by chit ko pe
THE pitter-patter from the rain dropping on the car’s window pane is soft, but it smashes the silence in the car I’m riding along with our Company’s driver. It bears a resemblance to an affectionate situation experienced some 8 years ago, and I’m unknowingly dragged into thought.
It was one early morning in June 2014 when Thai Airways International flight TG 950 touched down on the tarmac of Copenhagen Airport. It drizzled outside dipping on the plane’s window panes. All passengers aboard the plane were ushered in with its pleasant and rhythmic pitter-patter. I arrived in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark well known for being the greenest city on the earth with amazing ambience, colourful houses, castles, churches, museums and parks. History has it that Copenhagen hosted the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in December 2009. It produced the international agreement and commitment to limiting global warming. It is later widely known as the Copenhagen Accord to which every global environmental issue is referred.
I was then flying from Singapore with a stopover in Bangkok, Thailand. The travel duration of 16 hours and 50 minutes from Singapore to Copenhagen got me jet-lagged. Exhausted, but I was made afresh with the sights of astonishing surroundings at Copenhagen Airport facilitated by an array of shops, bars, cafes, restaurants, refreshment outlets and friendly services. It is learnt that Copenhagen Airport is the largest one in Scandinavia and Nordic countries as well as one of the oldest in Europe.
After enjoying a short time there, I boarded a local train departing from Copenhagen Airport to Copenhagen Central Station located at the heart of the city. It took about 13 minutes. With the biggest and busiest railway hub status in Denmark, Copenhagen Central Station with seven platforms and 13 tracks has been serving domestic and international commuters since 1911. Copenhagen proudly boasts its historical and significant places of interest such as Tivoli Amusement Park, Christiansborg Palace, Rosenborg Palace, Nyhavn Harbour, The Round Tower, Amalienborg Castle, Kastellet & The Little Mermaid and others to name a few.
There, I hopped onto an international train bound for Lund, Sweden which was the last destination on my itinerary list. Actually, I was heading to Lund University which is a public research university founded in 1425. At the University, the international safety conference would be held under the backdrop of Achieving Sustainable Construction Health and Safety. It was organized by the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (CIB, W099) which is a worldwide network of over 5000 experts from about 500 organizations including more than 130 universities. I was there to read my research paper like other participants – subject matter experts, and academicians pursuing doctoral studies. Despite working in the private sector, I was then somewhat linked to academic networks after completing a master’s degree at the National University of Singapore (NUS) in 2012.
A strait called Oresund divides Denmark’s Copenhagen and southern Sweden. Cars, ferries or trains are the essen tial commuting modes between these two regions. Our train passed through the Oresund Bridge consisting of an 8 km bridge, a four-kilometre man-made island and a four-kilometre underwater tunnel. It was awesome to have such moments of physically being with one of the most popular bridges in the world. It was like a dream come true. At end of the bridge, Malmo was the first stopover on the Sweden side before reaching my final destination, Lund with a total train travel time of about an hour. Lund Cathedral built around 1100 is Lund’s a towering landmark that I visited later.
I was lost in thought a while ago. The bridge on which our Company’s car is passing through now is Thanlyin Bridge across Bago River, not the one abroad mentioned above. At its mid-span, a gust of wind brings a sudden shower hitting the car’s window panes with pitter-patter that awakens me from memoirs. Oh! I’m on the way to work!
At present, it is raining at Thilawa Special Economic Zone in Thanlyin which houses factories, workshops, plants, shops, workplaces and offices including ours. With dark clouds looming in the sky, a non-stop downpour is certainly expected throughout the day. There will be more pitter-patter on the office’s window pane just next to my desk, I fondly imagine.
