The Other Way

Although I have been in this new place for two months now, I had only been able to explore one side of the neighborhood, which is because I have mostly been lying in bed since I got here. Finally, as I seem now to be trudging my way out of my long illness, I took the opportunity this morning to explore the other half--that is, I turned left at the top of the street rather than right. This turned out, actually, to be quite a challenge, as I am still quite weak and my legs are pretty wobbly. I took it slow; nonetheless, by the halfway mark in the walk, I found myself listing continually to my right side and having to make course corrections. Otherwise, who knows where I would have ended up? Along this route, I found many makeshift sorts of dwellings, skeletal structures with old political or advertisement banners pasted along the front to keep the weather out. I also found many scrappy, rather hungry looking dogs who ran out to ask me what the hell I was doing in their territory, but backed off when they found I am fluent in dog. I encountered as well quite a few motorbike drivers and passengers, who slowed down to say Hi, probably wondering as well what I was doing on their turf. Well, I got as far as Jalan Sedap Malam ('Delicious Night Street), before totally pooping out and heading back. Astoundingly, I became lost on the way back--astounding because on the way out it seemed that there was really only one street one could follow, while on the way back there seemed many possibilities. Apparently, someone had been going around behind me changing all the streets. I actually had to use my phone navigator to find my way back home!