The Sand Country

In 12 hours I'll be flying off this land of dryness and sand.

The weather has turned slightly cold since yesterday, hovering around 26 degrees.

This place is more than what I imagined it to be: the dryness, the sand, the noise, the scents, the people..

Things seem to work in an inorganized and chaotic way here. Just a different way of life perhaps.

When it seems like there are not much law enforcements, almost every shop in the shopping mall there's a guard in them.

When it seems like there are many impressive modern architectures everywhere, there are also old men, homeless women and small little kids begging, selling and sleeping in front of the impressive buildings.

There was this time I was in a posh western chain restaurent here, a bunch of (fairly rich I presumed) local little kids were having a birthday bash party with big presents wrapped in shiny papers and everyone served with huge burgers and entertained by clowns inside the restaurent, when I could see just across the road outside the restaurent, where there were a bunch of hair unkept, unbathed, little fed and skinny little kids wearing torn dirty clothes sitting with their mother sharing a small cup of water among the omnipresent sand in the dark evening.

Sometimes I pity them, sometimes I loathe them, and sometimes I admire them. Eventhough I came from a country where I have lived with their distant kins all my life, these people from this sand country feel very different from the ones back at home.

There are just as many magnificent architectures and great sceneries to be found in this land that sometimes give off the impression of poorness. Although it can be difficult to find and appreciate it's beautiful side, when they are found, one can hardly forget them.