Final three weeks

Well, it's time to move out from Bangkok once again, a little over a year after I came back. That's life: you go wherever the wind takes you. I could, of course, resist not uprooting my self from what I regard as my second home, but it's more of a strategic career decision for me to follow where better opportunities are found.

Another three weeks and I'm off to another city in another country. The worst part about it is leaving Bangkok and my friends here.

I've always expressed my love for this city, imperfect as it is. But over the seven years here I've grown intimate with its idiosyncrasies and rhythms. I'm braver to entrust my life on a raging motorsai driver. I don't mind getting a sprinkling of stinking canal water while taking a boat ride on Saen Saeb. Or I can confidently say mai sai cho rot and the cook actually understands it because I have perfect tone now (or so I'd like to believe).

It's definitely tempting to just get cozy with my life here even if it does not give me long-term security (especially job-wise). In Bangkok, one somehow always gets by.

I question the idea of starting all over again in all aspects of my life: career, friends, habits, brand of toothpaste, etc. I am too old for having to go through the trouble, chai mai?

As I'm on the cusp of a major transition I really don't have answer to these questions yet. I have to wrap things up at work and in my apartment in the next three weeks, not to mention the apartment search in a city completely unfamiliar to me. So, there are more important things at hand than wax lyrical about the end of my love affair with Bangkok.

Anyway, in my last few days here I tend to take all experiences in while they last. I seize the noise of the city outside my window, or take a mental photo of this today's sunset, or slurp my noodle soup a bit louder. There's also not missing on every opportunity to spend time with friends.

But I'm not going far away. I'm just going to a neighboring country. I'm sure Bangkok will always be here to welcome me back.