Can you believe it? Landed a great fare from Sanya to Zhengzhou for just 600RMB! Now, that might still be expensive by Indian standards – but remember this is a 3-hour flight from the southernmost tip to all the way in the north! And it tops what has been a really luxurious holiday! Ok, granted. We didn’t stay at the Holiday Inn or the Sheraton. But they are the fake luxuries in life. The real luxuries are the treasures of companionship. Of settling your tryst with Time. Granting Life a few minutes of yourself. And maybe, just maybe, treating yourself to pizza! 😉
Roma was one of the best Italian restaurants I have been to. Run by an Italian with a white waitress to serve me. The pizza was just about perfect, the atmosphere moodily Arabesque, and before long it was pouring outside. Delectable conversation. A Roman warrior in armor stood at attention. The Italian owner of the restaurant came over for a chat just as we were about to leave. Beside me was a guy I had taken one look and had instantly cast into the lot of ‘Men not to be talked to.’ Unfortunately Birdie hadn’t taken that look. She was fascinated by the fact that he was a photo journalist…and do you ever get this feeling where you intensely protect someone, it could be your sister or little child…and you watch that little child being raked up and down by a faggy old man with no teeth? Men. They think from the ground floor, don’t they? And the first floor doesn’t exist.
But why spoil the day with such men? What I do remember from the day is the first stretch of uncrowded beach in Dadonghai. A tree with its bough invitingly leaning to kiss the sand. Water hushing its rippled sounds through. Music to the day. When you have that…life becomes a luxury.
