Sabaydii,

 

Here is the continuation of a series ‘Coming Home’ entitled ‘On the way to the city’.

 

Hakphaang,

Kongkeo Saycocie

 

 

Changing from a bus to a pick up

I left Tha Naleng in a heartbeat

Thadeua road[1]

A few decades old

But still usable

With its paved surface

Shot like an arrow

Almost straight to the city itself

 

On both sides of the road

I spotted new houses new buildings

Lining up the road

Springing up from nowhere

Everywhere

 

Getting close to the city

The road began to show sign

Of wear and tear

Red soil exposed through the many potholes

Crept up with its supreme dust

Flying over the places

The houses

The leaves

And people’s clothes alike

 

 

That was 1998

The year of tourism

Or a year preceding it

 

From the familiar landmarks

Old memories triggered in

Suan 555[2]

The cigarette factory

With its beautiful Chinese garden

Surrounded by a body of water

The place my mom took me for a picnic

 

 

And Chinaimo military headquarter[3]

The place my brother bombed with his T-28[4]

 

In fact

There weren’t even an inch of a space

Devoid of a memory

I still remember

This road I rode a bike

With my high school classmates

To dig a canal

Supposedly for an irrigation

 

This road I traveled to Thadeua

Where I once lived and went to school there

And this road I hopped on a motorcycle

Going to places

Finding out if the prospective employees

Qualified enough loyal enough

to work for the Western-based embassies

Stationing in Laos

 

What did I get back in return?

A boot out of my own country

 

Slowly the pick-up trotted along

On the way to the capital

And slowly I was about to begin

A new chapter in my life

Either I succumbed to the old wound

Or I got over it

Only time would tell!

7.30.03