I haven’t posted any for more than a month.
My monthly trip to Johor still continues. Last month,
I stayed at JB for 10 nights (17-26) and will be back there next week for a 3-night
stay.
I took the 13:55 SQ 622 to go to Osaka on 29th mainly
for paying into my pension scheme. I had sent a message to the company e-mail
address of an old friend of mine not expecting a reply from him because I
thought he had moved to another company. Surprisingly, he was staying with his
old company and replied. But then, Typhoon No. 21 hit Osaka and I postponed my
trip after the 10-night trip to Johor. When I finally booked the flight on 29th,
it was No. 24’s turn. I stayed at a hotel in southern Osaka, rather near the airport
for the first night. I checked out of the hotel to catch a JR train to reach
Osaka before it would stop its operations at noon.
I kept in touch with the old friend on WhatsApp.
The flight to Osaka went smoothly without much
turbulence. But I learned that the airport would be closed at 11:00 am next day
anticipating the same kind of havoc that the No. 21 inflicted in the region.
I found most shops in Osaka closed because of the
coming typhoon. We decided not to meet on 30th (Sunday). On Monday, I met him
and another long-lost friend probably after 18 years!! We managed to have only
a few hours together, but it was certainly something for me, and I hope it was
so for them too.
Surely, we had a great reunion
as if the past 18 years had been nothing. I also learned that four people I’d
worked with or met are now dead, with the whereabouts of some others unknown. And
four volumes of “あぶさん”
(12-15), which I searched for desperately when I moved to this current place,
were returned!! It was YOU who had kept them for 18 years!! I left Osaka on the
23:25 SQ623 with no hiccup. Even the retort-pouch
foods (liquid) I had bought in the city were passed with no question asked.
Last week, I had absolutely no job to do and spent reading
more books about Vietnam (“The Girl in the Picture” by Denise Chong
(again), “The General Retires and Other Stories” by Nguyen Huy Thiep and now
reading “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places (again).” Three more books on the country should be on the way and I’m also
waiting for the VDV version of “Heaven and Earth” directed by Oliver Stone to
arrive.
