I guess from now on, my old brownie coloured passport can be put away for a rest forever. It served me in the past 7 years, had been carried to several places in this world and renewed once by the Chinese Embassy here, stamped with many custom marks when coming in or going out, and given at least 15 such visas since 2000 (which includes some that had been given by mistake ) that there are not many blank pages left for more visas.

Well, I guess it’s the time to change it over. Brown to dark blue, five stars and Tiananmen Square to emu and Kangaroo, plain photo to little micro chip….so has my face, same hair style but different look. I can’t really tell what I have lost. Something must have happened on me between these two time dimensions of 2000 and 2007.

Now holding the new one, I try to feel it with my hands. It smells so new and so freshly made. But the more feeling about that is it looks so empty in there. Does it mean I will begin a brand new page with this one? I am sort of toying with this idea in my mind by looking backward and also forward. I guess every new start comes along with an ending of an era. I hope in another 7 years of time, when I am looking back, I will find the answer.