Burning under the Sun

So I began my day under the sun. I have just found or discovered paradise. This place which I knew so well. I had left it behind, almost forgotten about it. Yet just before I left this heaven-on-earth, I had sworn to return one day to the breeze to the trees and the sea. Indeed I was feeling an unusual calm and peace when I had my foot on the sands of East Coast Park again in 2001. Yah the place I had grown up in. Even then as I enjoyed the tranquility and beauty, I did not realise that it is a heaven. I had been looking at nature. Little did I notice that heaven is actually possibly man-made.
Last week I opened my eyes to the wonders lying along and around east coast, when all the while I had passed them obliviously sad to say.
Yah so it happened last week, a particular evening. I was on my way to Yijun's place for tuition. Somewhere in Siglap. Normally I would have been lazy enough to take the bus that delivers me directly to her neighbor's doorsteps. I decided somehow after missing my stop as no one roused me from my slumber. I am always falling into slumbers while on buses. Once I had even taken a bus to Tampines when I had intended to head straight home. Muttering something intelligent in French after waking up with a jolt. This disbelief that I missed my bus stop again. This disbelief that I have to walk something like 2 kilometer because I had chosen to stay in dream land for 2 minutes longer. Then as the dominant and arrogant male that I was, I decided to take a walk to Siglap, with just a faint idea where to head for.. Infact I had miscalculated the direction but maybe I was just destined to find paradise. I walked and walked. Then the first of the thousands of shops came into view. Not only did the walk open my eyes, it opened my nose and salivary gland as well. Shops selling all types of food, chinese cooked food, traditional. malay food, western dishes, french cuisine, you name it . Had I not been familiar with that area, Had there been no road signs, I would have gladly believed that my cord was pulled. HE had summoned me to his palace on the other edge of eternity. This had to be it. Tiltillating fragrances snuck up quietly to my nostrils, invaded my head and made straight for my head and my heart. I was captivated, entranced and estactic...
To be continued........