Traveling Together

Today is a very sunny day, unlike yesterday where we were trapped in the hotel because of the hailstone and snow began since in the morning.

Finally say goodbye to Dada and Mari, in Qadisha Valley. I met Dada in Deir Mar Musa and was great to have her accompany. We hugged and kissed goodbye(Xiao! This is not our way lar!) before taking our path respectively. I always feel bad for not able to say goodbye in an appropriate way. They returned to hotel in Bcharré to catch a bus back to Beirut while I proceeded on my way to Deir Mar Antonios Qozhaya. Having traveled together with Dada for 3 weeks, it’s pretty sad to learn that we share little other than:  where is the cheap hostel, where to get the cheapest food, where is the supermarket, etc. By saying traveled together makes me frowned. Yes, we did travel together in the sense of traveling in the same bus, staying in the same cheap hostel, eating together, drinking together, but we never even visited a place together, let alone sharing some idea about traveling. I do understand that some travelers who appeared to be on the road are actually escaping from hustle and bustle of hectic working life and hence they prefer loneliness, freedom and privacy. I said I understand because I did act in this way before I finally enlightened.  I totally respect it and never see that as weird. We need no decent reason to be on the road.

Dada met Mari again when we arrived in Beirut. The latter was lying on the hotel’s bed, groaning excruciating on her last gasp, probably because of over-devoted to the bar-hopping last few nights. We brought her to the nearby St George’s Greek Hospital the following morning as she felt embarrassed to be transported on an ambulance, and it was raining and cold out there at that time. After several days of rest and recuperation, she told us she was going for nightclubbing again and yes, she really did, apparently the main reason she traveled to Beirut is for its glitziest and most glamorous nightlife. It’s also sad to know that some people prefer to hang out while meeting on the road but were reluctant to leave any trace of contact while departing. I wonder how easy people take friendship on the road.

Both Dada and Mari are from South Korea.