happy new year

I heard once that whatever you’re doing when the clock strikes midnight on new year’s eve will define what your coming year will be like. If that’s the case, then my 2005 will be defined by travelling with new friends, mobile sleeping or cold weather.

When the clock struck the end of 2004, I was on a sleeper train out of Hanoi, bound for Lao Cai on the Chinese border. My travel companion was my new Malaysian friend Elena, and the winter draft through the train car kept me very cold.