Like old-aged pensioners huddled around a domino table, we travellers are not adverse to measuring our lives in days. Indeed, today marks the 1098th day — or three year anniversary — since I strapped on my seatbelt and took off from London Heathrow.
[audio:https://www.trailofants.com/audio/004_The-Sling-of-Sing.mp3] This week’s LISTENup travel podcast revisits one of Asia’s main hubs, at one of the most turbulent times on The Trail. A city of contrasts, on a continent full of fantasia.
I stare at the newspaper. It wasn’t me. I gawp at the television. It wasn’t me. I trawl through the internet. It wasn’t me! I listen to the radio, podcasts, and conversations on the bus. It WASN’T me! At least — I hope it wasn’t me?
Imagine you watched a big American city elope for a walk. It uprooted its underpins, stretched out its girders, slipped its streets into its subways and polished its double-glazed glasses. It packed its parks into its malls and just wandered off into its own horizon. “Bye, Big City. See you again sometime.”
I’d seen him from a short distance, twelve months previously, he travelled alone aboard a plane to Moscow. He wore a dark tracksuit top zipped over a light t-shirt, and loose pale green shorts covered the knees he cradled by his chest. His hair sprayed out in loose brown curls beneath a khaki cap, highlighted […]
A Dutchman turned up from Delhi. The American? He flew, to Kathmandu. The Korean chap went home. A Danish fellow flew to Kuala Lumpar. A German girl chose train, then chose Bangkok. A trinity of Taiwanese picked Melbourne. An Irishman and his Deutschland girlfriend popped up to Penang. The Englishwoman? Chose Malacca. An Indian guy […]
I remember a bright blue flying saucer, tilting this way and toppling that way between a cluster of shiny, soaring sky scrapers. I remember a cartoon appearing in a fountain, and it telling me ‘Sunshine was her name‘ and ‘friendship is my game‘. I remember seeing temples tucked in unlikely corners, spit-and-sawdust bars and drinking […]