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Excerpts from my little red notebook:

“I’m sitting in a crowded little coffee shop that is the only smoking area in NAIA. In a little while I’ll be off to Singapore. I’ve been looking forward to this trip all summer, not just because I love to travel, but because I’ve been dying to get away from Manila. I find that I am at my happiest in strange airports and smoking lounges. There is a strange comfort in the anonymity that airports bring. I love watching people and guessing their destinations, people I’ll only see once and never again.

“Airports are a paradox. They are the gateway to the rest of the world, and at the same time they are a prison because you cannot enter nor leave without the appropriate documents and strangers groping at areas only lovers go while unzipping every single pocket in your purse. I had to sacrifice my sister’s gingerflower perfume because liquid substances are apparently a threat to our lives. Even the very pen I am using now was carefully inspected by trained eyes, as if I were clever enough to somehow fashion a deadly weapon that looks just like an ordinary black Pilot signpen. Perhaps I should take that as a compliment.”

“I’m in the plane now, which is taxying (sp?) down the runway. I wonder if I can get away with writing during take-off. Oh, who am I kidding. I can’t read nor write in a moving vehicle without wanting to regurgitate my dinner.

“In his novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Milan Kundera asks–which is better, lightness or weight?

“The answer, for now, is definitely lightness.

“I watched buildings and cars transform into yellow and white speckles of light as the plane ascended into the atmosphere. For the first time in so many months, I felt a sense of peace. This is what Buddhists must feel like when they’ve attained nirvana, or something close to it. The faster the plane went, the lighter I felt, for the distance increased between me and everything and everyone that has weighed me down with disappointement, self-loathing, and regret, if only for a few days. The city lights twinkled and winked at me in agreement.

“Manila has never looked so beautiful.”

When I’m in a strange new place, I avoid hitting the tourist spots. Instead, I pick destinations randomly from a map, or walk around and see where my feet will take me. This is how my friend and I will be spending the day. This evening, I’ll be meeting up with some Singaporean friends who’ll show us what they do for fun around here. I’m really looking forward to it!