night bus

On the coach back to Singapore from Malacca, watching the acres and acres of green flash past outside the bus windows, as the sky slowly darkened until all that could be seen outside were the dark shapes of oil palms and rubber trees, and the occasional glimmer of water from small streams cutting through the plantation grounds. Malaysia is such a beautiful country. And they have so much land. No wonder LKY cried on public TV when we were kicked out. What dreams he must have had.
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i like taking buses at night, especially in foreign countries, especially on long cross-country journeys. The last time was in Norway -- winding through mountain roads, seeing the patches of ice on the slopes, the spirit set at rest by the calm surfaces of mountain lakes stretching into the horizon as the evening sky went from orange-streaked to dark dark blue to almost-black. God i love Norway.
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And just as memorably -- in Morocco, going from city to city on the rattling, rumbling buses, past stretches of nothing with the mountains in the far distance, the PVC seats cracked and knobbly, everything feeling raw and third-world and oh-so-alive, even in the evening quiet. i would love to go back.
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