I woke up to the chat sounds of my messenger app.
Ti-ning! Ti-ning! Ti-ning!
It was my brother.
He was supposed to arrive at around 8 am coming from Bangkok. He took the sleeper train which is about 12 hours of land travel.
He works on a cruise ship and his contract is 5 months of work, and then 2 months of vacation. Then another 5 months, and 2 months off.
I haven’t seen him in 5 months!
For his vacation, he chose to go the Southeast Asia Route. Part of which is Laos, where I will be headed to do my visa run.
So we decided to meet there.
The chat messages keep on coming in. He is asking questions on how he can go to my hotel, what to ride and how long.
This would be the first time we are traveling together, only the two of us. We both know we have a different personality, and we aren’t quite sure if this will be a good idea.
He arrived about 30 minutes later and he gave me a hug, which is awkward for both of us. We aren’t the showy to each other, as well as to our whole family.
“Kumusta naka?” (How are you?) I asked.
“Oyni okay naman, jusko karanup kuna” (Here I am, fine. Oh my God, I am so hungry), he replied.
I offered him the menu, and I gave him a recommendation what to order: Stir fried noodles.
While waiting, we began to talk about his work in the cruise and his Bangkok tour the day before.
His eyes are all lit up as he tells stories of his travels. I rarely see that, because he doesn’t usually share his days and whereabouts.
I remember when we were young, we always fight. Hitting each other with a broom, and then running into our mom to tell her who strikes first, asking for her sympathy.
We are 4 siblings, two boys, and two girls. Imagine a house with all of us, age close to each other.
Every day is like a cockfight!
I tell you, it’s a disaster!
Looking back, I was so happy that we are many. My childhood has been awesome because I have them. We get to be our own playmates and we always got each other’s back.
And now we are here, doing adult stuff. Away from the stress of life, we will travel and experience the beauty of the World together.
His order arrives, and he immediately dives into it. The way he eats, it looks like he didn’t eat for a week. He takes bite after bite, and he forgot everything else.
There’s a lot of things going on my mind as I look at him. One thing is for sure, we are about to get closer because of this trip!
Images taken using Xiaomi Redmi 4x. Gif from giphy.com
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