah... long one to go... somehow i managed to write plenty when i was away...

1)
so i'm sitting at the patio outside the hotel room now... it's almost picture perfect... sand, stars, solitude... creaking swings in the distance... creepy... yes... but ultimately very beautiful... we should invest in less street lighting and let the stars fire up the imaginations of everyone... i mean... look at this place... the sky's not exceptionally clear... but i see stars i've never seen at home... ah... for want of darkness to see the beauty of natural starlight...

on another note... left the house at seven and checked in at eight... post meridian... the journey wasn't exceptionally long... oh no... it's thanks to the two hours in the jam at checkpoint and another four hours wasted plying the beach looking for accommodation for the night... that leaves six hours on the road and one for meals... haha... oh well... it's not the destination... but the journey that counts... now who said that...?
the only thing spoiling the night now are the man talking at the top of his voice next door... and my discman skipping at all the nice parts... oh well... can't win 'em all can you...?

on my first impressions on seeing the beach...
the sky's a washed-out blue... almost as if it were pure white but with the slightest hint of blue... a mirror reflecting azure sea but screened by the clouds...
and the sea... how can i forget that...? the colour of steel... mixed with grey... and with the final hint of greenish-blue... the colour of jade... swirled into molten silver and the mother-of-blackest-pearls... now don't be mistaken that it's dirty... far from it... it's probably cleaner than most... that colour... it's the colour of the deep and timeless ocean... to quote James Horner...

ah... now for my favourite part... sunset... now imagine for a moment that you can see a sunset... without the sun... you see... i'm on the east coast... and the sun sets in the west... almost two hundred kilometres off...
so the sky deepens in it's regular sequence... but without the scorching sun to hasten the gradations... so the great white-blue deepens to azure... and the whole sky becomes a sea... no great whirlpool of gold to upset the palette... and the sea changes again...now tinged with blood... and in a few moments... tinged with the first drops of early night... so the penultimate scene opens... full, grand, infinite... purple... the colour of beautiful sunset... washed across the entirety of the heavens... covering even the sun... and imperceptibly but quickly... it all disappears to night...
ah... beauty and brevity... which one engenders the other...?

silence now...

2)
i'm sitting before the pool now... and just off it's the South China Sea... i suppose i'd appreciate the sound of the waves and gentle trickling of the pool better if my ears weren't clogged up with a mixture of seawater and chlorine... ah well...

the beach at night can be pretty scary... it's an infinite blackness... one stretching off to the deep sea's secrets... and the other the infinite black universe... and both perfect mirrors of each other... surf on one... clouds on the other... ships on one... starlight for the other... if i swim out now... will i meet my black familiar...?

spent the day at the beach... or the pool... actually alternating between both... it's been a long time... not since i was five or six... that i've seen waves so strong they knock me over... in that small instance... where sea and humans tease each other... there lies a painful... stark truth... man is weak... the sea may nourish... feed and guide us... but it is no mother... the sea... she is brutal... tempestuous sister of the Ice Queen... she who has sharks for icicles and stinging poison for biting ice... and to match every bit of glacial beauty... her lies masked in the sound of wave on shore... and her infinite mirror to borrow the beauty of the entire heavens...

oh... but love can be foolish... and Cupid may yet make sport of men... the sea still holds my heart... even when one knows the sheer futility of Hope... and sees Love take it's dying breath... Longing... Longing half-sister to Love and Hope... mourns their passing... and in the heart she will remain... till Hope awakes again... and Love is given life... like warm grey embers when wind breathes upon them...

where will my journey end...?

"journeys end in lovers meeting"
-Shakespeare, 'All's Well that Ends Well'

3)
oh well... tomorrow i'll be making my way back... end of a holiday... well at least this one's better than some others...

switched resorts today... me folks said they wanted to try out... see which one's better... well... for the record the former was... so there... haha...

so i'm sitting at the balcony now... looking down at the pool... and the final groups of diners finishing and leaving the poolside restaurant... no stars tonight...the clouds came in the evening... as i was dozing by the poolside... and now they still hang in the sky... oh well... it gives a totally different perspective to the night sky... something i'll never see at home... a darkness so fluid and engulfing that i seems to descend upon the earth... masking roofs and treetops... yes... you could say that the night is so deep... you can't see where it begins and land, sea, and earth end...

i realize one thing bad about taking a vacation... you if you dare to dream in a perfect life... such as that in a holiday... you awake expecting too much from life... you half-hear the voice of a certain someone calling in the sea-borne wind... you find yourself looking forward to a slow stroll on the beach as night sets in... but that walk is not to be... at least not in the manner... not with the one... that you first... and most earnestly dreamed of...
if warmth of flesh cannot be... then the raggy shawls of memory will have to suffice... won't it...?
the wind that blows here is no different form any other... yet i can feel the hope in it... why...? distance...
one's hope... ironically... grows with distace... standing beside the one that means the most... but being reciprocated with painful nonchalance... that heralds despair and desolation... but go off further... put the mass of land and sea in between... and one finds hope springing alive once again... after all... in that few days incommunicado... hearts may change... one may reasonably expect to receive a few small surprises on the journey... and final reaching home...
so i'll return tomorrow... perhaps to take up where i left off... perhaps to a new beginning... but most likely to continue waiting...

congratulations... you've gotten to the end of it all... the original autograph manuscript of the above is available...

haha...
'night...