DAY 01
- Fear of missing very early morning flight. Traded sleep with reading online Manga.
- Airport. Strong coffee. Hot cinnamon roll. Humans you'd genuinely want to be around with. Animated talks.
- Vertigo plagued a friend. On-air vomiting (not projectile vomiting. All the throwing up happened in the cramped bathroom)
- landed. Vertigo hasn't subsided. Compounded by motion sickness on the road. Massage said friend's back while she's agonizingly curled, face buried in the roadside restaurant's latrine. Missed breakfast.
- Made a dent on Dave Egger's The Circle. Gripping read.
- Hotel. Vertigo worsens. Rushed friend to nearby provincial hospital. Missed the scheduled cultural tour.
- Gripped by all the suffering and hopefulness surrounding the ward. All shades, stripes and sounds of bodies plagued by diseases and poverty.
- Finished Dave Egger's book. Feeling partly horrified and angered by distorted idealism and loss of humanity.
- 5pm friend's stable and was discharged. Back to the hotel, tucked her in her room and rushed down to meet two more friends who arrived in the latter flight.
- Governor's Ball. Skinny black denim, black shirt. Red Andy Warhol Campbell Soupcan pocket square. No tie. Feeling reassured on the not under-dressed department.
- Post ball beer-guzzling, drowned in the throngs of quiet revelers. Oddly overdressed in a sea of casually dressed festival goers. Not in the last embarrassed for the out-of-place attire.
- Buzzed by beer. Nerves from lack of sleep. Dove to bed and passed out in a minute.
DAY 02
- Mildly hung over. Hotel breakfast. Vertigo friend recovered and in high spirits. The Sun blazed. Good day.
- Missed the festival parade. Proceeded to the provincial stadium. Almost dozed off from all the long speeches. Cultural show. A blast of ethnic colors, choreography, cants, beats and movements.
- Sister of Congressman smuggled us from the festival proceedings to her house. Served grand lunch. Strong coffee canceled the hang over.
- Artisanal hopscotch. Brass artisan demonstrated antiquated process. Displayed local ingenuity. Felt bad for his living conditions despite his heroic struggles to eke out a decent living.
- Met a living artist. The last of the few authentic T'Nalak weavers. A woman whose creases can fill the pages of a novel yet remained with quiet dignity and detachment. The women in the design mission contingent went crazy buying rolls of fabric she's woven. Her face still haunts me. Regal and sad, submitting to the ravages of old age, yielding to the histories of poverty yet triumphant in its gift of skill and artistry.
- Women went crazy part 2 in the center where crafts are displayed and sold.
- Dinner with the governor. Instant presentation. Very promising development discussed.
- Festival street party. Strong beer. Danced with kids. The four of us getting wasted, guzzling alcohol, flailing hands like wild spasms, not giving a flying fig about the lack of dancing skills.
- Ambled back to the hotel drunk, slurring words, negotiated the grand staircase up to the third floor, not tripping or tumbling down. A triumph of motor skills.
- Threw myself to bed and passed out.
DAY 03
- Drifted in and out of sleep. Tried to ignore phone alarm. Tried to think that if I ignored the day it will go away. It didn't. Bastard.
- Quick shower. Frantic packing. Gone to the lobby to check out. Hung over but managed to smile to the counter clerks and the rest of the group seated calmly on the lobby.
- Breakfast at the Congressman's house. The local sausage wiped out tiredness and sluggishness. Strong coffee, is and will always be, my best friend. My stomach automatically disagreed by instantly producing acid. Ignored and had a second cup.
- Travel to the pineapple plantation headquarters for lunch. Calming, rolling, sweeping hills of pineapples. Pineapples as far as your eyes can see. Passed proud pine trees. A gold course. Rows of american type bungalows. Quick lunch of fern salad, raw tomatoes and dried anchovies.
- Rushed to another district for a quick meeting. Sealed the deal. Feeling buoyant from the progress. Feeling much lighter. Dozed off.
- Airport frenzy. Exchanged hugs and kisses with the hosts.
- Unexpected gusts of wind. Flight delayed. Path leading to the plane flooded. Unzipped boots, rolled up jeans. Boarded the plane barefoot. The cold rainwater sent shiver up the legs.
- Dozed off.
- Landed.
- Friend who had vertigo whisked three of us to an authentic Burmese dinner at her home. Noodle dish. So rich. Explosion of flavor. Feeling less mortal after finishing it.
- Home. Downy white sheets. Sleep racked by unremembered dream.
- An aftertaste of dread upon waking up.
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