Rialoves2cook: Here is the last hint before I reveal where the plane I'm about to board is heading! I'm making mango and rambutan crumbles with cardamom ice cream. Rambutan is this red and green alien-looking fruit with stringy tentacles on the outside you peel to find a grape-textured interior with a sweet and sour taste. It mixes nicely with the ultra sugary mango and strong cardamom flavour. Both tropical fruits grow in my destination country. Post your guesses below :)

#dessert #mango #rambutan #whereamI #sweettreats

Posted: October 13th, 4:30 PM

***

After the food on the second flight gave her stomach cramps, Maria twisted and turned, her stretch attempts blocked by armrests, the reclined seat in front of her, and the small bag she'd wedged underneath. Beside her, a white business executive shot her narrowed-eyed glares while he typed on his tablet. She slipped past his unmoved long legs yet again to get sick in the tiny bathroom while the plane bumped over mild turbulence.

On her way back, the man shook his head and said, "Pick an aisle seat next time if you can't control your bladder.

As her face muscles tightened, she made little effort to avoid knocking his tablet as she passed. He muttered something about 'foreigners'.

In her seat, she avoided looking at the jerk and pulled the blanket over her aching body. She'd give anything for her mother's soup and a comforting shoulder to lie on. Instead, she readjusted the thin neck pillow Sunshine had leant her. Maria soothed herself with an upbeat playlist, trying to convince herself she'd recover from the uncomfortable trip soon.

Hours later, a large green island replaced the endless blue ocean below. The monitor in the headrest confirmed they were flying over Northern Japan. Asia. Her family's continent, the one she'd only visited through pictures, videos and her relatives' stories. A clean start. Villages lined the coasts and a few minutes later, the volcanic ridges eased into gentler slopes and farmland. If her stomach felt better, she'd have taken advantage of the fresh seafood on the final layover.

Instead, she got lost attempting to find her gate and browsed through gift shops with cute stationery and matcha flavoured sweets she resisted the temptation to buy alongside. The vacationers in the shop chatted in excited tones, eager to explore a new country together. Few people wandered solo except for the business executives. Maria cured her loneliness by replying to her contest post comments and messaging Sunshine, but it didn't fill the gap of having a travel companion.

After she boarded her connecting flight to Bangkok, she was trapped in a cramped seat too far from anyone she cared about. What if her coworkers were awful, like the business executive and his snide remarks? What if she didn't make any friends and spent the year lonely and miserable? She had more baggage than this stupid airplane, and no one would want to associate with that.

The Japanese woman beside her passed tissues and gave her pitying glances, probably convinced Maria was heading for a fate in the red-light district rather than her grand escape. More like a long walk to an electric chair to end all thoughts of her Canadian life. What sane person left their loving family, good friends and future because they had a nasty breakup and got seduced by pretty beach pictures? Her father was right.

Maria distracted herself by rereading replies to the cooking post she'd uploaded. A few people guessed her destination correctly, others were far from the mark, and Sunshine and Tina competed for the least likely answers. Their responses 'Antarctica', 'Mars' and 'the back of Dad's closet' made her laugh.

Twenty-three hours after leaving Edmonton, she stepped off the airplane into Bangkok's wall of humidity. Her clothes, better suited to Canadian fall, clung to her with sweat. Luckily, the airport was air-conditioned, and the discomfort subsided. Another plane took off on the nearby runway, and her throat tightened. If only she was on it, homebound.

The crowd she followed to immigration was part Thai and Japanese with a smattering of foreigners from Middle Eastern business executives, to grungy backpackers, to large Indian families wearing a rainbow of saris. They passed before her like a slithering snake as they twisted through the queue.

Once at the front of the foreigner line, Maria placed her passport in a metal tray. A man with a blank expression greeted her with "Sawatdee krap."

"Sawatdee krap," she parroted. Oh crap, Sunshine said male speakers used 'krap'. "Sorry! Kha, sawatdee kha!"

The man's lips twitched into a small smile as he flipped through the passport. He found the page with the non-immigrant visa with the attractive blue Kingdom of Thailand header and stamped it.

"Welcome to Thailand."

His red stamp announced her arrival with cold finality. She took her passport and shuffled through to baggage claim then onto arrivals. The passengers she recognized from the earlier Vancouver to Tokyo flight mirrored Maria's zombie-speed mind with their lethargic movements.

The school had arranged a pick up at the airport, but she had doubts as it was almost midnight. She had the apartment address in Thai on her phone to hand to a cab driver, should the worst happen. From the crowd, two fair-skinned Thai women in matching blue skirted uniforms like the ones Sunshine had lent Maria approached the arriving white tourists and backpackers held a sign that read 'Maria Tomas'.

As Maria ventured over, they gave her tentative smiles. "I'm Maria," she supplied when they looked at each other.

"Oh, you are Maria?" One woman narrowed her eyes. "From Canada?"

"Yeah, sorry I've been living on airplanes, but here I am, in the flesh." Yoga pants, sweaty t-shirt and all.

