Memories under the Cherry Blossom Tree

Ch 28 Retreat in the Scenic hills..

The village where they were headed to is Baan Mae Kampong ..The village is located 50 km east of Chiang mai and is around a 100 years old..

It was the first time they were going there..Kong had read up on the village when he heard of the trip and was eager to see the beauty of the mountains and creeks.. they had a very long journey to put up with though..almost 10 to 12 hours if they stopped for food..

The first few hours on the bus was noisy with loud comments and snacks being passed around..then slowly the noise died down with people taking small naps or plugging in their ear phones and listening to music...

Arthit had watched Kong meddle with his camera.. Kong even taught him some basic settings and how to use them to get great pictures...but slowly the late nights of the previous weeks was catching up on him and he started to nod off against the window..the bus jerked on and off as Kong watched Arthit's head almost getting hit on the sill..so he pulled his head towards himself and let Arthit lean on his shoulder...Arthit being so tired didn't notice and just continued to sleep in this new comfortable spot...

They stopped for lunch at around 1 p.m in the afternoon and Kong tried to wake up Arthit, but Knot told him not to wake him as Arthit never ate while traveling..So Kong just let him sleep in..Instead he got a bottle of pink milk and snacks from the canteen incase the senior felt hungry when he woke up...

Arthit woke up around 5 in the evening as the sun was about to set in the horizon...he saw tat he was leaning on Kong's shoulder and moved back..he had even drooled a bit on his shirt leaving a wet stain..

"Sorry Kong, u should have woken me up.." he said trying to wipe the stain on Kong's shirt with his kerchief...

Kong held his hand instead to stop him and looked into Arthit's eyes, he brought his thumb to the corner of his lips and wiped the drool stain there with a soft smile saying ,"You slept like a baby P'..I couldn't bring myself to wake u up..you were so cute u know.."

Arthit's breath hitched at Kong's husky voice.." Quit talking to me in tat voice if u want me to keep my promise and behave Kong " he warned..

Kong turned away blushing..

Both looked anywhere but at each other for the next few mins..then Kong remembered the snacks he had got and handed Arthit the cover incase he was hungry.

Arthit dug in the cover and pulled out a pack of nori crisps and the pink milk..

"Thank you Kong, ur a saviour..I couldn't survive without this you know". He said smiling widely as he took a long sip...

After that the noise perked up again with Bright bringing life and laughter to the group with his hilarious imitations of famous personalities and their professors...

They reached the destination around 8 p.m..It was already dark. They were shown to the homestay and each pair was given their keys after the gave their names to the professor in charge..

They just had enough time to drop their bags and rush to dinner as it was getting late and the seniors had an early start the next day as they had to set up the camp..

Dinner was a simple spread of slow cooked creamy chicken soup with homemade bread.Maybe it was the journey or the unique recipe but everyone was raving about the tasty soup and asking for seconds..

After the hearty meal they dragged their tired feet reluctantly to go to bed..

As Arthit slept during the journey he felt less tired.. Kong though was having a difficult time keeping his eyes open..he just flopped on the bed the minute he came into the room..