Home For The Night

I am in serious trouble. Jet lagged and about to hop onto another one in a few hours. I can really see myself falling into the lake in Hanoi today from lack of sleep. Its 4am and I am blogging for goodness sake!! And I am cutting it fine - cos I only just heard from Michaela whom I'm meeting up with today in Hanoi then travelling onto Laos with - she couldn't get access to her hotmail for a week. I even had to do up a plan B and C, but pheww.

Landing into Taipei tonight was really emotional for me. Flying in between the mountains encircled in mist and the city lights. This is my backbone, place where I stem from, where I get my courage, my "mana". And the run way and the terminal that many times removed me and now reconnects me.

I am in my aunt's apartment in Taipei - my fam picked me up from the airport for dinner at home but I ended up staying the night here instead of going back to the hotel they arranged. Cos there's nothing like BEING home. Nothing has changed since I was here 2 years ago, or 4 years ago or 10 years ago. I still relate to all of them as if I just saw them yesterday, they know all about me and I know all about them. The books I used to read as a kid is still on the bookshelf (or in the toilet) with the same pages dog-earred, and the same scratches and marks are on the wall and the floor. My five little cousins are slightly taller and slightly louder but they are to me like I am to my uncles and aunties - still the bloody baby they brought home from the hospital!!

My grandfather looks really well, he's hit 80 this year but seems like he's done well and not aged too much at all. Apparently they kept my visit a surprise so he was a bit tripped out but remained composed when I crashed through the door. Complaining about how the Vietnamese are barbarians so don't ever look for trouble with them and asking me where my dad was cos he hasnt' called. "On a boat probably." I said. The 14 year old cuz who created a bit of trouble this year by giving out the family number to strangers she met over the net has just had a MULLET done. Not the urban mullet or the french mu-lay, but the full-on Bowie. Its pretty much like she stole it from his dressing room from Labrinth. Or the pineapple farm. As soon as I broke down in hysteria at the sight of it the whole family started ganging up on her about how pathetic it is ("see - even your kiwi cousin who has terrible kiwi dress sense says that") and how she really should get a refund or re-cut. Probably not good idea...

It feels sooooo nice to be home - even just for the night. Stocked up on my favourite stir fry and gossip, jokes and hugs, slept under the mosquito net. I feel so much confident about going to SEA, just cos I've had the reassurance from my family that they have confidence in me. And that should anything happen to me I know that I was loved and always will be loved. I feel so lucky to be Taiwanese, and part of this chaos and beauty.