"Welcome to Bangkok!" The taller woman introduced herself as Prae and the other lady as Aom. They both taught in the English department, although Maria didn't recognize them from her cousin's pictures.

As they walked toward the glass doors leading to the street, a line-up of neon taxi cabs overtook the parking area, bright pinks, greens and oranges like they were living in a rave. The heat embraced Maria's skin the moment they exited the terminal, humidity clinging on tight. Maria tugged off her sweater while Prae located a silver van with the school's logo and curvy Thai script on the side.

As Maria climbed into her seat, the driver cleared his throat, sitting on the opposite side of the vehicle like they were in England.

"Have you eaten?" Prae asked.

Maria nodded and rubbed her still aching stomach. "I can't imagine eating now; plane food is terrible."

As the van departed the airport, Prae smoothed out her polyester skirt. "I've never flown before."

"It was my first flight."

"Really?" Prae's voice climbed and her eyes widened. "I thought all the foreigners travelled often."

Maria got mistaken for foreign at home, but there she could refute it. Being a foreigner with an accent, a different language, and a lack of local knowledge would take time to adjust to.

Aom inspected herself in a hand mirror from her purse. "You will travel soon with your teacher's salary."

"I don't think I'll earn enough for that."

"Foreign teachers are very well paid," Aom said with a pointed stare at Maria. "Unlike Thai teachers who—"

After Prae nudged Aom, she leaned toward her to mutter something in Thai. Maria's stomach churned. She shouldn't have implied her pay was low if there was a wage gap Sunshine had failed to mention. The unfairness deepened her discomfort, especially since she wasn't even a legitimate teacher.

"I meant I have many student loans to pay so I won't be travelling so soon."

Prae nodded, but the reality stuck that Maria had flown to the other side of the world, albeit with help, and they couldn't.

"I can show you Bangkok and good food, cheap cheap."

Maria smiled. "I'd enjoy that."

Prae's face brightened like the vibrant lights below them. Tall buildings glittered in the distance, and sleek, arched bridges and golden streets below traced the long path to downtown. Their car sped down a fairly empty freeway much larger than anything she'd encountered in Edmonton. Most of the green road-signs featured English-looking words to accompany the Thai script.

Soon they passed an illuminated three-headed elephant statue, rising from the streets below. Each head faced a different direction, and the animal raised its trunks and tusks, almost in greeting despite the late hour.

Thirty minutes later, they arrived at a large, gated apartment complex where a friendly security guard greeted them in Thai. Prae told Maria many of the first-year foreign teachers and a few long-term ones lived in the building so she wouldn't be alone. After wishing her good luck, Maria's coworkers ran back to the van.

Following the security guard, she lugged her heavy suitcases to the main building and then up four flights of stairs to an apartment with a 'Welcome Maria' sign. The door was less banged up than the one she and Adrian had shared, but it masked an empty room. With a sigh, she accepted the key from the guard and bid him a good night, even though he scarcely spoke English.

Inside, bare walls, a mattress with a single fitted sheet, and near-empty tables greeted her, all beige, black or white, devoid of any real charm. Her heart longed for the reds of the room she'd shared with Adrian, the pictures of her family, and friends, anything to make it more of a home. After kicking off her smelly shoes, she rolled in her suitcases then collapsed on the bed beside a fuzzy blanket. Despite the heat, she dragged it closer, missing the warmth of another person at her side, even if it was Tina or her mom.

Digging her phone out of her purse, Maria entered the Wi-Fi information and sent her mom and Sunshine a message she'd arrived. As she sat up more, a basket she'd only glanced at earlier caught her eye with rolls of toilet paper, toiletries, water, and snacks. Whoever thought of that was a saint. She inspected it, the note attached to the toilet paper that reading 'Don't flush me, use the bin!' made her forehead crease until Sunshine's hurried advice from the airport came to mind. One of countless adjustments. Her phone pinged seconds later.

Mom: Did you open my gift?

Curiosity got the better of Maria as she unzipped the front suitcase pocket to discover a bag of tampons and condoms with a handwritten note that read: 'Never hurts to be prepared'. Maria shook her head at the untraditional gift. Her mother must really want her to find someone new if she was endorsing sex before marriage. She would have never done that while Maria dated Adrian.

At her window, Maria pulled the cloth blinds to reveal a courtyard below and a mix of multi and single-story dwellings on the surrounding streets. Despite the bustle of late-night traffic, street vendors and people wandering the streets, the bright Thai signs reminded her this wasn't home, and she didn't have friends or family members in this country. Who would she turn to when she was lonely or needed help? Her palms sweated as they clutched the window latch. She opened it to discover the air outside was as stuffy as that inside. She shut it and trudged to her suitcase.

Once she'd prepared for bed, she tossed around, unable to get comfortable on the hard mattress in this heat. She didn't want to pay for extra electricity to run her air-conditioning on the first night. The bare room and blank walls made her even lonelier. What the hell had she done?