I wonder how many people I’ve looked at… a billion times in my life.
Arthur is one of them.
We met up tonight for dinner, a romantic movie, and a long walk on the beach. By that, I mean that we walked into a random Teppan grill, then I got us lost while looking for a Hookah lounge, and we ended the night by buying out a street vendor.
Arthur graduated from UC Irvine in June. He’s on a month-long backpacking tour which took him to Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. He’ll end his trip in Japan.
He studied biomedical engineering and has opted not to go for the med school route. Instead, he’ll be going for the engineering route, in which he’ll be surely successful.
To my surprise, this trip was his first time out of the the US. And he planned this all on his own, with his own money, spanned across five countries. He’s cultivating his interest for traveling, good on him.
The last time we met was the Catalina Island sailing trip, actually. If I recall, that’s also the last time we spoke, which was 1.5 years ago. We caught up as if it were yesterday, as we often do with close friends. Again, everyone has their own lives to tend to and meet up when possible.
Props to Arthur for coming here, despite not knowing any language but English. He experienced some culture shock from Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. He too was subjected to tourist traps in Malaysia, but had done his research to avoid the overly expensive fake taxis.
Not sure when I’ll see this guy again. 1, 2, 3, 4 years from now, who knows? But when we do, it’ll be like old times.
‘Til next time, Art, good to see you.
Andy Cheng 