Up Top and Down Below (I)
UP TOP
3 minutes after take-off
I’m sitting in a Cathay Pacific flight bound for Seoul from Hong Kong. Already I’m dreading arriving at Incheon airport, which is a long ways away from the city. A disturbingly expanding trend that is affecting major cities all over Asia – Beijng, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei. In a way I’m thankful that Singapore is tiny – airport can’t be too far, or it’ll become Johore Bahru International Airport. (Gasp! Shock! Horror!)
10 minutes after take-off
Irritated at the passenger behind me who liked to shove things with thinly veiled violence into the pocket of the seat in front of him i.e. MY seat, I leaned forward to prepare to turn around and deliver a cool setdown. I had taken the aisle seat as usual, and there were 2 empty seats next to me. In that split second, halfway through the turn, my eyes glance out the window –
And I glimpsed heaven. I saw the most amazing cloud formations, ever. Indigos and periwinkles and azure and white tinged with silvers and greys. A sundae of cotton topped with a dollop of whipped cream. An ocean of white foamy nothingness, so solid to the eye it belies the collection of tiny water droplets that it really is. A bed of softest white for heavy clusters of grayish moody rainclouds to lie on, then eventually sink through to let loose their watery tempers on the world below.
I was entranced with the vertical buildup of florets of cauliflower clouds, one stacking on top of another, like a farmer’s project gone awry. They teetered this way and that way, impossibly building and building, my eyes followed it all the way to the top until the sun’s rays made me blink.
I wanted to reach out through the window to touch the different textures in front of me – plush luxurious white fur, smooth soft white silk, squeezable squishy white pillows. So near some of them, so clear every nook and cranny. I could even pick out the little ones that try to hide behind the large fluffy ones, from my little window in the middle of a 747.
I had crept into the window seat. An involuntary sigh escaped from my lips, as the deceptively slow pace of the plane gliding through the air took me further and further away. As the distance grew with each illusory millimeter, the sense of yearning in my throat made my eyes water. I blinked swiftly to clear any tears away, because I didn’t want to lose a second of this beautiful wonder of nature, drinking it all in with my eyes, imprinting these images in my brain.
Looking further ahead, it was an endless vista of white white prairies, with little cotton balls of cloud-lambs that were frozen mid-prance, their dainty hoofs barely touched the silver linings. Purely brilliant cloud-trees seemed to turn slowly to look at me while I gazed out of the airplane window, and gusts of whispy cloud-breeze wove their way in between to drift farther and farther away into the horizon of never-ending dreams.
I had forgotten about the passenger behind me.
3 minutes after take-off
I’m sitting in a Cathay Pacific flight bound for Seoul from Hong Kong. Already I’m dreading arriving at Incheon airport, which is a long ways away from the city. A disturbingly expanding trend that is affecting major cities all over Asia – Beijng, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Taipei. In a way I’m thankful that Singapore is tiny – airport can’t be too far, or it’ll become Johore Bahru International Airport. (Gasp! Shock! Horror!)
10 minutes after take-off
Irritated at the passenger behind me who liked to shove things with thinly veiled violence into the pocket of the seat in front of him i.e. MY seat, I leaned forward to prepare to turn around and deliver a cool setdown. I had taken the aisle seat as usual, and there were 2 empty seats next to me. In that split second, halfway through the turn, my eyes glance out the window –
And I glimpsed heaven. I saw the most amazing cloud formations, ever. Indigos and periwinkles and azure and white tinged with silvers and greys. A sundae of cotton topped with a dollop of whipped cream. An ocean of white foamy nothingness, so solid to the eye it belies the collection of tiny water droplets that it really is. A bed of softest white for heavy clusters of grayish moody rainclouds to lie on, then eventually sink through to let loose their watery tempers on the world below.
I was entranced with the vertical buildup of florets of cauliflower clouds, one stacking on top of another, like a farmer’s project gone awry. They teetered this way and that way, impossibly building and building, my eyes followed it all the way to the top until the sun’s rays made me blink.
I wanted to reach out through the window to touch the different textures in front of me – plush luxurious white fur, smooth soft white silk, squeezable squishy white pillows. So near some of them, so clear every nook and cranny. I could even pick out the little ones that try to hide behind the large fluffy ones, from my little window in the middle of a 747.
I had crept into the window seat. An involuntary sigh escaped from my lips, as the deceptively slow pace of the plane gliding through the air took me further and further away. As the distance grew with each illusory millimeter, the sense of yearning in my throat made my eyes water. I blinked swiftly to clear any tears away, because I didn’t want to lose a second of this beautiful wonder of nature, drinking it all in with my eyes, imprinting these images in my brain.
Looking further ahead, it was an endless vista of white white prairies, with little cotton balls of cloud-lambs that were frozen mid-prance, their dainty hoofs barely touched the silver linings. Purely brilliant cloud-trees seemed to turn slowly to look at me while I gazed out of the airplane window, and gusts of whispy cloud-breeze wove their way in between to drift farther and farther away into the horizon of never-ending dreams.
I had forgotten about the passenger behind me.
posted by tygertyger at 2:09 PM
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