Old Friends, New Places

We had a friend come down for a visit this weekend. The same friend who was in the termite hatching photo. A friend who I have known from a visa run to Penang, Malaysia that I took 5 years ago. Every three months I would have to leave Thailand and get a new visa. My friend had to do the same from Indonesia. The closest place to get a visa for the both of us was in Malaysia. It is normal to see the same people on your visa runs. This was a way that you could tell who was a worker in their respective adopted country and who was a tourist. Because I worked, I could only get a few days off every few months to get a visa. I couldn’t go to all the surrounding countries, or even explore Malaysia. I could explore one town in three day increments for the better part of four years. It was a way that people are judged in such circumstances. Who is more hardcore, more daring, more an adventurer. Who has been away longer, who can stay longer, who knows the language more, who eats the local food, who is over trying to be local. People sepperate out into these groups. The two week holiday folks, the year around the world folks, the English teachers, the long term workers, the non-working expats and the lifers. My friend and I were long term workers, long term meaning over a few years.



Shortly after I left Thailand my friend left Indonesia. We were both married within a half a year of each other and went through the joys of getting visas around the same time. We have known each other when we were single and now as married (with a baby on the way) and he, married (soon to be divorced). It is nice to share the worlds with someone. I had the opportunity to visit him in Indonesia and he visited me in Thailand. We have seen where the other has lived and we both know what a challenge it is to live in an eastern foreign country then acclimate to a western country afterwords. We don’t often reminisce anymore. It is in the background. This commonality of a very unique experience.

This short visit was limited by my energy level and his lack of time. We managed to get out into the orchards to see the plum blossoms in full bloom and the beginnings of the apples. We talked to the head farmer about the cycle of a cow’s life and about the grazing pastures that the sheep rotate in. Just as the rain started to sprinkle, we went for a nice walk around the National Pinetum. Life is a long way away from riding on the top of buses through Indonesian countryside.