Lucky to the End

The owner of the guest house put us in the bungalow with “V.I.P.” above the double doors and shooed away the maid who had already showed us one of the other bungalows which we had settled on.  But then the owner showed up and wanted us to be in the V.I.P. Bungalow.  She thought we would be more comfortable there with the free coffee right outside our door.  She patted the table and told me we would like sitting there in the morning drinking our coffee.  

We didn’t care except I felt a little bit bad for the maid who had originally sold us a room only to be batted away by the owner.  What we had on our minds for whichever bungalow we were in was for Andrea to make a phone call to the airlines to change her homebound ticket.  My task was to finally make the decision I had been wrestling with for two days; whether I would stay or accompany Andrea back home.  

As soon as we were settled in our room Andrea made the phone call.  At first I could hear that the agent was not finding any seats on any flights for quite a few days into the future.  There was a sinking feeling in the room.  Many silent minutes went by but then the agent found something.  They were making the arrangements and my mind was whirling. 

We were both on the large V.I.P. bed and I had taken my glasses off to flick something off of the lens.  I have to explain that I almost never have my glasses off.  I am nearly legally blind which means that the last thing I do before bed everyday is take off my glasses.  The first thing I do every morning is put them on and there they remain until I go to bed.  

So, Andrea was on the phone with the agent and I was flicking things off my glasses but really I was in deep thought about all my options.  The time was upon me to finally decide what I was going to do.  I twirled my glasses from one bow as I thought.  

For a couple of days I had been thinking about all my options.  There were actually too many.  I had come up with about fifty scenarios of where I could go or what I would like to do after Andrea went home.  One of the ones that most appealed to me was to keep riding into Cambodia and stay there until that certain date when I could return to Thailand and have enough days on my new Thai visa to take me all the way to Feb. 29th, Leap Day, when our original flights were scheduled.  The 30 day visas figured into every scenario.  If I didn’t ride anymore I could take a bus to somewhere more north where it was cooler. I could ditch the bike at a hotel and fly to Mandalay where it seemed the temperatures had been the best in the entire region for weeks.  I could explore anywhere in any country via public transportation.  I was finally in good shape so I kind of wanted to keep riding but that pesky 30 day visa kind of got in the way of perfect plans.  I felt Mandalay pulling me back because I love Mandalay and I could just stay there for a month walking the streets taking photos.  It’s just so exotic there!  But we started our trip in Mandalay and wouldn’t it be like trying to repeat something that was so perfect that it’s essentially unrepeatable?  Wouldn’t I be sad to be there without Andrea?  Of course I would!!  So, maybe I could go to Nan, Thailand which I’ve heard is nicer than it was when I was there nearly 20 years ago.  That might be something interesting.  I’ve always wanted to learn Thai better so maybe just staying in Chiang Mai and taking language classes would be a good thing to do.  Chiang Mai is like my second home.   Or, I could get on one of the budget airlines and fly to someplace I’ve never been such as Bali but I’ve always been afraid of going to Bali because I figured it would be so appealing I would never leave.  Then what?  I went round and round with all the possibilities.  It didn’t matter that I had already had a couple of days to think about them.  That just gave me more time to come up with more possibilities!  They were all swirling in my mind like a big dust devil that had been on the horizon for a few days but now was bearing down on me.  To add to the mess there was a second dust devil approaching as well!  

The other swirl consisted of all the fun we had had together.  We had been within sight of each other 24/7 for 3 months.  We had eaten every meal together, some scary looking, but we had never gotten sick.  We took elevators up and up in a new shopping mall in Vientiane but found out that there were no down elevators so we were forced to explore the bowels of the new building trying to find a stairway.  There were no people around just boxes of merchandise and shells of stores not yet built.  All the while there was Christmas music playing.  It was an unplanned surreal adventure quite apart from cycling but such fun that we were having a hard time walking down this hallway and that hallway because we were laughing so hard!   Then there were all the new experiences we had had like being the unintended guests of honor at a Nat Pwe!  The train ride to Pyay that was so awful it was laughable.  The heat, humidity and dust.  Balancing tires on the white line.  The beautiful flowers and birds and temple bells softly ringing in gentle breezes.  So many things that we enjoyed.  The mysterious Counting Bird!  Frog choruses!  No rain!  Simply sitting on rocks watching the swirling water at the narrowest place of the Mekong - mesmerizingly beautiful and scary simultaneously.   Like a big bus coming inches from our elbows while riding - scary but simultaneously thrilling to simply be riding our bikes in off-the-beaten-track Thailand.  The monk’s body inside a tree trunk and another monk’s body that had been gold-leafed!  All the people in Myanmar who were incredibly excited to converse with us.  The sound of a paddle pushing our boat through a mountain. Balancing tires on the narrow metal slats of a large bridge and somehow avoiding the slats that were rusted through!  Climbing the same stairs that Rudyard Kipling climbed.  Thinking we might actually die from riding in such high heat several times but then not dying.  The kindness of strangers everywhere we went.  Saying yes to everything.  Living a life filled with wonders and wondering, why me?  Meeting Andrea 41 years ago and finally getting to show her some of Asia 24 years after that.  Having many amazing trips together since.  Two grand babies we need to go meet. 

The minutes were ticking by.  Andrea’s airline agent was actually finding her a seat on various flights and cobbling together an itinerary home.  I had to decide if I was going with her or staying on.  The two dust devils had merged - my head was beyond full.  Andrea was wrapping it up with the agent.  I needed to decide.  

Then I saw on the left hand bow of my glasses the word “LUCKY”!  I guess it was the brand name but I had never seen it because I never look at my glasses, just through them.  But there it was, that reminder once again that I have been so very lucky all my life and this trip of ours has been perfect.  We were in the V.I.P. bungalow but we are not necessarily very important people except to each other.  It was indeed time to end the trip - end it together. 

Andrea was thanking the woman on the other end of the line and was about to hang up when I said, “Wait! Hand me the phone.”   I asked the woman, “Were there two seats on those flights?”  She said, “Yes, and unbelievably they are together the whole way back to Portland.”  

lovebruce

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