(a not so) happy new year's day.

late last night as we touched down at changi airport, i felt a little relieved. relieved to be on home ground in one piece..

this was what happened:

on 31st december, new year's eve, my brother, marisa, lionel and i were happily watching 'the holiday' at one of the shopping malls in the heart of bangkok. about halfway through the movie, the girl sitting beside lionel starting having lots of calls.. and we got a little annoyedat first.. then they left.. then the people in front of us started to have calls too.. and throughout the cinema, u could see phones lighting up.. soon, the row of people in front of us left.. then more and more people left.. then my brother whispered to me saying "hey, marisa got a call from her friend that there are bombs in thailand.." my first reaction was "what? bomb? here? now? when? are u serious? then how? should we leave?"

then marisa left us inside the cinema to go make a call.. we started o get nervous.. really nervous.. because we see everyone leaving and we din know what to do or how to communicate with them.. soon, we left the cinema.. as we were trying to get out of the building, we see some shops pulling down their shutters while others are still laughing happily and eating.. weird but we din care. all we tot of was we wanna get the hell outta there...

on the streets, everyone was lined up at the sides of the road trying to flag for cabs.. then we called home.. i called my dad and i couldn't help it but cry. i was really really scared.. not knowing where the bombs could be, under sky train tracks, standing next to the road and in the middle of 4 shopping centres and with people all around me... i did not know what i could do. and it was so scary because at that time, i knew that i could really just die.. and then i realised how unprepared i am, how afraid of death i am.. but thank god i was not alone.. waiting for marisa's brother to come pick us felt like an eternity. on the streets, polices cars, ambulances flashed past.. we knew something happened somewhere down the road.. could we be next...

but thank god marisa's brother came after 30 mins.. and we went home.. at midnight, we were just glad to be alive.. really really glad. and we celeberated with wine n star wars.. but as we celebrated, unknown to us at that time, there were more bombs going off..

since we were flying back on the 1st. we stayed indoors, only leaving the house for a quick lunch. the streets of bangkok were unusually quiet.. there were fews cars on the road.. that made us really uncomtfortable and we quickly went home, leaving the house again later that day only to catch our flight home..


i spent last night thinking of how lucky i am. and about the thais who are feeling insecure at home. and then i felt depressed. now i know who my real friends are. who really cares for me n my safety. and who will not give a damn if i die or not. it's really depressing having to start my year this way, but even more so for the people who died from the bombs in thailand.