International Friendship, Interhuman Relationship

在家靠家人，出外靠朋友. 这句话说得一点都没错. Inter-human relationship is really interesting. Have you ever wonder how do one make friends? How does one choose who to be friends with and who not to? Why is it that some friendship will last while some will not? What makes someone wants to approach a stranger and strike a conversation? How will that new friendship evolve? Maybe there are answers to these questions, maybe there ain't any at all. But as I always believe, everything happens for a reason, and so we do not have to ponder upon it too much.

This is an entry about the evolution of an interesting friendship. A friendship that invloves 2 person who stays in 2 different countries, who speaks 2 different languages, whom the 2 has never really seen each other before.

1st Jan 2007, it was the 8th day of my NORTH THAILAND SOLO RIDE and I was heading towards Doi Ang Khang from Pai. As it was holiday season, it was quite common to see groups of Thai bikers riding to this mountain part of Thailand, to take a vacation and to get away from the citylife. However, there was this special group of bikers who caught my attention. Reason being, they were on VESPA and the load that they were carrying on the bike is way out of imgination. The moment I saw them stopped at the roadside, I can't help but went forward to strike a conversation.

It was after speaking to them than I know that they rode all the way from Bangkok to North Thailand. Afer hearing that, I only hve one word for them, RESPECT!! Imagine the amount of load the vespa had to carry and the speed they were travelling at, dont you think they deserve a clap and a pat on the back?

Well anyway, there was only one person in the group who could speak English and thus she was the one telling the story to me. After speaking for awhile, she suggested that we exchange emails for future contact and we did. Later did I realised that the email address that she gave me was not hers, but belongs to another lady in the group. Why is this so? I dont know but everything happens for a reason so there is no need to think about it too much.

When I got back to Singapore, I shared my photos with this new friend whom I do not know who she was at that point of time and she shared theirs with me.

Here are some of the photos taken by them during their ride.






















After a few emails, I got to know that her name is NJ. I tried hard to recall which lady was her but had to refer to the photos for confirmation. NJ does not speak much english but somehow or other we still managed to keep in contact until now. Interesting yeh.

Few weeks ago, NJ sent me an email saying that she will be coming to Singapore for the first time and she would like to meet up with me. I agreed. I was actually looking forward to it. It was the first time that I have a friend coming from overseas. How can I not agree? How can I not play host? Furthermore, we had been in contact for quite some time but had not really seen each other before. How can I not meet her? Right? But the question is, how do we communicate? She dont speak english and I dont speak thai. Good thing is, she is coming along with a friend who work as a thai-english translator. Phew!!! What a relief.

As a Singaporean, I brought them around town and showed off to them the world largest fountain, the world largest obersavation wheel, the esplande, the SI MA LU GUAN YIN temple, and ofcourse the merlion. After which, I brought them to Cafe Delmar in sentosa for a drink. As they were only here for one night and I only have about 6 hours with them, I thought this was the best that I can do. Sorry if I had not been a good host.

Here are the photos taken.

Dont you think the girl in black looks abit like 张柏芝？

Flying with the Singapore flyer.

Man, this is heavy!!

This looks yummy!!

Well, I never like the feeling of leaving and it is kind of sad to see friends going away. God bless the internet, we are still able to keep in touch.

Isn't it amazing how friendship can bring people together? Why is it that NJ and I became friends instead of the other lady whom I spoke to initially? I dont even know the name of the lady who gave me NJ's email address and till date I still dont know why it was NJ's email address that she gave me? Is this what they call fate?

If it is really fate that work its way for us, then it is something that we must treasure. Not everyone can become friends. And so there must be something special that connect us to each of our friends. Treasure every friendship like you gonna lose it tomorrow. For without friends, life will be become meaningless.

Thats why I travel. To see the world, to explore my soul. To meet new friends, and not to make foes.