Kalya could hardly believe she was at a bar perched nearly 1,000 feet in the air above the world’s most exotic city. Bangkok was a city that just nine months ago she hadn’t any plans to visit. She’d heard of Thailand’s beauty, its wonder and its majesty. She’d witnessed as people cooed in remembrance of their time visiting the country. But Kalya had hardly given it a second thought.
Not, that was, until the journals…
Kalya leaned against the rail, as if the act of edging her shoulders out over the city would bring it all closer to her. She looked out in wonder as the buildings and scattered skyscrapers of Bangkok stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions, like the sand of a vast city desert. The open-air bar gave her a 360-degree view of the city, and she had to remind herself not to get overly comfortable on the rails she rested on. There didn’t appear to be much in the way of protection if someone was to fall over, and she was already on her second drink.
Kalya took a sip. It was creamy and tasted of butterscotch. Her first drink was made of four different types of fruit, two of which she’d never heard of. Both were served in martini glasses and both were very strong; strong enough to require small sips instead of careless gulps. After all, they were expensive, but they also happened to be the best drinks she’d ever had in her, albeit short, time drinking.
Kalya had chosen to purchase another drink because she wasn’t ready to leave yet. She wasn’t ready to leave the view of this strange and foreign land lit up below her, filled with places still to explore. The live jazz band that played on the stage perched above the bar provided a perfect soundtrack to her imagination of all the things she would see and do here. It was only her first day in Thailand, but she had already seen so much. Kalya became excited about the prospect of seeing more over the next four months while she did what she came here to do.
Kalya was not in Thailand on vacation, although that’s what she told almost everyone she knew; that she had been given the opportunity to come to Thailand as a graduation present, and she guessed that was half true. Only her mother, Sarah, and Arun knew what really brought her to Thailand. With no risk of anyone at the bar knowing her, she allowed herself to blush a little at the thought of Arun.
Instead, Kalya was here for a very specific purpose. She was following a path that had, unbeknownst to her until recently, been laid out for her long before. Kalya knew that she had a distant connection to this land, farther back than her family memory went, or that could be seen clearly in her now mostly typical-white California-girl face. But she could feel the connection. It could be felt like hearing sirens in a distance: just enough to heighten awareness and elicit unease. Now she had returned, the first of her family in generations to do so.
The cool breeze brushed Kalya’s straight light brown hair in front of her eyes, and she allowed it. In the Bangkok heat, the breeze was welcome. She took a deep breath, inhaling the breeze, letting it mix with the view, and the music and the alcohol now in her system to give her a more complete experience. She wished Arun was here to see this with her. There was no way she’d be able to properly describe this to him, and the pictures she was taking could never do it justice.
However, Kalya knew that she had to take the time to close her eyes and remember this moment, and each successive one on her journey. She had promised her mother not only to come back with answers, but that she would come back with experiences. And Thailand, she knew, had many waiting to offer her.
Kalya closed her eyes.
Thailand: A country of beauty, serenity, and history, but with so much more bubbling under the surface. A country where shadows dance with neon lights; where divinity and damnation can be found living as neighbors; where history unfolds like a story book and never-ending smiles are derived from cultural pride as much as devout Buddhism; where the modest and the extravagant eternally battle; and where secrets aren’t actually secrets because everyone knows them and speaks of them frequently. All except a few secrets lost to time…
Not, that was, until the journals…
Kalya leaned against the rail, as if the act of edging her shoulders out over the city would bring it all closer to her. She looked out in wonder as the buildings and scattered skyscrapers of Bangkok stretched as far as the eye could see in all directions, like the sand of a vast city desert. The open-air bar gave her a 360-degree view of the city, and she had to remind herself not to get overly comfortable on the rails she rested on. There didn’t appear to be much in the way of protection if someone was to fall over, and she was already on her second drink.
Kalya took a sip. It was creamy and tasted of butterscotch. Her first drink was made of four different types of fruit, two of which she’d never heard of. Both were served in martini glasses and both were very strong; strong enough to require small sips instead of careless gulps. After all, they were expensive, but they also happened to be the best drinks she’d ever had in her, albeit short, time drinking.
Kalya had chosen to purchase another drink because she wasn’t ready to leave yet. She wasn’t ready to leave the view of this strange and foreign land lit up below her, filled with places still to explore. The live jazz band that played on the stage perched above the bar provided a perfect soundtrack to her imagination of all the things she would see and do here. It was only her first day in Thailand, but she had already seen so much. Kalya became excited about the prospect of seeing more over the next four months while she did what she came here to do.
Kalya was not in Thailand on vacation, although that’s what she told almost everyone she knew; that she had been given the opportunity to come to Thailand as a graduation present, and she guessed that was half true. Only her mother, Sarah, and Arun knew what really brought her to Thailand. With no risk of anyone at the bar knowing her, she allowed herself to blush a little at the thought of Arun.
Instead, Kalya was here for a very specific purpose. She was following a path that had, unbeknownst to her until recently, been laid out for her long before. Kalya knew that she had a distant connection to this land, farther back than her family memory went, or that could be seen clearly in her now mostly typical-white California-girl face. But she could feel the connection. It could be felt like hearing sirens in a distance: just enough to heighten awareness and elicit unease. Now she had returned, the first of her family in generations to do so.
The cool breeze brushed Kalya’s straight light brown hair in front of her eyes, and she allowed it. In the Bangkok heat, the breeze was welcome. She took a deep breath, inhaling the breeze, letting it mix with the view, and the music and the alcohol now in her system to give her a more complete experience. She wished Arun was here to see this with her. There was no way she’d be able to properly describe this to him, and the pictures she was taking could never do it justice.
However, Kalya knew that she had to take the time to close her eyes and remember this moment, and each successive one on her journey. She had promised her mother not only to come back with answers, but that she would come back with experiences. And Thailand, she knew, had many waiting to offer her.
Kalya closed her eyes.
Thailand: A country of beauty, serenity, and history, but with so much more bubbling under the surface. A country where shadows dance with neon lights; where divinity and damnation can be found living as neighbors; where history unfolds like a story book and never-ending smiles are derived from cultural pride as much as devout Buddhism; where the modest and the extravagant eternally battle; and where secrets aren’t actually secrets because everyone knows them and speaks of them frequently. All except a few secrets lost to time…
…and one of those secrets was her…