And the Philippines it was. The deciding factor? Sogod Bay, a place of magical wall dives according to the folk at Coral Cay Conservation, an NGO I'd considered volunteering with. So I booked the guilt-laced gazillion flights I needed to get me there and on to Indonesia, trying to refrain from panicked calculations and recalculations of how big a hole it was blowing in my optimistic budget (worked out at a time when super budget fares were still available). And I extended my return ticket to London while I was at it. On what planet does anyone need more than a couple of days to re-acclimatise to UK summer-suspense, driving rain, sharp elbowed commuters and economic gloom?
Chiang Mai should have, but hasn't got, its own proper post. This is because, although 3 days drifted into 9, my time there was spent doing v. little apart from communing with Mr Air Asia, the friendly fruit shake lady and the hippy sandal makers down the road from my hostel (who also provided a dreadlock-grooming/creation service....); taking one cookery course; and doing some zipwiring. The latter was a much-needed adrenalin shot which jolted me out of my lazing around. I am slightly ashamed to admit that I only made it to one temple, but two Sunday markets.
After Chiang Mai, a brief stop in Bangkok had me singing in my head (or, who knows, maybe it was really out loud) "oh I love love LOVE Bangkok". Not infatuation but love. I saw completely different parts of it this time. A visit to the Vimamek Palace (interesting but short, as I overlapped with several large, guided tour groups with culturally different volume control and spatial comfort zones) took me through drab concrete areas where noisy schoolkids were queuing for lunch: boys at the makeshift stalls selling deep-fried stuff and girls...at the fruit cart. Food politics is global and rapidly becoming age-unlimited! A 3hour hospital visit (the ENT specialist poured BETADINE!!!! into my ears and then- ow ow- used a needle to prise something off my eardrum, with stern warnings not to move; I'm hoping it wasn't my tympanic membrane he removed) took me through a part hosting wealthy Middle Eastern tourists. A part where the fruit vendors sell special watermelon - costing not 10, but 50baht a portion. Feeling poor after the hospital bill, I made my way back to cheaper suburbs and my original green chilli-challenge street cafe where I had a spicy fresh squid salad and a portion of sun-dried sugar-glazed pork for supper. Greedy huh? I tell myself its gotta be done when you're travelling solo otherwise you miss out.
Then onwards to Kuala Lumpur for an overnight airport kip...or in my case, a mildly paranoid eyelid propper-opener. The paranoia was unwarranted, as, after the length of time I'd been travelling, no-one would have risked coming within a mile of my feet, let alone braving the innards of my bags. And then a flight to Clark, Philippines. I learnt just in time for workable ticket-stacking that Clark is an airfield rather than an airport (picture Harare International after most of the world's airlines stopped landing there) and is three hours out of Manila. Makes European budget airline city descriptors look accurate. I came to know Clark well. Jeez I'm waffling on and even boring myself. I'm procrastinating with the upload of Philippines pictures which will take around 6hours. So, this post can mark Thailand round #2 but as I mainly slept and ate, there are only some lazy gratuitous pictures of Chiang Mai (below: the Organic Farm (cookery course), zipwiring, markets). As you may have gathered, I have a soft spot for markets. I'll post on the Philippines separately.
Posted: 24 June 2012
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