things and spend all the time I can with them.Jeab is our Thai friend - originally my mother's friend from a language school in Singapore. They met even before my mum got married. So that's about 20 years! (I haven't had any friends THAT long...you know how hard it is to have a long-lasting friendship?) I remember her coming over to visit us while we still lived in Singapore...it was a lot of fun! I also remember going on a family trip to Bangkok to visit her when I was in Primary 4. Since we moved to Brisbane she's visited us once I think, while we were still residing in the town house. So today was the first time she set foot in our home.
She's on a business trip this time, so the schedule was really packed, flying among Australian cities with her colleague...stopping over for just a day before taking off again. It was no different for yesterday, when she had to fly over from Sydney to Brisbane in the morning for meetings with a client, then she finally came over to visit at 1pm. As casual friends, we just had some pizza, home-made and cooked dumplings and curry puffs, cakes, fruits etc. We were planning to eat out but the time scheduled for her meeting to end wasn't confirmed until she got out of it and was on the way to our place.
After having a chat and catching up, we took her to Woolworths so she could get some Tim Tam chocolate biscuits in a variety of flavours and other chocolate products. My brother stayed at home even though he really wanted to go - he has 2 exams tomorrow, still caught up in the middle of high school end of semester 1 exam block. Then we window-shopped at the Duty-Free shopping mall next door...they decided not to buy anything because they had to travel light on the business trip. Then all of us finally went to Brisbane International Airport to check-in for flight to Auckland, New Zealand. We shared a Subway etc. before they entered the departure gates. (Haha....we might be going to Thailand at the end of next year (that's the plan) after my brother's university-entrance exams...Thailand is one of those countries there's lots to miss. For example, its DURIAN SEASON right now!!!) After bidding farewell to them, we decided to make a trip to the washrooms before the trip home (in case there's a bad traffic jam, you know).
When I came out my parents were at the bookshop reading the headlines of newspapers on the stand etc...I turned around and saw Jeab walking out from the departure gate! I was pretty surprised and alerted my parents. Jeab saw us and told us that she couldn't find her passport (!!!!!) We scouted around the eating area....the trolley they used...the money changer...and told Jeab to go back down and search her bag again (she remembered putting it into her bag). Mum told her not to worry and that we'll walk around the airport (pretty small actually) and ask around. We asked the wool apparel store we walked into...the check-in counter...the money changer...
All said they had no idea and didn't see a passport lying around. As we were turning away, Jeab called to say she still couldn't find it in her bag. (Mum said her voice was so shaky and nervous)Then the money-changer lady suddenly asked us if the passport was in a Louis Vuitton passport holder. (YES!) and that her manager had just taken it down to the information counter in the arrival hall 2 floors down. At that moment, Jeab popped out of the departure gates again, and we all trooped down to the counter (Jeab rushing down first and already thanking everybody...She back was wet with perspiration...). When she got there, the lady at the counter produced the passport and asked for her name and when she was born (She replied with "bangkok, thailand" and before realising and saying her date-of-birth, and already produced her business card to prove her identity when the lady handed the passport over).
Another reason she was so anxious was because her boarding time was 6.15....and it was coming to 6pm! She told us she had never lost her passport before (and she being a seasoned traveller), and that she was lucky it happened in Australia and the airport was relatively empty...If it was in a country like Indonesia, she said her chances of retreiving it would be close to none. My dad said maybe it means that she's supposed to stay behind in Brisbane with us for a longer period of time (she only spent an afternoon with us this trip)! But I guess if she really didn't find her passport, she'd be in no mood to stay behind and have fun anyway.
Then we escorted her back to the departure gates, where her colleague was waiting for her. We said we'd wait till we saw them through the boarding gates (in full view from the departure hall) just to make sure! Fortunately nothing went wrong this time, and she gave us another call to say bye and that she'd call again when she's in transit in Melbourne in 2 days' time on her return flight to Bangkok.
When I travelled alone for the first time in Jan-Feb this year, my parents called a dozen times just to remind me to keep my eye and hand on my passport at all times during the flights and trip. Rather annoying to be reminded so many times but definitely no joke if you lose it!
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