THE ASIA DIARIES
This one is mostly for me.
When I was younger, I used to keep a daily log on my mini red laptop (laptop is generous, it was more like a LeapFrog). I jotted down what I wore, who I interacted with, what I did, how I felt. I wrote these daily summaries because I believed that someday, I would cherish the details that I had captured, details that might have otherwise been lost to memory. Well, that was a wildly wise epiphany to have in middle school, because I was right! And it’s a practice I intend to honor for the rest of my life. So here are a few of my daily diaries from a month-long trip to Asia with my love, a trip which today I am so grateful for, and a trip which someday I will be so grateful I wrote about.
It wasn’t the day we had planned, not even close, but that’s sort of the beauty of travel. Things rarely go to plan, and you have to learn to adapt to the changes life throws at you. And if you are visiting Asia for the first time, your stomach will probably have to learn to adapt to some changes, too.
I may as well race through the list of everything we saw, because it perfectly parallels the way our guide rushed us through each place. If it sounds like I’m overreacting, he literally went “I’m sorry, can we walk fast please” and then we power-walked through the grounds of Humayun’s Tomb.
Not to mention, if we liked something, Sonali would say “fire again?” It was like bottomless chaat in this bitch.
So that was our first day… or half-day, or two days. A travel day through and through, one that packed a real punch at the end.