Sitting in the cafe before my flightI chatted with an English girl who had been on the mini-bus from Koh San Road. Also at the cafe I noticed European men with Thai girlfriends. On the flight over I spoke with a British male nurse married to an Australian female nurse who flew between London and Melbourne quite a bit. He was sick of London and wanted to live in Australia.
First impression of the UK was brick houses as we flew into Heathrow. It was noticably colder. I caught the tube to Hammersmith and chatted to an Australian on board who had just been in Turkey on holiday, he lived and worked in London.
Arriving at Hammersmith station I was met by Dave, Emma, Shiloh, Jimbo, Moo and Mark. What a suprise. That night I got quite drunk and spewed, which probably wasn’t a good thing considering I had been flying for 12 hours and been awake for quite a while.
As has happened in the past, and would happen in the future, I was a little confused at reaching London. After the Asia experience I didn’t quite know how to view/understand things. London was a different world from the one I had been inhabiting for the last 6 months.
This feeling I had experienced in the past when doing things outside of my peer group – like going to camps, in particular camps with the Waikato Anglican Diocese. These were very different social environments and I didn’t know how to act. I was paralysed.
It took me 2 weeks before I really felt right. Jet lag? Or the pyschological factor. Asia felt so far away, how to make sense of that experience? How to make sense of what I was experiencing now in London? I didn’t know and felt uneasy, nervous for quite a while.
London is a real travel hub, with cheap flights throughout Europe. The people I met had or were travelling to all sorts of places – Armenia, Crotia, Spain, Greece, Turkey.
Some events of note during my time in the UK:
Meeting Burmese residents in London
I wanted to met the brother of U Ki La Ta, the monk I had travelled with in Burma. I visited the Buddhist society and got the names and addresses of some Burmese monks residing in London.
The first, and only, one I visited was Sasana Ramsivihara, 18 Ospringe House, Wotton St. This was no longer his home, it was rented by Burmese exiles, but he happened to be there when I visited. His monastery was at 83 Booth Rd, Colindale.
The young Burmese exiles were very interesting. They had left Burma and entered Thailand where they acquired fake Thai passports. They then left Thailand for Nepal where they approached the British Embassy who granted them asylum in the UK. They, and the monk, were active for democracy in Burma. The monk spoke on BBC radio about democracy in Burma and had contact with British government officals. The Burmese exiles worked in London.
It was familiar to be in the presence of this Burmese, having spent the last 6 months in Asia. It was comforting, somehow I didn’t want to lose the feeling I felt in Asia. The mentality? The Asian feeling felt at odds with my current location (the UK). I didn’t know when I would return to Asia, would the experience just be lost over time as I assimilate back into a Western soceity? How do I keep that experience alive? Can it be kept alive? And what of the replusion I know I can feel towards “my own kind”?
Things of note:
