• Part 6 Day 2

“Good morning Kanmani, sleep well?” My dad asked. “Nnhhhh.” I moaned. My face was crushed against the pillow and a thin river of drool trailed from my cheeks to the pillow and down my arm. My hair looked like it had been in a hurricane with all the wind Mother Nature could muster. . I looked at the window and saw that it was a deep shade of cerulean blue. The stars were long gone, but I was able to make out the buildings and cars down below.  checked the time in the clock mounted on the wall. 3:00 am. So it is was most likely 12:00 pm in California. I thought as I emerged from the bed, my feet softly landing on the cold wooden floor. My mom took out the outfit she wanted me to wear for the day. Apparently she didn’t trust me enough to let me get out my own clothes. “You mess up all the clothes that I fold in there.” She says( and still says today). “Well excuse me if I am a dedicated scavenger mother.” Is what I say when she gets irritated when I leave a massacre in the luggage. “Okay Kanmani go take a shower and brush your teeth, and put this on when you are done okay?”

She thrust a knee-length dress in my arms. It was white with white buttons and it had these light yellow lemons and leaves on the dress, looking as if the citric fruits were painted on with watercolor paints and a brush. Along with the dress, my mom pushed a white t-shirt to put underneath the dress. MOTHER YOU EXPECT ME TO WEAR THIS WHEN IT IS MORE THAN 90 DEGREES OUTSIDE? But I said that in my head so she wouldn’t argue with me for the rest of the day and keep saying witty things like “Oh you look so cute in the dress, see it isn’t bad!” or “Why don’t you like this dress? You can’t wear jeans and t-shirts all the time you know.” I clutched the clothing in my hands sighing as I opened the door to the bathroom.

I came out of the bathroom, fresh and ready for the day. But I was surprised to see Jagan Mama standing there with my mom(Jagan Mama is my mother’s younger brother, so he is my uncle). “Hey Kanmani.” He said, attempting to break the silence between us. “Hello Jagan Mama.” I said, my voice sounded so quiet and reticent. Usually my voice is edgy and bold.  But my voice quickly changed back into my normal tone as I answered his question acquainting how I was. I then excused myself from the conversation and grabbed the hairbrush that seemed to be falling out of the duffel bag. Other everyday necessities seemed to be undulating out of the bag. My mom asked me just moments before to brush my hair, because it looked like a bird’s next at the moment. So there I was trying to tend to my unruly and untamable hair. When I was finally able to get my hair somewhat tamed, I stepped out of the dense atmosphere that was the bathroom and asked my dad if I could email my friends on the IPad. He let me use it, so I switched it on and went to my account and typed away.

Once I was done I gave the tablet back to my dad and stood up and took out my IPod and these huge chunky black headphones from my backpack. I scrolled through my playlists, finally picking one to play while everyone got ready. I just sat there on the bed tuning out my surroundings. A few moments later my brother started having a fit, saying he wanted a lollipop. So Jagan Mama took him and they went out to go by a lollipop. My dad and my mom were about finished by the time they got back. I stowed away my things and got up. It was 8:00 or so. We were all out the door. That morning I was quite agitated towards the sun. I UNDERSTAND YOUR CAUSE AND I DO RESPECT YOU. WITHOUT YOU I WOULDN’T EVEN BE HERE YELLING AT YOU IN MY HEAD. BUT SERIOUSLY YOUR AS ANNOYING AS HARRY POTTER’S COUSIN. AND THATS SAYING A LOT BECAUSE HARRY’S COUSIN WAS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE TOP MOST ANNOYING CHARACTERS IN THE ENTIRE SERIES. I SHOULD REALLY SHUT UP SHOULDN’T I? I THINK IT WOULD DO BOTH OF US SOME GOOD. And once again, the sun shined rays of disappointment and annoyance at my face.

We walked into Anand Bhavan and ordered. The same woman that was there yesterday was there that day as well. We all greeted her and she seemed very happy. After we ate, we brought a to-go bag with us and went into the car. Jagan Mama came with us as well. I watched as the world passed by. Busy tourists walking and talking, either holding shopping bags or holding cell phones and snapping pictures. Workers bustling to work, construction workers high up on top of what seemed to be the skeleton of the structure that towered above us. The city definitely looked different in the light of day. We passed by buildings that were like mirrors. Anything in front of it would be replicated in the crystal clear glass. I marveled at the way the sun reflected on the glass and the metal of each building or structure. We then saw from the distance a sign that read Singapore Zoo.

We arrived at the entrance walking towards the doors that had us stamped. I know what your thinking. “Did you guys seriously have to bring like paperwork or something?” First of all no. What I mean by stamped is that WE LITERALLY GOT AN ILLUSTRATION OF A LION ON THE BACK OF OUR HAND. I honestly don’t understand the concept very well, I understand it’s purpose but what if the stamp fades away? What if you wash your hands and it washes out before you leave the zoo. We walked into the other side. There were plants placed in specific areas with large figures of painted animals prowling among the shrubs. The first place we went to was this big rain forest area consisting of pandas. In one of the plaques they showed a little story about how the pandas became black and white. (I don’t remember bits of the story but I do know enough to confidently tell it to all of you.) Long ago panda’s were completely white instead of black and white. One day a little panda cub was roaming along in the rain forest when a panther pounced and almost attacked it. But a woman blocked the panther from the panda. Therefore leading herself to cease. With the grief of their friend’s sacrifice, the panda’s started turning black and white. The black representing their grief. Though this was only a story, my mom and I still got really sad, as if grief was taking over us as well. That was probably the thing that stood out to me the entire time we were their.

Probably one of the most hilarious moments was when there was this little kid ride thing where there were these little mini cars, decorated to look like little animals. We thought it would be fun to let Madhavan go. But you had to have an adult go along with you. We convinced Jagan Mama to go with Madhavan. He looked so out of place with those little kids. He was extremely tall as well. My mom took a video the entire time. There was so much blush on Jagan Mama’s face that he looked like a strawberry. But Madhavan was happy and that was what mattered.

We continued to other places like the Naked Mole Rat area. It was designed so it felt like we were underground with bugs painted on the walls, and a few Mole Rat terrariums. We then visited elephants. My mom’s favorite animal is in fact an elephant. So when we spotted a few babies we both squealed in delight. One of the really cool ones to see in the zoo was the alligator pond. We went to this area where it was set up with wooden risers to sit on. In front was this big tank. So we were able to see the alligator in a better appeal. Another really cool one was the snake area. It showed so many amazing snakes. There was even this little simulator in the wall where you stuck your arm inside this socket and it would feel like a snake squeezing you. My dad tried it but I didn’t dare to even do it. I didn’t want to be squeezed by an unknowing snake.

We visited a lot of animals before we got really tired from walking. So we decided to go drive back to the hotel.

Above is a picture of one of the pandas in the Singapore Zoo.

• Part 5 Day One

I was sitting by the window watching the rain drift down the window. Leaving streaks of fresh water, creating little droplets that followed the path left behind by the last water drop. We were driving along the road, each of us had our eyes trained onto one of the windows displaying the cityscapes outside. One of my favorite architectural buildings was these three towers that were in a line, then on the top of all of the buildings there was this huge boat laying on it’s stomach on the roofs of each tower. One of my other favorites was this big fountain representing a merlion, and on the bottom there were tiles arranged in a  formation that looked like waves. The tiles were all different colors, teal, ultramarine blue, sky blue, and sea green. My favorite color palette excavated into one place. I thought.  As we drove, I noticed that there wasn’t a single natural growing tree or plant in site. I mean, there wasn’t even moss on the old stone pillars or cement floors outside. It seemed that any greenery growing in an area was placed in that specific area, because it was a specific kind of plant. They either removed the original plants growing there, or placed new plant saplings there before the actual plant in the soil grew. Huh. I thought. How odd. But all in all, the city is amazing, and every building is always lit by lights.

The entire car ride, I spent my time keeping my eyes on the window, taking small notes in my head of the architecture and each and every building. Then we finally arrived in front of our hotel. It wasn’t that small, but not that big either. It was squished between two other building’s on the same side of the street. We all climbed out of the car, my grandfather was parked behind us. My dad and Ganesan Mama lugged our bags behind them. I had my backpack on my shoulders, it bounced up and down my back as I walked toward the door, my brother and my mom trailing behind me. When I walked inside the air conditioning hit me like an iceberg. I had to admit it felt nice to not be barbecued by the sun(the rain had suddenly stopped in the middle of the ride to the hotel.) I mean I know it’s weird to say this, but it felt like my pores were water bending. As we all filed into the lobby, sweat was dripping down the side of my face and going down my neck. My hair was sticking to my neck. The bags under my eyes looked worse with the sweat going down my face. We all stood there for a second taking in the coolness of the room.

Bala Thatha and my dad walked up to the desk that was beside the big glass double doors. I looked to see a little toy cat perched on the top, on of of the corners of the desk, it’s little plastic paw bopping up and down like a spring was behind it’s mechanism. We all then were led to our rooms. We all filed behind my grandfather, if you looked at us from the side we looked like we were on an assembly line in a factory. We finally stopped in front of one room, my dad opened the door. Wow. That single word repeated in my head as my mom, dad, my brother, my grandfather, and I walked inside. “Oh wow, it’s very small.” My mother scoffed. I really liked it though. And I knew we weren’t really going to be spending time in our rooms as the weeks spreads. There was one twin bed on each side of the room, the bed sheets looked like they were never used.( Yes, they were that clean.) There was a door leading to the bathroom in the corner, a TV was mantled at the top of room to the right side, and a dresser stood in the middle of the room, right next to the doorway.  (Ganesan Mama, Deepak, and Sumathi Aathai, were going to be staying in the room next to us. )

A little while later we went back to the lobby and walked out to a nearby restaurant Bala Thatha said was really good. We walked out the door and it felt like I was walking out of a freezer, and into an oven. The scorching heat made every piece of clothing I was wearing, feel incredibly uncomfortable. My shirt was sticking to my skin, my hair once again stuck to my neck and forehead. Sweat dripped down my face and ran down my neck and back. I had a lot of questions addressed to the sun that day… I UNDERSTAND THAT THE ENVIRONMENT IS THIS WAY BUT CAN’T YOU MAKE IT A LITTLE MORE TOLERABLE? I AM SPEAKING FOR HALF OF THE POPULATION RIGHT NOW. YOU FIND MY COMPLAINTS ANNOYING? YEAH WELL, DEAL WITH IT. We continued walking as the sun shined rays of disappointment at my face.

We came to a stop in front of a restaurant sporting the name Anand Bhavan( The restaurant was located in Little India).  There wasn’t a door to walk through, but it was designed so it was in the architecture of a garage, so you literally walk in and out. We stepped inside and sat down in little tables that were beside the counter. When our food was all ready, it was brought out by the owner of the store. She was extremely nice and served us our food with a smile. It was hard not to think of her as my grandmother. She was that nice. After we finished the last bits of our meal( it was delicous) we gave her our thanks, and walked out. Then my  grandfather decided to take us to the Singapore Botanical Garden. As we drove along, I surveyed the city once more( and yelled at the sun quietly) We finally pulled up in front of the parking garage, we all stepped out carefully, I clutched the door handle and hopped out( except my grandfather, he stayed in his car and said he would wait for us). We all walked to the entrance and walked in. Now let me tell you one thing. There were plants and greenery EVERYWHERE. I couldn’t even find a spot where there wasn’t any shrub or flower dominating the ground.

We walked along, Deepak and I took a few pictures of the tree’s and the little critters running around the branches. We then stopped in front of this big area where it was covered in wood chips, leafs, soil, and little green sprouts. There were tree’s scattered along the area, there roots were sprawled about like waves in the treacherous sea. My dad tapped on my shoulder lightly and pointed to the ground, a little sign was put into the soft soil. It read: HELP TO PROTECT OUR TREES. Root zones of trees are very important as they channel the nutrients and help trees grow. They are easily damaged from trampling and other human activities. Please help us to protect them by staying out of the area. – Singapore Botanic Gardens. I gave my dad a solemn face as we continued walking. An image of that sign was embedded into my head. Taunting me of what people are trying to put in other human’s clueless heads. We wouldn’t have to do this and give people a literal sign to read, if they respect nature and leave it alone. Anyway. we continued walking, the sun unfortunately didn’t hide behind storm clouds again. Even with the shade from the trees, we were still grilled by solar flares.

We came to a stop every time we reached a little koi fish pond, marveling at the large fish swimming along. There were all different kinds. Orange and white, midnight black, or orange, black, and white spot and specks all around there bodies. We continued walking, I tried identifying each and every tree we saw. But one of my favorite tree’s in the whole world is a Northern Red Oak tree. Though they are native in North America, I was able to see a few in the gardens. They looked brilliant in the sunlight, the sun’s rays penetrated the tree’s green hues, making it look like a stained glass tapestry. It looked almost celestial to me. After seeing my favorite tree species in such a bewitching form I started looking closely for the ingenuity of multiple natural elements creating into one stunning form of art made by the forces of nature and the elements of the Earth.

We soon came to a stop at a gazebo that looked out to a large pond that also seemed to be home to many turtles. We all sat in the gazebo, watching the turtles, and looked at the tree’s and bushes nestled amongst each other around the pond. We talked for a while, speaking about the flight and how the experience was so far. Then we walked to this area where they had this large building that looked a lot like a bamboo cabin to me. When we walked inside we discovered that they were little signs and inscriptions giving information about the orchids that were nearby in the garden we were currently in. We read each of the inscriptions and looked at the little displays as well. When we walked out, I took a few pictures of the orchids and then I observed each one. One of the ones that really caught my eye were these clusters of blue and white orchids, that merged into purple and indigo ones. I mean, they were diverse, but at the same time united. I know it sounds weird but I am telling you what I saw, and that is what I had seen. What I love about orchids is that the color can either look like a it was painted with a brush, or splattered with a brush. The way it grows can make it look like a creatures face or look like a mythical object. I mean it’s such a unique botanical phenomena, there is no reason for me to not love them so much.

Now here is one part that probably was really embarrassing and aggravating at the same time. We decided to buy little cups of ice cream for each of us to eat. We all sat on these big stone benches and ate. Once we were done, we threw away our cups and started walking. We wanted to head back to the parking lot so week can meet my grandfather and go back to the hotel. Buuuuuut we didn’t now which way to go. We tried the map but the way back was to far. So Deepak and I walked to the lady who was working at the little store selling the ice cream. “I am so sorry to bother you ma’am, but do you know the shortest way to the exit?” I asked. Her kind face looked sorrowful as she said “Sorry, the only way back is the way shown on the map.” Deepak and I huffed in dismay. “Thank you so much ma’am, again, we are so sorry to bother you.” I said.

We walked back to where we left the adults. We eventually found our way back to the front, and waked back to the parking lot where Bala Thatha stood there reading on his tablet. We were all extremely tired, on the car ride, I had to keep my head from drooping down and dislocating my neck from the sudden movement that would happen in the car. We all finally got back to our rooms, I changed into my purple pajamas and crashed into bed. “Good night Kanma-.” I was asleep before my dad could finish his sentence

Above is a picture of one of the many tree’s that were standing in the gardens.

Here is a picture of Singapore at sunset.

Here is a brief description of what I know about Singapore:

Every time I hear the name Singapore, I usually think of words like “tropical,” or “rain forest environment.” But I realized a little more than two years ago that there’s definitely more to this Malaysian state then tropics and rain showers. Singapore is one of the fourteen states in Malaysia supporting a population of more than 5,784,538 people on a 270 square miles of land area. Being the smallest country in southeast Asia it is still widely know for it’s tropical climate, and large multicultural population as well. Since it lies 137 kilometers north of the equator, it is incredibly hot. It’s brutal weather can get a while to adapt to. But with it’s rain forest like climate it also consists of very sudden rain showers. What I really like about Singapore is that it has a deep history for it’s name. It was first know as Temasek meaning “sea town” in the Javanese culture.  Later in 1299 an Indonesian king mistakenly had though an unidentified creature as a lion while visiting the island. Naming the lion Singapura. Which is Sanskrit for Lion City( unfortunately there are no actual lions in the wild in Singapore.)

• Part 4

My legs felt like airplane mush as I walked into the entrance of Terminal Three. I was relieved that I wasn’t walking around in walkways that were only thirty-six inches wide and on an airborne aviation vehicle. I mean, I’m not scared of heights or anything it’s just, walking on a piece of machinery that is thirty six thousand feet in the air is quite overwhelming if you think about it for a while. We then got ourselves freshened up and attempted to jump start our aching bodies. We were currently in Terminal Three but we then went to Terminal Two bye monorail. As we rode inside we noticed that the big windows inside made it very easy to the see the gardens and architecture outside. We then met up with Ganesan Mama( Mama means uncle). He is one of my dad’s childhood best friend. He brought along Sumathi Athai( athai means aunt), and there son Deepak.  My brother looked a little better then the way he did when we got of the airplane. His eyes were still tired and weary, but he had a little spring to each step he took. The same with my father, the redness in his eyes were still there from the flight, but he was a lot more active than he was before. On the other hand we were all a little better than we were before we landed.

While we passed by all of the shops and stores, my brother’s eyes must have been caught by one of the toy stores. He started kicking and screaming, asking for one of the toys they were displaying, he one the argument. Apparently he wanted this bow and arrow thing with Captain America on it. I was hoping that he wouldn’t start shooting little foam darts at me.

Now here is the part that probably annoyed me the most out of the whole time we were in Singapore. Baggage claiming. I now it doesn’t really sound that bad but really it is probably the most irritating part of a long distance trip. Well for me anyway. It all started when we all had to go to that big baggage claiming area to pick up or luggage. But we couldn’t find any of ours. Not even a single piece of luggage. I MEAN WE LITERALLY BROUGHT LIKE THREE DUFFEL BAGS AND THATS IT. We looked for our bags for like fifteen minutes. Then my dad took the situation into his own hands and went to the office that was in charge of any mishaps that have happened with passenger’s luggage. We sat on these couches that were nearby and waited, we were all talking and chatting, my brother was jumping from couch to couch. He kept asking me the same question over and over again. “Where’s daddy?” I didn’t give him a reply because he was right there beside me when we saw my dad walk away to the office. So I just shot my brother a dirty look. I wasn’t exactly helping my own little situation by doing that little act of annoyance. Finally my dad came lugging our bags behind him.

The next thing that happened was probably my favorite part out of the whole time we were in Singapore. We went outside to meet Bala Thatha( Thatha means grandfather by the way)who was going to be taking us to the hotel we rented. Now here comes the part that I loved the most. When we all stepped outside it was pouring rain. Usually one of my fondest memories in Singapore consists of the sudden rain. One time I was seven years old and we were in Singapore. We were just strolling along a market. The sky was completely clear, not a single cloud in the sky when we walked inside. Then when we walked outside it was pouring rain. The sky was completely gray, storm clouds were everywhere. The warm rain ran down my cheeks and made my hair curl with each raindrop. We were only in the store for a little more than ten to twenty minutes. It shocked us all to find that in such a short amount of time there was this much rain. It was the same situation when we were outside the airport with Bala Thatha. Once again my hair curled around framing my face. Raindrops trickled down my hair and skin. Splattering on my clothes and shoes. It tickled my toes as it reached my socks and bare feet underneath the strong material of the shoe. My grandfather greeted us all. He shook my hand, his hand was very burly and strong, his palm was warm and smooth. This was the first time I ever got to meet him in person.

He was very nice and was fun to be around. I like him very much.  My dad then asked him “When did you come here?” “I came three hours before you guys came.” I stared in shock. He was waiting for three hours and he didn’t look annoyed our winded at all. He must have seen the guilty looks on our faces because he then said “Don’t worry, I was just reading my book the entire time. I was very deep into the book so I didn’t mind.” Though on the outside I just smiled, on the inside my mind was doing a dance. HE READS BOOKS AS MUCH AS ME! A FELLOW BOOKWORM! WOOOOHOOOO! He then nonchalantly walked up to one of the doors of the big black cab and asked “Everybody ready to go?” We all nodded and stepped inside, still dripping wet from the rain. The plan was that we were going to be riding in a big cab, while he rode in his own car with all of our luggage with him. I sat there and looked out the window, and I watched as the rain danced for us halfway across the world.

Changi Airport in Singapore.

• Part 3

My legs wobbled as I walked along to the seats by the gate. Everyone aboard the flight were given a one hour break to “freshen up.” But I honestly don’t think that people could recover after a thirteen hour and thirty minute flight in one hour. We had just landed in Hong Kong. My mom and I went to the bathroom to brush our teeth, and comb our hair( and may I mention, the bathroom was so cool.) My brother and my dad went to the men’s restroom as my mom and I got our stuff ready and put together. I reorganized my first aid supplies and took out my little leather journal and stuck it in my pocket. I knew I would use it later. My brother and dad came back. I marveled at the structure and size as my brother look wide-eyed at the planes that were lined up in rows, counting each one and talking excitedly about how he loved it and how cool it was( he was four years old so this was quite typical). We walked down to the gate. Passing by shops and stores. We stopped by a Starbucks and my dad bought a coffee. and two cookies for my brother and I. My brother and I ate the cookies as we pointed out to stores and got closer to the gate. We walked into the gate, giving our tickets to the lady collecting them in the desk beside the gate.

We went to our seats, and I claimed the window seat(again) to my fathers playful dismay. I settled in my seat, buckling my seat belt with ease. My brother needed help with his though. His seat belt sat in a sad little pile of metal and material on his lap. i put it on and he sat there happily. I looked out the window at the ground below. I saw workers bustling around with carts of luggage, putting it inside the plane that was a few miles away. The plane started to move slowly at first, we picked up speed, going along the runway. I gripped the armrests. I love it when we take off because it feels like you are so pressurized into the seats that you could be going into the speed of a rocket ship picking up speed as it goes out of the Earth’s atmospheric layer. We were finally in the air, I looked down below, watching the buildings and towers. One of my favorite sights to see on a plane though is the ocean. It’s amazing to see the different shades of blue’s and bluish greens.

I didn’t know what else to do with myself so I decided to switch on the screen and play a movie. Shortly afterwards, I was deep into the movie. Flight attendants started coming down the rows with meals for the passengers. I munched on my food while watching my movie, looking out the window, and was carefully making sure my brother didn’t spill anything. This flight was three hours and fifty minutes, since it was from Hong Kong to Singapore. And we were already about an hour in. I was starting to re watch the live action Cinderella movie because everything else stored in the options was either something I already watched, or something I wasn’t allowed to watch by my parent’s request’s. Plus, I really liked the movie. It was very good.

What I noticed about people boarding planes and getting off them is that there are two stereotypes. There is that person or group of people that enjoy every minute of their travel, and breathe in every moment they have away from home. On the other hand there are the people who tend to be, um, unappreciative. It’s always click, click, click, click. Tens and hundreds of unnecessary pictures. Can pictures make you hear? No. Can pictures make you touch? No. Can pictures make you feel? No. Absolutely not. It’s better to live the moment then look at it through a screen. You could probably tell which stereotype I seem to prefer the most.

Throughout the whole flight I spent most of my time looking out the window, or watching a movie. But I thought as well, taking notes in my head of what I saw and what we did. Soon enough, we heard over the speaker. “We will be landing in Singapore, please prepare for landing.” As soon as I heard those words I looked at my brother, my mom, and my dad. I produced a ridiculous grin of excitement and enjoyment.

An aerial view of Kong Kong Airport.

• Part 2

I sat there looking at the world down below, the view was incredible. But soon enough I got bored. I was still clutching the warm towel that the flight attendants passed out to each passenger so I passed it to my mother who gave it back to the flight attendants. I decided to turn on the screen that was in front of me. I used the little remote underneath to control it. I was still chewing on the little sour gummies my mom gave me that I can eat so my ears wouldn’t get stuffed. I looked through the movies they had, I was anticipating to watch the live action Cinderella movie that released before we planned for our Singapore/India trip. Since they put in the movie in the menu on the screen, I decided to watch it. A few moments later a flight attendant came along our row and gave us each a packet of peanuts. I really liked the peanuts they always passed out so I ate them quickly. Along with the peanuts they gave me a little earphone holder that had a Disney Frozen character. My brother got a similar one but a deep blue with a character from the movie Monsters University. It was really cute and it was going to be really handy for when school started up again.

As I continued watching the movie my dad switched on his screen, scrolling through. My brother was watching the movie Home, my mom was watching it as well. A moment later another flight attendant came along with a cart full with juice cartons, coffee, and mugs and cups, along with little creamers and sugar packets for the warm drinks. My brother got apple juice along with my parents, and I asked for some orange juice. I paused it to drink it slowly. We still had thirteen hours and thirty minutes more until we arrived at Hong Kong. But I didn’t mind. I always love the whole experience of going to airports and going on long flights. I get so sad when we go to an airport but only to pick someone up, and not us boarding the plane ourselves. I love the experience and counting down the days until I will be in the air. Alas, this is only every two or three years for me, so I enjoy every moment I have aboard. I looked out the window the world passed by down below. I sipped my orange juice. Watching and watching. Soon another flight attendant came along with trays of food and gave one to my dad, one to my mom, one for my brother, and one to me. When we booked our flight ticket we were able to choose which food that we wanted for us to eat in the flight, we ate vegetarian Indian food. Surprisingly, the food was much better then what they served the last time we went. It tasted really good, I ate and watched the world down below silently. It was still quite dark, since it was about two thirty or three o’clock in the morning.

Th meal consisted of vegetable rice, a little cup of fruit, plain yogurt, little dinner rolls with butter to spread on it, pickle slices, chutney, gravy, and an Indian flat bread. I brushed off the leftover crumbs on my seat belt and shirt. I told my mom that I had to use the restroom. I unbuckled my seat belt. Finally, I have mastered the ways of the airline seatbelt. When I was one the plane the last time a few years ago, I struggled to put the seat belt on, and take it off. I shimmied my way to the little walkway towards the bathroom. I stepped inside and did my business. When I was little, I used to be terrified by something incredibly odd… Locks. That’s right. Locks. I was always afraid that every time I locked a door, I was so scared that I would be trapped inside forever. Especially if it consisted of the ones in airplane bathrooms. Though I am not scared anymore I have to admit. I honestly still am kinda scared of locking myself for eternity in a bathroom stall. I know it sounds weird and really stupid but I have very few fears. This is one of them. But now that I was older and more experienced I wasn’t scared at all. Okay maybe a little but that isn’t the point here.

I walked back to my seat. A flight attendant smiled at me and I grinned back. I think that they have a lot of stamina. What I mean is every time you see them, you can never see a single trace of sluggish body behavior, they never look tired. While we look so tired with bags under our eyes, and our muscles aching, here they are standing there, posture is absolutely perfect, their eyes always have that happy glint in them, their mouths are nothing but smiles, their voices are as soft, gentle, and kind. They never ever snap at you or have an edgy tone. They stay like that even after thirteen or more hours. I don’t think I would ever be able to be that way without having thorough training. I out my seat belt on( without struggle) I settled in my seat and my mom handed me an extra pillow that I could put on my armrest. I took a quick look at the scene in the window before drifting off to a deep and very much needed soundless sleep. A long while later I woke to the sounds of the bustling awaking of the morning. The sky was a brilliant light blue. The clouds were like big white puffs of cotton. I was so tempted to reach out and touch them. The landscape below was incredible. It had been quite a while since we had dinner, so the flight attendants came along, bumbling along the walkways serving passengers their breakfasts. I ate and watched a little bit of my movie as well as making sure my brother didn’t stain the seat with butter, juice, and jelly.

A few hours later we finished our lunches. For a while I scrolled through the movies, looked out the window, talked with my brother, and made pictures in my head of the scenes before me. But then over the speaker we heard a voice stating that we were going to be landing in Hong Kong in fifteen minutes. The plane went up and down. I was surprised I didn’t throw up in the past thirteen and a half hours of the flight. I have quite a sensitive stomach and I was very surprised at my own shocking achievement. I watched as we went down, down, down, until we were hovering above the runway. I know it sounds super weird but I really like when we have turbulence in flights. I love going really fast and then going on a bumpy turn or road so this was super fun for me. I gripped on to the armrests until it winded down. Then finally we stopped. We were finally here. In Hong Kong. I was here.

• Part 1

It was mid May and the year 2015. My mom had just started packing all of our things in duffel bags and backpacks. Why? Well, lets just say we were going to be traveling 8,448 miles( 13, 595 kilometers ) away from the United States. Where were we traveling exactly? If you guessed India. You are correct. Our house was a flurry of bags and clothes for about a month. I was attempting to help my mother. But I don’t thing sitting there reading while answering yes or no questions is a technical term for helping.

“Kanmani do you wa–” My mom stopped as I held up my pointer finger in a stance saying “wait.” I was reading a 982 page book about dragons.

“Kanmani I said do y–.”

“Shh.” My finger still pointed to the ceiling.

“Kanmani do you want your own ba–”

“Mother I am busy at the moment.” I said calmly

My mom sighed as I continued to the depths of my thick book.

“KANMANI!” My mom said in exasperation.

My head instantly snapped back into reality. “Huh!?” I said in unison to my mothers annoyed sighs. See here’s the thing. I am a huge reader. I mean if I start reading a book and it’s really really good, or in one of my favorite genre’s. I won’t speak to you for days. If I don’t answer you the first 6 times you try to get my attention, you won’t be able to make physical contact with me for about 2 to 4hours depending on the book. If it’s a book with more than 500 pages you won’t be able to speak to me without me explaining every single detail in the book, or I just won’t pay attention altogether for days. Anyway I stood up and asked “What did you want to ask me mom?” My mom replied with a  relieved face “I was going to ask you if you wanted you’re own bag to take to India. I’ll let you pack it yourself. But I’m only giving you a backpack not a roller bag, got it?” I nodded my head as she handed me a humongous backpack that weighed almost like nothing. I took it upstairs to my room and made a checklist in my head.

I took out a piece of paper and started writing, I checked of everything that I put in. But something definitely was missing… OH. MY. GOD. I forgot to put in books. I FORGOT TO PUT IN BOOKS! WHAT KIND OF PERSON AM I FOR DOING THIS? I thought( I was ten at the time I went, so I used a lot of hyperbole’s and exaggerated a lot.) I grabbed a few books and my Kindle and put them inside. My mom was packing all of our clothing in a separate piece of luggage so we didn’t have to lug huge bags with us throughout the whole trip. One disadvantage we had while packing was my brother. He always hopped onto anything big and bulky with a zipper and try to package himself into luggage. Therefore leading me to have the unfortunate responsibility  of dealing with the human version of a kangaroo. All afternoon this is what happened:

“Madhavan get out of there! You’re going to suffocate!” I yelled as I ran downstairs to see my brother concealing himself in a huge roller bag.

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!” He taunted.

“UUUUUUUHHHHHHHH. GET. BACK. HERE. BEFORE I WHACK YOU WITH A BOOK THAT HAS 982 PAGES IN IT AND A HARD COVER.” I said in an edgy tone, my voice rising.

“NA NANA NA NA!” He retorted with a ridiculous grin on his face as he ran around the living room, making bags topple and fall, in order to escape my vengeance, he hopped into of the biggest bag that was empty and closed the lid. I looked for him everywhere for about 15 minutes, then I heard snickering coming from one of the big bags. As he got out to run away I strangled him. He had no escape. I then dragged him upstairs, he ran to the bed, but instead he fell hard onto the pillow mountain towering him. I got the pillows and put them around him so he was basically stuck in a mound of blankets and pillows with only his head sticking out. “Ha ha.” I said. I knew he would escape later though.

This was basically how my days started and ended when we were packing and planning for India. I became a little bit more helpful with packing by keeping my brother from becoming a package.

I continued packing a few more things in my backpack and printed out a checklist that I could use as well. This was I had on my list:

• Books
• Bracelets
• Elastics
• First Aid Kit
• Lip Balm
• Mini Fan
• Hand Sanitizer
• Sticker Book( For Madhavan)
• Kindle
• IPod
• Earbuds
• Glasses Case/Glasses

I put everything inside, since it wasn’t that much it wasn’t that hard to put everything inside. But as the days passed by, my mom put more and more things into my bag and by the time it was the week of departure, it drooped on my shoulders. A few days before we were going to leave my dad had printed out a long checklist my mom asked me to check everything off.

“Toothbrushes?’ She asked.

“Check.” I said as I checked it off the list.

“Toothpaste?”

“Check.”

“Hair brushes and elastics?”

“Check check.”

“Shower caps, lotion, and, pads?”

“Check check check.”

And so on.

I woke up one Sunday morning I took a shower and put on my regular clothes for home. I decided to take one shower in the afternoon so I can be fresh with the new clothes we bought for the flight. We spent most of the day checking the house, cleaning up, and doing last minute checks and calls. Soon the sky was a shade of darkish light blue. I took a shower and put on blue jeans, a purple tee shirt, and a clip for my hair. Sekar periyappa( periyappa that means uncle)came and we went down the steps to his big red car. I helped my dad put the bags in the trunk and put my backpack next to the seat I was using. I had a whole row to myself because there were three rows.

My peryiappa and my dad in the front, my mom and brother in the middle, and I was in the back. We had to go to the Singapore Airlines Boarding area in San Fransisco. We were going to be driving for one hour. We stopped by Downtown Pleasant Hill to grab some smoothies from Jamba Juice. As we drove I sipped on my strawberry smoothie looking out the window. I talked with my mother and brother about what I wanted to do and see while my dad and periyappa talked about the flight, what we plan to do, and when we need him when we come back.

We had finally arrived in front of the airport. The architecture was still the same inside and out, everything was exactly like it was when I was 7 years old. But I still marveled at the sight of the roof that looked like the metal was twisting and twisting, and the poles making it stand looked as if they were brambles holding up dainty roses. We walked inside my backpack on my broad shoulders. We went to the baggage check in line. We checked in our bags and then we sat at one of the benches nearby these glass cases that showcased Asian jewelry and crowns. While the adults talked, my brother and I marveled at the treasures. But then my mom and I had to go to the bathroom. My mom and I walked to the bathroom nearby. Now let me make this clear. Not only do I love the architecture of the airport but the bathrooms they build are super cool. I know that sounds really weird, but if you don’t believe me, look in the internet or go there when you travel.

After we went to this restaurant for dinner. We had burgers and fries. After that we talked a bit more and then we had to go to the security clearance. While we were in the line we waved goodbye to periyappa. He stood there until we couldn’t see him and he couldn’t see us. I felt really bad and really sad. Throughout the whole thing right until this point he kept asking if we needed anything or if we needed him for anything extra for when we got back. That’s just the way he is. That is how my whole family is. Different and yet the same. We got the one of the security guards that checked our passports for well, security. She seemed tired and looked like she wanted to go home. seeing thousands of people, each and every day. That’s just hard to achieve.

We then walked towards the gate. We went up a long escalator and when we stepped of we saw rows and rows of shops. My brother loved the escalator though. When we were waiting for the flight he didn’t sit still, he ran up and down the isles, his little Mickey mouse backpack on his shoulders. he stood by his window his face pressed against the extremely clean glass staring in awe at the airplane. I listened to music on my IPod as I looked at the window. We finally boarded the plane at 12:15.( It was actually supposed to be able to let passengers in at 12:05 but it came a bit late). I shuffled through the packed line, finally my foot stepped onto the floor of the bridge binding the plane and building for boarding. My parents were a few steps behind my brother and I. We found our seats. I chose to sit near the window, my brother in the middle, my mother next to him, and my dad was next to us in a different row. Flight took off at 1:15 sharp. I watched through the window as the San Fransisco skyline became smaller and smaller, as we rose higher and higher. We were airborne, I loved the feeling of soaring, I didn’t want it to stop. The world was passing by so quickly but I was ready.  Ready or not, here I come.

“Dad we have to go. NOW.”

“I have to drink my tea!” He whined.

“Well, HURRY UP.”

My mom laughed as I scolded my dad for being so intolerable.

Then he started to drink it very slowly, making a loud slurping noise just to annoy me. It was 7:22, and I wanted to go to school early so I can meet up with my best friends Jayden and Ava in the band room. The reason it was so important, was because all members of the band were supposed to leave the instruments there in the morning so we wouldn’t have to carry it each and every period. Though I play the flute and it has a narrow case, I wanted to drop it off because I tend to bang it into things likes poles, trees, desks, and people. But my father wasn’t helping my situation. I stood there next to the door in my P.E. clothes and jacket, tapping my foot rapidly. My brother laughed as I attempted to drag my dad to the door. I shot him a scary glare. And just as he started mocking me, he ran away in fear.

“Okay, your done lets go.” I said in relief.

“Wait, I need my keys…” He said with a foolish smile.

“AUUUUUUUGH.” I moaned as he took out the keys that were originally in his back pocket the entire time. “Oh, I totally didn’t know that was there.” He said sarcastically. I gave him a dirty look as my mom chuckled at the sight. “Bye mom, see you later!” I said as I rushed down the cement steps. I got in the car and buckled up, urging my dad to start the car. We finally arrived at the school. I waved goodbye to my dad and got out of the car. I checked my fitness tracker on my wrist. 7:27. Not bad. I walked on, lugging my P.E. bag, on my shoulders and my lunch box, sheet music,and flute in my arms. On these days my schedule is usually really fun and not as nerve wrecking as my other four classes the next day. I have P.E. homeroom, band, and then homeroom.

Since the band room is all the way at the back of the school, it took me a while to get there. I met up with Jayden on the way, lugging his alto saxophone in his hands. “Hey Wise Girl.” He said. Since we both read the Heroes of Olympus series’s he started calling me the nickname given to the one of main characters in the books. “Hey Feline Face.” I said as he grinned “Hey, don’t you have to go to that beach cleanup thing for Earth Club tomorrow?” I nodded my head in reply. “You know how we have to write those poems for Homeroom? You could probably get inspiration from the beach for your poem.” I actually didn’t think of that. “Well, I’ll probably have to take some notes in my notebook then.” I said deep in thought. “I don’t think you need it Wise Girl, you have so much knowledge that what you explain to me endlessly is scary, and adorable. Plus your a walking dictionary so I probably wouldn’t even be able to read the words you write.” He laughed as I punched him playfully on his shoulder.

We arrived at the door to the band room. We saw the 5th period band getting ready for class. I put my flute in my little wooden shelf, as Jayden put in his. As we headed outside, Ava attempted to scare us by jumping and yelling “AHAHAHAHA!” “Nice try Avacado.” I said with a laugh. Jayden was still recovering from the shock. We reached the roll call area for P.E. “See you guys at Core!” Jayden said as he ran off to his next class. (Core is what the school calls homeroom.) Ava and I met with our other friends Ally, Ashley, Andrea, June, Lilija, and Renee.  We all started talking, and then went into the girls locker room to change. The day went by at a good pace, as usual. In P.E. we we had free play. Ava and I had a contest to see who could dance the best. Though I am not a dancer myself( I am quite horrible at it) I was able to pull of some Lindsey Stirling style moves. Whereas Ava started to attempt the same moves, leading to her tumbling into me.

In Core class we had to write down ideas for our poems. Jayden, Ava, and our friend Zach were in the same table I sat at, so we all gave each other ideas, because our poems had to be related to nature. After that period it was lunch, I was thinking about the beach clean up. Then I realized I had to meet my friends at the band room. I picked up my things and headed off. If my dad is going to be like he was this morning, I will be a literal hurricane. I thought.

The next day…

“DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” I screamed and flailed my arms as I called my dad. Here comes the hurricane, I thought. We were supposed to be at the school parking lot by eight o’clock for a head count. My friend Subi was standing beside me, her parents dropped her off here so we can go to the school together, and then take her to her carpool and meet her at the beach. I stood there in my jeans and black and white sweater, in frustration. While Subi stood next to me wearing a Disney tank top with bright pink shoes and jeans. If you see us side by side, you could already tell we are TOTAL opposites. She’s a super girly girl, and always wears bright girly clothes. While I am here, blabbing about science and how things work in a vocabulary no one would understand . Standing in jeans and t-shirts, and probably have paintbrushes in my hair, and paint on my face, hands and fingers. Anyway, we both stood there, my mom beside me as I tapped my foot rapidly, my arms crossed. Finally my dad came in, he honestly looked like a man that literally just walked out of a Dapper Day poster, and upgraded his outfit to fit the 21st century. “About time, but I don’t think the CEO of Apple is coming along though dad.” (Though I definitely would have loved that.)

My dad and mom’s laughs were synchronized while I opened the door. “After you ladies.” He said in a fake British accent. “Why thank you kind sir.” I said. We drove to the the school. We arrived in the parking lot. I stepped out meeting with my science teacher and the  Earth Club instructor Mrs. Moore. My dad stood beside my friend Claire’s mom talking to her. My science teacher and I were having a conversation about how the climate change was affecting the tectonic plates, just like when there was Pangaea. Subi got bored of our conversation. so she walked over to our other friends Maya, Emma, Izzy, Josie, and Samantha, and started talking excitedly.

Now, I should explain the point of the beach clean-up: We were basically going to clean up the beach(obviously) have lunch, and take out some evasive plants for dune restoration. It may sound simple, but really it was a lot harder than it looked. Anyway, once the entire club and CJSF( California Junior State Federation) came we all crowded around the two instructors. They started talking about the shortest directions with less traffic, because we were going to one of the beaches in Half Moon Bay. I had been there before and I remember it took about 1 to 2 hours to drive there. We all got in our cars. My friends Rafael was carpooling with me and my dad. We buckled are seat belts and started driving. My dad and Rafael were chatting away as I looked out at the landscape before me, my head leaned against the window. The buildings turned into little houses. The houses transformed slowly into hills. The hills turning into dunes of sand. Words were swirling like a hurricane in my mind as I watched. We had been driving for almost an hour. Rafael and I pointed out the boats in the dock, and the tide constantly crashing against the boulders. My favorite part when we were driving, was watching the forest. The trees were tall and thin, I felt at peace in the quiet environment. But one of my other most memorable moments was watching the ocean. Hearing the waves crashing and falling is my favorite sound in the whole world( second to the song of the birds.)  But then I knew that we finally had arrived.

I jumped out of the car as I ran to one of the dunes overlooking the ocean. I breathed in the salty air. My favorite smell. I stood there until my friends arrived. My dad took pictures of the group standing in front of the landscape. I took a few pictures with Subi and my other friends. We all decided to go down to the beach and wait for Mrs. Moore and my science teacher Mrs. Coventry. We started throwing sea foam at each other from the waves crashing and falling in front of us. This lasted for about fifteen minutes, until we were called back to the parking lot to get trash bags. I paired up with My friend Samantha( I call her Sammie, or Sam)  and her dad helped. My dad went of with his camera drifting away. But he joined in later on. We picked up all sorts of things. I even found a pair of paintbrushes, they were old and sand was sticking in clumps on the bristles. Someone must have been painting, a fellow artist, I thought. Sammie found a bottle with a note in it. We were too curious to just ignore it. It was a small drawing of the scene in front of us. The detail was incredible from the sun radiating down, to the fresh almost white sand. I then realized that someone had just painted it, like just then. I was able to tell because the scent of the acrylic paint whacked into my face, almost like a punch. My face was painted with fear as I put the picture back in the bottle. Sammie and I quickly put it back. No wonder there was an easel on the sand. I thought.

And hour or two had passed. We picked up so much trash that it went up to the rim of the bag we held in our sticky hands caked with sand. We went back to the parking lot to grab our lunches. My friends and I all sat around a old wooden picnic table as my dad sat with my friend Emma’s mom. We all shared our food and snacks laughing and talking. Some of the parents even brought a box of pastries and a bag of jellybeans. We all played a game where each person had to close there eyes and pick a miscellaneous jellybean. Then we had to guess the flavor. Whoever lost had to eat five of there least favorite jelly bean. Subi lost. We all laughed as we watched her face change from normal to totally disgusted. After lunch we had to do dune restoration, where we basically pulled out the evasive plants growing near the good roots and shrubs. We each got gloves and worked in different areas. We spent an hour picking and pulling. But then it was 2:43. We picked every single weed in sight. It was also time to leave. I climbed into the car, and we started driving. I still smelled like the ocean, sand in my hair. As I slept, I dreamt of the sea and sand.

We were on the bus driving along the road. My best friends Jacqueline and Evan kept asking me the same exact annoying question again and again.

“Are we there yet?”

“No.”

“Are we there yet?”

“No stop it you two.”

“Are we there yet?”

“No. We. Are. Not”

“Are we there yet?”

“NO.”

“Are we there yet?”

“N- Wait a minute.”

I hesitated as I looked at the structure standing in front of me.

“You have the window seat. And we know you are going to say no but are we there yet?” Asked Evan.

“Yes.” I replied in awe at the site before me.

“Wow, didn’t see that coming.” Evan said despite her shock.

We had finally arrived at The Academy of Sciences, San Fransisco, California. We were visiting there for a school field trip. I was  in third grade at the time so I tended to exaggerate a lot in my speech. Like I did today:”THIS IS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL THING I HAVE SEEN OUT OF ALL THE SCHOOL TRIPS WE HAD. HOW CAN YOU NOT BE EXCITED. THIS IS LIKE A DELICACY FOR OUR EYEBALLS. SOMEONE PLEASE HOLD ME.” I said that in my mind so no one else had heard.  Luckily my two friends seemed to have had the same thought because while we waited for the chaperone we started babbling about how amazing the architecture was how excited we were to go inside. Since my dad and another chaperone were both chaperoning , it took forever for him to get there.

When we entered a gargantuan skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex greeted us, it’s feet looked like it was in the position of pouncing at it’s prey. It’s mouth had rows and rows of sharp jagged teeth, I could almost imagine it ripping up a herbivore. As we walked closer I realized just how small we really were compared to this magnificent carnivore. The dinosaur itself is 40 feet( 12 meters.) While the average human’s height is 5 foot. So it is exactly 8 times taller than most people. Either way, it would tower above you like a skyscraper. As we continued on, my dad decided to let us explore a while with the other chaperone, and our teacher while he would meet us at the Early Humans Exhibits.

As we continued walking, we came to a stop at the rain forest dome. It was basically a large sphere built into the structure. But it was designed to look and feel exactly like a rain forest. Inside there were trees everywhere. There was a bridge and we started walking, it spiraled all the way around the sphere. ending at the bottom. At the top there were a bunch of areas where you were allowed to look at the view and sights. I stopped and looked. Below there was a pond with a cream colored crocodile swimming and greeting it’s visitors. The temperature was sticky and humid. The heat made my clothes stick to my callused and a sweaty skin. But what really made me want to stay was the butterflies fluttering endlessly everywhere. A beautiful blue and black butterfly land on my outstretched finger. It had actually stayed there for about 5 to 10 minutes. My other friends attempted to get a butterfly but had failed multiple times until finally a butterfly landed on each of there fingers and stayed there. For 4 seconds.

As we continued to walk we slowly started to merge into the underwater tunnel. I watched as I slowly walked through the underwater tunnel. I saw fish of all types. But my favorite was a beautiful whale shark swimming along in the distance. When we reached the end of the tunnel, we arrived at the entering area of the aquarium. There were tanks and walls of glass everywhere. One of my favorite ones was a tank that took up an entire wall. It was filled with small fish swimming through the murky waters. As we looked around, I noticed that unlike other aquariums, they filled the small tanks with natural rocks and sea stones just like the large tanks, instead of artificial colored “rocks.”

About an hour or two had passed since we arrived. The entire grade was called for lunch in one of the main rooms near the entrance. As I ate my sandwich and water, I made plans with my friends on what we should visit next with the maps we were each given. I put my trash in the recycling and walked along. We next visited the Space and Exploration area. (Since each place in the museum was so large, it took us a while to look at each of them.) We saw a small place where you could try on a space helmet. It felt huge and heavy against my skimpy shoulders. My friends and I next went to a small spacecraft where you could climb in and sit in the seats. The seats felt leathery and firm. The craft itself was small and tight. It had at least a thousand buttons. Since there wasn’t much in that exhibit, when went to the Early Humans Exhibit, and met my dad there.

My dad led me and my friends to a glass case that had skulls from each human species. The Homo Erectus had small skulls. Thus leading them to have small brains as well. The Homo Neanderthalensis( or just The Neanderthals) had large thick skulls, therefore encasing a fairly large brain. Finally the Homo Sapiens had medium sized skulls, and supporting a bit of a smaller brain. But definitely larger than a Homo Erectus’s. Each skull( besides the Homo Sapiens skull) looked extremely old and aged. It looked almost tarnished. Beside the glass case was a taller and thinner one. But encase inside was the skeleton of one of the first humans( Homo Erectus.) It was very short and looked extremely skinny and frail. We looked around some more and read the information given in each case and artifact. The next exhibit we went to was the animals one.It showed there skeletons and fossils. They even showcased a couple dinosaurs.

It was 1 o’clock. Time to leave. As we boarded the bus, I looked at the museum one last time before I settled in my seat.